About
Dr. Pia Quimson-Guevarra is Board-Certified in Psychiatry and Forensic Psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. She has a clinical practice in Portland and forensic practice across the Pacific Northwest and nationally. Her expertise includes evaluating emotional distress damages, competency, mental health diagnosis and factors relevant to civil litigation including damages, probate, employment matters, and criminal cases. She issues thorough and insightful forensic evaluations and reports and testifies. She has extensive experience with diagnosis and treatment of PTSD, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and mental competency, as a treating physician and in medical-legal matters as a forensic consultant.
Quimson Behavioral Health is Dr. Quimson-Guevarra's private behavioral health clinic, where she cares for her patients along with supervising providers in the practice. Her patients are primarily in the Greater Portland area. Services include medication management, and psychotherapy, for patients who suffer from mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, Bipolar Disorders, ADHD, and PTSD.
She uses her expertise in psychopharmacology and medication management to treat mental health conditions in clinical practice and applies this experience to forensic assessment in the context of unpacking medically complex cases.
Medical and psychological impairment can impact judgment, clarity of thought, and even criminal responsibility. In her forensic work, she performs a deep investigation into these elements of damages and behavior. This can include cognitive impairment and decline (can be a factor in probate cases), depression, head injuries, and drug or alcohol abuse.
Dr. Quimson-Guevarra has conducted psychiatric assessments in civil litigation as well as criminal matters including competency to stand trial and criminal responsibility evaluations.
Her work is divided between clinical and forensic/expert witness work. Dr. Quimson-Guevarra conducts medical and legal records review as a Forensic Psychiatrist, and medico-legal Independent Medical Evaluations by video and face-to-face, as appropriate. Her assessments are thorough and inform thoughtful and objective expert opinions issued by written report and testimony
Formerly, she treated patients at Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare, where she served on an Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) team, a method to deliver an intensive level of services to patients in the local community. Her patients consisted of individuals who suffer from severe and persistent mental illness including Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia. She also treated patients with a history that includes forensic medical-legal issues.
Dr. Quimson-Guevarra previously treated patients who suffered from anxiety, mood, and psychotic disorders at Cedar Hills Hospital, Multnomah County Detention Center, Washington County Jail, Snake River Correctional Institute, and the Portland Veteran's Administration.
She has served as a forensic consultant for the Washington County Mental Health Court in Oregon. She also has worked in the forensic evaluation service department at the Oregon State Hospital where she performed competency to stand trial and criminal responsibility evaluations to patients at the Oregon State Hospital or defendants located in various jails.