About Our Medical Staff

Dr. Suzuki is the Medical Director of Aurora Las Encinas Hospital. He joined the medical staff of the hospital in 1988, and also is a partner at San Marino Psychiatric Associates in San Marino. 

Dr. Suzuki received his undergraduate degree at Stanford University, attended medical school at Northwestern University Medical School and completed his residency at the UCLA San Fernando Valley Program in Psychiatry. He is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the USC Keck School of Medicine. Dr. Suzuki was selected by his fellow physicians as a “Top Doc”, as published in the June 2009 edition of Pasadena Magazine

Dr. Gade is Co-Director of Aurora Las Encinas Hospital Outpatient Services. She joined Las Encinas Hospital in 2010, after practicing at Kaiser Permanente in Modesto, California. She is affiliated with San Marino Psychiatric Associates in San Marino, California.

Dr. Gade completed her adult psychiatry residency and child/adolescent fellowship at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. As Chief Resident of Child Fellowship, she was involved in medical student teaching at Tufts University Medical School.

Her goal is to develop patient strategies to better prevent, diagnose and treat people with mental health conditions. Her philosophy is to provide individualized, evidence based care in a collaboration manner.

Dr. Christenson, affectionately known as “Dr. Beau”, is Co-Director of Aurora Las Encinas Hospital Chemical Dependency Services. He joined Las Encinas Hospital in 2011, after completion of an Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas. Dr. Christenson’s academic career includes a Psychiatry Residency at University of Southern California. He has significant experience at the Houston/DeBakey Veterans Administration Hospital and the prestigious Menninger Clinic in Houston, Texas. He earned his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from Touro University in Nevada and holds a B.S in Biology from Pacific Union College in Napa Valley, California. 

Dr. Pylko earned his undergraduate degree in neurophysiology at McGill University in Montreal and then received his medical degree at the University of Toronto. He completed both his psychiatry internship and residency at the UCLA San Fernando Valley Program. He is board certified in psychiatry. Dr. Pylko is a member of the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association. He is an active member of Las Encinas Hospital in Pasadena, California where he also has a position as a service director of one it's units. Dr Pylko has been a principal investigator or co-investigator in several clinical trials. He has been a presenter at national medical conferences including the American Psychiatric Association Institute on Psychiatric Services. Dr Pylko's primary specialty is working with complex mood disorders and their comorbidities. He collaborated with prominent film makers on the documentary "Of Two Minds" exploring the lives of those dealing with Bipolar Disorder that recently won a "Voice Award" from SAMHSA. He is currently working on a film project about suicide.