Denis Grigorov has reinvented himself more times than most people change jobs. Born in Ukraine, raised in Seattle, he enlisted in the Air Force out of high school, got picked for the Air Force Academy, and became a captain and special agent investigating crimes inside the military. Ten years of service. An MBA. A management job at Amazon. Then he did the thing nobody saw coming — he walked into healthcare.

He became an ER nurse at one of the busiest trauma centers in the country, did a full year of psychiatric residency at the VA in Los Angeles, and in January 2026 opened his own practice, D&Y Integrated Psychiatry, named after himself and his wife Yesenia. Four months later, he had 60 clients.

This is the private-practice startup conversation I wish every new psych NP could hear. Denis holds nothing back: the VA residency and t ...