Hospital Findr / Find Doctors / California / Dr. Gerald Ray Watkins

Dr. Gerald Ray Watkins, MD

Neurology, Psychiatry
Accepting new patients
51 years of experience
Kaiser Permanente Behavioral Health Office 44444 20th St W, Lancaster, CA 93534
(661) 951-0070

Overview
Location
Expertise

Brief Intro

I have worked for Kaiser Permanente as a full-time staff psychiatrist for more than 30 years, beginning at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center on Sunset Boulevard on August 7, 1978, where I worked for 25 years before coming out to the Antelope Valley to work as a full-time psychiatrist at the Kaiser Permanente Behavioral Health Clinic in Lancaster on August 18, 2003. I spent most of the four years of my residency at the Sepulveda VA Medical Center. During my first five years at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center, I spent at least one-third of my time working directly with hospitalized psychiatric patients, many of whom were severely depressed and needed careful, compassionate attention. Biography I grew up in the Midwest in a major suburb of Chicago, went to school as an undergraduate at Valparaiso University in Indiana, and then went first to graduate school for psychopharmacology and then to medical school at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. I had always been interested in psychology and psychiatry, ever since I was a teenager watching the TV series The Eleventh Hour with Wendell Corey and Ralph Bellamy. However, I majored not only in psychology but also in mathematics and Latin in college. About my practice I have many years of experience in treating chronic, severe, and treatment-resistant psychiatric conditions, including affective (depressive and manic-depressive), psychotic, anxiety, attention-deficit, and impulse-control disorders. I also very much enjoy talking with my patients, many of whom I have known and treated for almost as long as I have worked at Kaiser Permanente. I believe in advocating for my patients, many of whom, because of their emotional problems, are unable to advocate for themselves. I try to be as genuine and candid as possible with them. How I thrive I exercise, walk, and hike as much as possible, go to plays and movies, meet with my monthly literature group (of which I have been a member for over 30 years), and travel throughout the country and the world as much as possible (including France, where I have relatives). I enjoy being with lifelong friends and family, my wife of over 30 years, and my two daughters, now both grown and living on their own.

Education Background

RESIDENCY

U S Department Of Veterans Affairs

MEDICAL SCHOOL

University Of Minnesota Medical School - 1974

Location & Hours

Kaiser Permanente Behavioral Health Office
44444 20th St W, Lancaster, CA 93534
Mon:8:30 am - 7:00 pm
Tue:8:30 am - 7:00 pm
Wed:8:30 am - 7:00 pm
Thu:8:30 am - 7:00 pm
Fri:8:30 am - 5:00 pm
Sat:Closed
Sun:Closed

Specialties Treated

Neurology
Psychiatry

Conditions Addressed

Anxiety Phobic Disorders
Depressive Disorders
Schizophrenia
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Bipolar Disorder
Anxiety Dissociative and Somatoform Disorders

Cancer 86
Cardiology, Heart & Vascular Surgery 79
Orthopedics 161
Neurology & Neurosurgery 120
Gastroenterology & GI Surgery 149
Pulmonology & Lung Surgery 161
Diabetes & Endocrinology 65
Children's Hospital 18
Urology 149
Psychiatry 91
Geriatrics 143
Rehabilitation 73
Obsterics & Gynecology 23
Ophthalmology 8
Ear, Nose & Throat 10
Rheumatology 4
Long Term Care 19
Maternity Care (Uncomplicated Pregnancy) 99