Candidate for
Council Member; City of Orinda

Scott Zeller, MD, is Chief of Psychiatric Emergency Services at the Alameda County Medical Center, one of the busiest such departments in the nation, seeing over 12,000 patients per year. There he is responsible for budget and employee numbers which exceed those of Orinda's government. As the medical director of this 24/7 emergency agency, Dr. Zeller regularly interacts with government officials and leaders of police, fire, ambulance services, and employee unions. These experiences have prepared him well for City Council membership.

Dr. Zeller is currently President of the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry, the leading organization for crisis professionals in the United States and Canada.

In addition, he is Director of Psychiatry for St. Rose Hospital in Hayward, California, and is Vice President and Principal of JSA Health, a leading provider of psychiatric telemedicine in Texas and Louisiana.

In 2009, Dr. Zeller was voted Physician of the Year for the Alameda County Medical Center.

In 2005, Dr. Zeller was a volunteer medical director in the Psychiatry Clinic at the Houston Astrodome for the 30,000 refugees from Hurricane Katrina.

Dr. Zeller has written numerous journal articles and textbook chapters, and is Co-Editor/Author of Emergency Psychiatry: Principles and Practice (Lippincott), which is noted as the first-ever comprehensive textbook of emergency psychiatry.

Scott received his medical degree from Northwestern University and did residency training at the University of California, San Francisco. He was raised in Lake Bluff and Lake Forest, Illinois, small suburbs of Chicago which have many similarities to Orinda. It was these hometown qualities that attracted Scott and his wife to move to Orinda over 11 years ago. They truly delight in raising their family in our wonderful city.

Scott and his wife are active in the community and have enjoyed coaching OYA baseball and soccer in recent years. They are proud contributors to the Educational Foundation of Orinda and the Glorietta Parents Club.