Meet Esther Kim, M.D.

Esther Kim, MD, is a board-certified adult psychiatrist at Adelpha Psychiatric Group in Pasadena, California. She has a diverse background in both music and psychiatry.

Before entering medicine, Dr. Kim spent much of her life immersed in the classical music world. She studied violin performance at the Juilliard School in New York and later at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, ultimately completing her Artist Diploma at Indiana University. Her growing curiosity about the connection between music and the mind guided her toward a career in medicine. She went on to earn her MD at Wake Forest School of Medicine, where she conducted research on depression and anxiety in patients with epilepsy and founded the Wake Forest Musical Outreach Program.

Dr. Kim completed her psychiatry residency at the UCLA-Resnick Neuropsychiatric Institute, serving as chief resident for both the Consult-Liaison Service and the Psychiatric Emergency Room. Her career continues to bridge music and psychiatry; she has participated in UCLA’s Mindful Music series and contributed to musical storytelling research focused on promoting resilience and reducing stigma surrounding mental illness.

Clinically, Dr. Kim specializes in mood, anxiety, and psychotic disorders, with additional interests in women’s mental health and reproductive psychiatry. She takes an integrative, collaborative approach to care, emphasizing mindfulness, exercise, nutrition, and lifestyle alongside evidence-based psychotherapy and psychopharmacology. She is also trained in neuromodulation, including transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).

Outside her clinical work, Dr. Kim remains active as a classical violinist. She is a certified yoga instructor, an enthusiastic cook and baker, and a devoted dog mom to Schumann (“Schumie”), her high-spirited Pomeranian–American Eskimo mix named after the composer Clara Schumann.