Faculty

William Cohen, MD

Dr. Cohen joined the Department of Psychiatry at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in 2016. He provides clinical care for adults on the inpatient psychiatric unit at Medstar Georgetown University Hospital and for children, adolescents, and adults in the outpatient clinic. He teaches and provides clinical supervision for Georgetown medical students, psychiatry residents, and child psychiatry fellows. Dr. Cohen completed a child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Georgetown University. He completed a psychiatry internship and residency in The Einstein Healthcare Network in Philadelphia, and he earned his M.D. from Jefferson Medical College. Prior to medical school he earned a B.A. in Philosophy from Wesleyan University and then worked in Utah as a wilderness therapy field instructor for adolescents. Particular areas of clinical and research interest include mood and anxiety disorders, emergency and disaster psychiatry, and adolescent and transitional aged populations.

Dionne Smith Coker-Appiah, Ph.D.

Dionne Smith Coker-Appiah, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Georgetown University Medical Center. Dr. Coker-Appiah has engaged in a focused program of research and training experiences over the past decade. Each research phase has consistently and strategically informed subsequent phases in an effort to build a comprehensive ADV research program. Dr. Coker-Appiah’s research program focuses on using community-based participatory research (CBPR) approaches to study adolescent health, more specifically, adolescent dating violence, adolescent mental health, and adolescent sexual health among rural African Americans. She has collaborated on several federally and non-federally funded research projects. It has been well documented that there are ADV disparities among rural African Americans, therefore, a thorough understanding regarding how to design, conduct, and evaluate culturally and geographically appropriate interventions for this population is critical. Further, with an understanding of the intersecting public health disparities that often co-exist with ADV, Dr. Coker-Appiah has chosen to also focus on appropriate and effective ways to integrate health implications into ADV prevention interventions. Overall, her research program is designed to (a) prevent adolescent dating violence and the associated health implications among rural African Americans, (b) build effective and sustainable community partnerships that build rural communities’ capacity to address these issues, (c) reduce health disparities and promote health equity among rural youth of Color. In addition, Dr. Coker-Appiah has received NIH training in adolescent neuropsychology in the Section on Affective and Cognitive Neuroscience at NIMH (Mentor: Dr. James Blair). She is specifically interested in exploring the neuropsychology of both adolescent perpetrators and victims of dating violence.

Areas of Research: Adolescent dating violence, Adolescent mental health, Adolescent sexual health, Child/Adolescent exposure to interpersonal violence, Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR), low income and minority populations, Adolescent Neuropsychology

Erica E. Coates, Ph.D.

Dr. Coates received her doctoral degree in clinical child psychology from the University of South Florida and received specialized training in trauma-informed family treatment at the APA-accredited VA Maryland Health Care System/University of Maryland School of Medicine Consortium. Dr. Coates completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Maryland –College Park as a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow.

Dr. Coates leads the evaluation of the Family Wellbeing Program, which is a multidisciplinary, center-based program supporting caregiver, child, and staff wellness and mental health at early childhood education centers in Washington, D.C. serving predominantly under resourced African American families. Dr. Coates has published several articles on the role of paternal involvement and coparenting in child development among African American families, and her research has been externally supported by several entities including the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, the Life Course Intervention Research Network, the American Psychological Association, and the American Psychological Foundation.

Areas of Research: Early childhood mental health. Black family mental health. Co-parenting. Racial socialization. Global mental health.

Joyce Y. Chung, MD

Joyce Y. Chung, MD, received her Bachelor of Science and medical degree from Northwestern University. She completed her psychiatric residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and then a research fellowship in medical anthropology at Harvard Medical School. Her research interests include the study of sociocultural barriers to mental health care, treatment interventions for mental health problems in minority populations, ethnographic and qualitative research methods, and patient-provider discourse and communication. She is the recipient of several research grants.

Dr. Chung has also been active in the area of HIV psychiatry through her clinical practice, educational lectures and published articles about psychiatric complications associated with HIV and AIDS. She helped formulate and was the chief writer for the American Psychiatric Association’s Practice Guidelines for the Treatment of Patients with HIV/AIDS. During her eleven-year affiliation with Georgetown, Dr. Chung has served as chief of the Consultation-Liaison service at the Washington VA and as medical director of the Mental Health Care Unit at Georgetown University Hospital. She is a member of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, American Anthropological Association and Alpha Omega Alpha.

Aimee Danielson, Ph.D.

Aimee Danielson, PhD, is the director of the Women’s Mental Health Program at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. She is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in women’s reproductive health issues. Arriving at Georgetown in 2008, Dr. Danielson’s unique approach to the provision of specialized evaluation, and treatment for women with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, resulted in the creation of the Women’s Mental Health Program. In addition to her clinical practice, she is an assistant professor within the medical school and teaches medical students and residents on the motherhood transition and perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.

Dr. Danielson received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia and earned her doctorate in clinical health psychology from the University of Miami in 2002. She completed her clinical internship at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, followed by a one-year fellowship program in women’s mental health. During these training years, she began specializing in the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders in pregnant and postpartum women, and became particularly interested in working with women with postpartum depression. Since then, she has remained committed to helping women experiencing difficulties with the transition to motherhood by providing consultation, ongoing individual therapy, couples counseling, and group therapy for pregnant and postpartum women and couples. Dr. Danielson has expertise in cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, as well as insight-oriented approaches to treatment.

Priscilla Dass-Brailsford, EdD

Priscilla Dass-Brailsford, Ph.D., studies the effects of trauma and violence and other stressful events, especially whether individuals from historically oppressed or stigmatized groups experience unique stressors or exhibit culturally specific coping processes.  Dr. Dass-Brailsford has several ongoing research projects on HIV/AIDS:  understanding maternal disclosure of HIV, developing an intervention for women living with HIV/AIDS who have histories of trauma and addictions and investigating the life histories of women living with HIV/AIDS. In the past, she has worked with at-risk families in urban communities exposed to violence in the home and community.  She has submitted grant proposals that sought to develop interventions to support parents in the aftermath of disasters and community violence. Besides numerous peer-reviewed publications, she is the author of two books:  A Practical Approach to Trauma:  Empowering Interventions (2007) and Disaster and Crisis Response:  Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina (2009).   Dr. Dass-Brailsford is an APA Fellow and has a trauma focused clinical practice.

Areas of Research: Psychological effects of trauma and violence on ethnic minority women and children, Understanding and developing interventions for Maternal HIV disclosure, Co-morbidity of HIV, PTSD and Substance Abuse among Women living with HIV, Mental health consequences of natural disasters

Kimberly Davis, Ph.D.

I came to Georgetown University in 2004 as a Research Assistant Professor and a member of the Cancer Control Program (CCP) of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center (LCCC) and as a member of the Department of Psychiatry.  My research focuses primarily on the routine assessment of symptoms and health-related quality of life (HRQL) and the treatment decision-making processes of cancer patients, survivors and their families.

Since 2006, I have been providing individual therapy to cancer patients and their families coping with the myriad issues involved in cancer, from initial diagnosis and treatment side effects to concerns at the end-of-life and survivorship.  I established a multidisciplinary psychosocial oncology team which meets weekly with the goal of positively impacting overall patient quality of life and therefore their overall oncology care.  Specifically, I work very closely with physicians, the palliative care team, nursing staff and other clinical and administrative staff at LCCC and throughout the hospital to address the psychological needs of patients and their family members through distress screening, psychological consultations, and on-going psychotherapy.  On average, I provide therapy to 15-17 cancer outpatients per week.         

Since 2013, I have been instrumental in the development and implementation of an assessment tool to screen for psychological distress in cancer patients at LCCC.  In  November  2014, we began to assess LCCC patients for psychological distress using a self-administered electronic tool adapted from the NCCN Distress Thermometer, the results of which can be integrated into patient’s electronic medical record and which allowed us to be in compliance with the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer mandate that all Comprehensive Cancer Centers screen all patients for distress starting January 2015. Most of 2015 was spent working through logistic issues and challenges to implementing the screening as a routine part of the outpatient clinical care process. By October 2015, we had a working system by which all new LCCC patients completed a distress screen at their initial visit prior to seeing their physician. The team developed specific follow-up protocols based on patient distress scores.  Through our monitoring of the follow-up protocol, we have had to make modifications to the follow-up protocol due to lack of sufficient resources to address patient needs.  My understanding of the field of Psychosocial Oncology and my recognition of the current and future mission of MedStar Health to advance the health of diverse communities through greater access to high-quality, patient-centered, coordinated cancer care for the whole person, has resulted in my recent efforts to establish the MedStar Georgetown Cancer Network Psychosocial Oncology Program.  Dr. Lou Weiner, head of LCCC, has requested a business plan for the program, which is in progress.

Celene E. Domitrovich, Ph.D.

E. Domitrovich is a member of the faculty in the Department of Psychiatry at Georgetown University located in the Center for Child and Human Development and a Senior Scientist at the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). She maintains professional affiliations with the Prevention Research Center at Penn State University and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Dr. Domitrovich is a prevention scientist who is interested in the development and evaluation of interventions that promote children’s adjustment and reduce the negative effects of exposure to risk. Her area of specialty is social and emotional learning. Dr. Domitrovich is interested in creating systemic intervention approaches that include the necessary supports to ensure the high quality implementation of evidence-based interventions at scale.

Areas of Research: Enhancing Outcomes of an Evidence-Based Social-Emotional, Enhancing Outcomes of a School Support Model to promote social and Emotional Learning

Mary Ann Dutton, Ph.D.

Mary Ann Dutton, Ph.D. is Professor and Vice-Chair for Research in the Department of Psychiatry, Georgetown University Medical Center and Co-Director of the Community Engagement and Research core of the Georgetown Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Science. Dr. Dutton’s research focuses on trauma and mental health. She has received numerous federal grants for longitudinal studies, randomized behavioral clinical trials involving mindfulness and telehealth interventions. Dr. Dutton has also focused o immigrant women’s use civil protection orders and trauma-informed legal advocacy. Dr. Dutton teaches Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Dr. Dutton is the author of numerous scientific journal articles and books.

Areas of Research: Trauma exposure, Post-traumatic stress, Mindfulness interventions, Telehealth

Kurt W. Ela, PsyD

Dr. Ela is a licensed clinical psychologist and assistant professor within the Outpatient Program at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. He provides individual psychotherapy to adults and adolescents. Specific areas of focus include mood and anxiety disorders, relationship challenges, and issues related to grief and loss. He also specializes in group therapy, which he teaches at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. Dr. Ela received his Bachelor of Arts from Amherst College and his doctorate in psychology from The George Washington University. He completed his internship at Pennsylvania Hospital within the University of Pennsylvania Health System, where he worked with adult, adolescent, and pediatric patients.

Steven A. Epstein, MD

Dr. Steve Epstein is Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry of the Georgetown University School of Medicine and Chief of Service of the Department of Psychiatry of MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. In January 2016, he was appointed Physician Executive Director for Behavioral Health across the MedStar health system.

He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale College and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. After completing a residency in psychiatry at Tufts-New England Medical Center, he was a fellow in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry at Georgetown/Fairfax Hospital. From 1990 to 2000 he directed Georgetown’s Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry service and he became department chair in 2001. He currently directs Georgetown’s Psychosomatic Medicine fellowship, Physician-Patient Communication Program, and Physician Health Committee.

Dr. Epstein has conducted NIH-funded research and published extensively in the area of psychosomatic medicine. In 2001, he was awarded an RO1 grant from NIMH to study primary care physicians’ decision-making in the evaluation and treatment of depression. He has also been principal investigator on two other NIMH grants in this area. He has been the recipient of four teaching awards from Georgetown psychiatry residents. In 2011 he was elected by his peers to the MAGIS Society of Masters Teachers of the Georgetown University School of Medicine. He is also co-chair of the Committee on Medical Education for the medical school.

Dr. Epstein serves as President of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, the 1200 member national organization for Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. He is also a member of the Psychosomatic Medicine Committee of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. In July 2015, he was appointed to a six-year term as a member of the Psychiatry Review Committee for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

Elizabeth Hoge, MD

Dr. Hoge’s research focuses on treatments and markers of treatment for anxiety disorders and depression.  She has NIH funding to examine meditation and other contemplative traditions as treatments for anxiety and stress, and to determine biomarkers of treatment which may indicate mechanistic pathways that could be targeted for treatment optimization or novel therapies.

Areas of Research: Anxiety Disorders diagnoses and treatment, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, Mind-Body interventions for anxiety and insomnia, Oxytocin and anxiety

Stacey Kaltman, Ph.D.

Dr. Stacey Kaltman is a licensed clinical psychologist and an Associate Director of the Georgetown Center for Trauma and the Community.  Dr. Kaltman’s research focuses on the development and evaluation of sustainable mental health interventions for underserved populations in primary care settings.  In particular, she develops intervention for patients with uncontrolled diabetes and depression. Her education-related research focuses on how best to train medical students to achieve competence in medical interviewing and advanced communication skills.   She is also the ombudsperson for the medical school.

Areas of Research: Trauma and loss, Latino mental health, integration of mental health services into the primary care setting, mental health disparities

Kathy S. Katz, Ph.D.

Dr. Katz is a pediatric psychologist who provides evaluation and treatment of children with problems with emotional regulation, anxiety, sleeping, and feeding. Previously the director of psychology training in Georgetown’s Center for Child Development, she has long experience in the diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders. Her more recent work has included helping children deal with parent separation and divorce. Dr. Katz’s research focuses on improving developmental outcomes for children with various medical and social risk factors. Dr. Katz is an associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at Georgetown. She teaches and supervises child and adolescent psychiatry fellows, pediatric residents and medical students. Dr. Katz received her Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and her doctorate in clinical psychology from Rutgers University. She completed a clinical child psychology internship and postdoctoral fellowship at the Harvard-affiliated Judge Baker Children’s Center and Boston Children’s Hospital.

Janice Krupnick, Ph.D.

Dr. Janice Krupnick is a licensed clinical psychologist and the founder and director of the Trauma and Loss Program at Georgetown University.  Dr. Krupnick’s research focuses on the development and testing of psychological treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder.  Recently, the populations that have been the focus of her research include low-income women and Veterans with PTSD.

Areas of Research: Posttraumatic stress disorder, psychosocial treatment development, low-income women and adolescent girls

Judith Kupersmith, MD

Dr. Kupersmith has served on the faculty of the medical schools of New York University, the University of Louisville, Michigan State University, and Texas Tech University. A former ballet dancer with the New York City Ballet Company, Dr. Kupersmith has established innovative and successful performing arts programs at these medical centers. She has made numerous presentations across the country in the area of mental health of performing artists.

In addition to her clinical roles, Dr. Kupersmith has extensive experience as a general psychiatry and psychotherapy supervisor. In recognition of her expertise, she has received resident teaching awards at Michigan State, Texas Tech and Georgetown University.

Alan M. Langlieb, MD, MPH, MBA

Dr. Alan Langlieb currently serves as the Medical Director of the inpatient psychiatric unit of Medstar Georgetown University Hospital. He is also an author and educator, whose career interests have spanned three decades in a broad range of professional areas, including mental health in the workplace, trauma and resilience, health services research, health promotion, forensic psychiatry, and preventive medicine.

Dr. Langlieb specializes in treating adults with a variety of mood and behavioral disorders in the inpatient, outpatient, and partial hospitalization settings. He speaks nationally on topics such as health promotion and wellness, the benefits and assessment of quality care, stress and resilience, functional outcomes and productivity, employee safety, violence in the workplace, disability prevention, and the cost-effectiveness of psychiatric care.

Prior to joining Georgetown University Hospital, Dr. Langlieb spearheaded initiatives between academia and the corporate communities in his role as both past-Chairperson of the American Psychiatric Association Committee on Business Relations and as full-time faculty at both The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He has expertise in forensic medicine and has contracted with government agencies including the CIA and the US Department of Justice. Additionally, he has co-developed innovative health promotion initiatives in preventive medicine and public health which resulted in strategic collaborations with corporations such as Johnson & Johnson, Glaxo SmithKline, Constellation Energy Group, Children’s Television Workshop, The Lyons Group, NBC-TV, and the Maryland Department of Education.

As a recipient of the American Medical Association’s Award for Excellence, Dr. Langlieb has been published in numerous peer-reviewed medical journals and has served as a peer reviewer for The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Journal of Managed Care, The European Journal of Psychiatry, and The Primary Care Companion to the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. He is a past editor of the student section of JAMA. He is co-editor of a widely used textbook in the field of occupational medicine and psychiatry entitled, “Mental Health and Productivity in the Workplace.” He is currently an Associate Editor of the journal Crisis, Stress, and Human Resilience.

Dr. Langlieb received his medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine. He earned his MPH and MBA degrees and completed two residencies in both Psychiatry and Preventive Medicine at The Johns Hopkins University and is a Diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Ted S. Liao, MD

Dr. Ted Liao is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University School of Medicine and is the associate director of residency training for the Department of Psychiatry at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. He received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and his medical degree from the College of Physicians & Surgeons at Columbia University before completing his residency in psychiatry at Georgetown University Hospital, where he also served as chief resident. Dr. Liao was honored with several awards for teaching medical students and was named Resident Psychiatrist of the Year by the Washington Psychiatric Society. Prior to joining the faculty, he completed a psychosomatic medicine fellowship in the department of psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine. In addition to seeing patients in the outpatient program for psychotherapy and psychopharmacology, Dr. Liao’s clinical work at Georgetown also includes evaluations of organ transplant candidates, care of patients undergoing treatment for cancer, and consultations on medically hospitalized patients.

Kara Lowinger, LICSW

Kara obtained her Master of Social Work degree in 2008 from Washington University. Since 2012 she has been the Director of Behavioral Health at Mary’s Center where she also served as Senior Clinical Manager and psychotherapist.

Megan McCormick, Ph.D.

Dr. McCormick King is a child clinical psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry and Department of Pediatrics at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. Dr. McCormick King provides mental health consultation to children and families in receiving medical care at the MedStar Pediatric Outpatient Subspecialty Clinics. She also is involved in community-based programming to increase access to mental healthcare in primary care and school settings. Dr. McCormick King’s clinical and research interests focus on the relationship between psychological factors and medical outcomes in chronically ill children and adolescents, as well as improving access to mental healthcare for at-risk populations through integrated models of service delivery. She also participates in ongoing training and supervision of graduate students and trainees. Dr. McCormick King earned her B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy at Mercer University, then earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Georgia. She completed her pre- and post-doctoral training at Children’s National Medical Center.

Mihriye Mete, Ph.D.

Dr. Mete earned a bachelor’s degree in Management Engineering, with a specialization in Economics and Mathematics, from Istanbul Technical University and received a PhD in Political Science, with emphasis on statistical methods, from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Michigan State University and University of Georgia. She taught public policy, statistics and research methods at Georgetown University as a visiting professor and at Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) as an adjunct faculty. Currently, she is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry’s Research Division and manages the Biostatistics Department at MedStar Health Research Institute.

Dr. Mete has extensive collaboration experience and routinely assists MedStar and GU investigators in the development and management of quantitative interdisciplinary research. Specifically, she develops proposals, analyzes data, and assists with manuscript preparation and submission.She has a broad research portfolio that includes studies in mental health, diabetes, nutrition and cardiovascular disease.

Areas of Research: Anxiety, stress and depression, Nutrition, obesity and diabetes and their relationship to mental health, Stress and cardiovascular disease, Research design and statistical modeling

Michael Morse, MD, MPA

Dr. Morse is a child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist and an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Georgetown University School of Medicine and Medstar Georgetown University Hospital.  His research and clinical interests include the treatment of individuals with ADHD across the lifespan, care for LGBTQIA+ individuals, and global mental health.  Dr. Morse’s work is guided by feminist and anti-racist values.  He attended Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, completed his psychiatry residency at George Washington University, and completed his child psychiatry fellowship at Children’s National Health System.

Maryland Pao, MD

Dr. Pao is clinical and deputy scientific director of the Intramural Research Program at the National Institute of Mental Health. She is chief of the Psychiatry Consultation Liaison Service (Adult and Child) in the Clinical Center.

A native of Bethesda, MD, Dr. Pao attended Wellesley College before completing a Bachelor of Arts/Medical Degree Program at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She completed pediatric and psychiatric residency training as well as a child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Pao was the director of the Pediatric Consultation Liaison Service in the Children’s Center of Johns Hopkins Hospital as well as the director of pediatric consultation liaison and emergency psychiatric services at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. She is board-certified in general psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, and psychosomatic medicine. Dr. Pao is a past recipient of the NIMH Outstanding Resident Award (1991) and has received teaching awards both during her time at Johns Hopkins and at Children’s National Medical Center. She also received the NIMH Hannah Cashman Memorial Award for Excellence in Psychiatric Consultation Liaison Service (2003).

Dr. Pao’s clinical and research interests are in the complex interactions between somatic and psychiatric symptoms in chronic diseases of childhood such as HIV, other primary immune disorders, and pediatric oncology. Dr. Pao is Co-Chair of the Physically Ill Child Committee in the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and councilor of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine. She was elected to the American College of Psychiatrists in 2010. She has written more than 120 papers and chapters and served as a senior editor for the Quick Reference for Pediatric Oncology Clinicians: The Psychiatric and Psychological Dimensions of Pediatric Cancer Symptom Management, Oxford University Press (2015). She helped develop the ASQ™ (Ask Suicide-Screening Questions), a suicide screening tool for pediatric emergency departments, and Voicing My CHOICES™, an advance care planning guide for adolescents and young adults. Dr. Pao is recognized for her leadership and training in pediatric psychosomatic medicine.

Nicole Perras, MD

Dr. Nicole Perras is a psychiatrist who specializes in Maternal Mental Health and Reproductive Psychiatry. She joined the faculty at Medstar Georgetown University in 2016 and is working primarily in the Georgetown Women’s Mental Health Program. Her main focus is on the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders during pregnancy and in the postpartum period and supporting women through transition stages such as infertility and motherhood. Dr. Perras also practices at Mary’s Center and Washington Hospital Center and is currently working to develop perinatal mental health programs at these institutions. In addition to her work in maternal mental health, Dr. Perras also sees adult patients in general psychiatry and supervises resident psychiatrists in the Medstar Georgetown University Hospital psychiatry clinics. Dr. Perras received her medical degree at Boston University School of Medicine and she completed her psychiatry resident training at George Washington University Hospital.

Shy C. Porter, PhD, LMFT 

Dr. Porter is a relationship scientist with expertise in couple relationships, perinatal mental health, and the intersection of the two. As a clinician, she specializes in work with couples; pregnant and postpartum women (alone or with their partners) contending with perinatal mental health concerns; and adolescent and adult individuals. As a researcher, she studies mental health conditions associated with the preconception, pregnancy, and postpartum periods and works to develop clinical intervention strategies to bring psychological relief to women and their partners. She also studies romantic relationship development, maintenance, and dissolution processes for adolescents and adults. Race, culture, racial/ethnic health disparities, and the experiences of racial/ethnic minorities are central components of her research.

Dr. Porter is clinically trained as a marriage and family therapist and holds a PhD in Family Science (the study of close interpersonal relationships and all of the micro- and macro-level factors that influence them) with an emphasis in maternal and child health.

Sean Pustilnik, MD

Dr. Pustilnik is the director of the Inpatient Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry service and provides consultative service to medically ill pediatric inpatients, outpatient consultation through the Integrated Care Clinic at Georgetown Pediatrics of Tenleytown, and telephonic consultation through the DC MAP program, as well as psychiatric care of children with mood and anxiety disorders, disruptive behavior disorders and ADHD. His clinical and teaching interests include pediatric psychosomatic medicine and the integration of mental health into pediatric primary care. Dr. Pustilnik completed his B.A. in Behavioral Biology at Johns Hopkins University, M.S. in Physiology and Biophysics at Georgetown University, and graduated from the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. He completed his General Psychiatry Residency at the VCU School of Medicine hospital, and fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical Institution.

Madhu Rao, MD MS

Dr. Madhumathi (Madhu) Rao is an Adult Psychiatrist with a special interest in women’s mental health and focuses on optimizing medications and incorporating therapy and mindfulness during the hormonal changes of pregnancy and menopause. She specializes in Mood and Anxiety disorders and Adult ADHD. She teaches psychiatry residents, family medicine residents and medical students at Georgetown University’s School of Medicine. Additionally, in her role as the lead psychiatrist in the collaborative care clinics at Montgomery Cares, Dr. Rao leads a multi-disciplinary team to provide comprehensive care for a culturally diverse, uninsured population with mood and anxiety disorders, PTSD and complex medical co-morbidities.

As an active member of the National Task Force for Women’s Reproductive Mental Health, Dr. Rao contributed to the didactic curriculum in reproductive psychiatry and to the first textbook published by the American Psychiatric Association on Women’s Reproductive Mental Health. 

Education: 

Dr. Rao received her M.D. from the New York University School of Medicine in New York and completed her Psychiatry residency at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Rao also holds a MS in Computer Science and Bio-medical Informatics from Vanderbilt University and a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Sri Venkateswara University in India.  

Aaron Rakow, Ph.D.

Aaron Rakow, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Rakow’s professional background focuses on improving access to empirically supported mental health interventions via training and dissemination efforts within school systems and primary care offices. His teaching and clinical emphasis focuses on cognitive behavioral therapy for child and adolescent anxiety disorders. He also provides supervision in the child and adolescent fellowship program.

Matthew J. Reinhard, Ph.D.

The WRIISC-DC is a national VA Post-Deployment Health Resource and provides post-deployment health expertise to Veterans and their health care providers through clinical programs, research, education, and risk communication.  Dr. Reinhard obtained his B.A. degree from Long Island University, his M.A. and Doctorate of Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University, and interned at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center (APA). He completed a two-year National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) post-doctoral fellowship in neuropsychology at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.

Areas of Research: Cognitive and Neuropsychological factors of PTSD, Complementary and Integrative treatment for PTSD, Deployment health, Neurocognitive effects of environmental toxin exposure

Lindsey Sankin, Ph.D.

Lindsey Sankin, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). She provides individual and group therapy for adults in the Outpatient Psychiatry Department at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital (MGUH). Within the Psychiatry Residency program, she teaches didactic material on CBT and DBT, and she provides the CBT supervision for PGY3s and PGY4s. Prior to joining MGUH, Dr. Sankin was on the faculty at Weill Cornell Medicine, where she supervised Psychiatry Fellows, Postdoctoral Fellows in Clinical Psychology, and Psychology Externs. She did her postdoctoral fellowship at New York Presbyterian Hospital – Westchester Division and her internship at Bellevue Hospital in New York City.

Shilpa Saroop, Ph.D.

Shilpa Saroop, PhD is a licensed psychologist in the Women’s Mental Health Program. She specializes in women’s perinatal mental health and treats mood and anxiety disorders during pregnancy and postpartum. Dr. Saroop also provides support for women as they transition to motherhood. She conducts individuals, couples, and family therapy in the Women’s Mental Health Program. Another area of focus for Dr. Saroop includes providing support to families of babies receiving care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). There, she provides on-site consultation to treatment providers and brief interventions, assessment and referrals for individuals and families who have a child receiving care in the NICU. She also leads support groups for family members. Dr. Saroop also participates in the training of psychiatry residents here at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. Prior to joining MedStar Georgetown, Dr. Saroop served as an assistant professor and directed clinical services and training of medical and non-medical students in the Department of Psychiatry at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, PA.

Pamela A. Saunders, Ph.D.

Pamela A. Saunders, PhD, is an associate professor in the departments of neurology and psychiatry. With a doctorate in sociolinguistics from Georgetown University, her research focuses on language, aging, doctor/patient communication, narrative and reflective writing, and medical education. Her research portfolio includes funding from the Alzheimer’s Association, the National Institute on Aging, the Hartford Foundation, the Association for Standardized Patient Educators, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. She serves in several leadership roles related to medical education, including as chief course director of the doctoring curriculum and co-clerkship director of the geriatrics clerkship. She is a long-standing member of Georgetown University Medical Center’s Committee on Medical Education and also serves on the Committee on Appointments and Promotions. She co-founded the geriatrics curriculum in 2000 for the medical students at Georgetown’s School of Medicine with funding from the Hartford Foundation. In addition, she teaches qualitative research methods, reflective writing, and Mind Body Medicine skills to medical and graduate students.

Areas of Research: Language, Communication, Doctor-Patient Interaction, Communication Training of Clinicians, Students, and Caregivers, Dementia, Medical Education, Narrative Medicine

Barbara Schwartz, Ph.D.

Dr. Schwartz’s research program is focused on understanding cognitive and emotional impairments in schizophrenia. Her research extends from basic studies of human memory to clinical trials designed to reduce cognitive impairment, symptoms, and functional disability.  Her research group has used experimental cognitive and behavioral tasks, eye tracking, brain imaging, and pharmacological challenges to study cognitive functioning in clinical disorders.

Colin Stewart, MD

Dr. Stewart is the training director for the Child and Adolescent Residency Training program. He also provides clinical care, including directing a clinic dedicated to diagnosis and treatment of ADHD and disruptive behavior disorders. Dr. Stewart completed his internship and residency at UCSF and a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at Emory University School of Medicine. He serves on the AAMC’s Group for Diversity and Inclusion.

diagnosis and treatment of ADHD and disruptive behavior disorders. Dr. Stewart completed his internship and residency at UCSF and a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at Emory University School of Medicine. He serves on the AAMC’s Group for Diversity and Inclusion.

Pauline Tsai, MD

Pauline Tsai, MD joined the outpatient psychiatry department at Georgetown in fall 2016, with a focus on patients with chronic medical illness. She also supervises residents, fellows, and medical students in the inpatient consultation liaison service at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and in the outpatient clinic. Dr. Tsai is board certified in adult psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine and completed medical school at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. She completed her residency and psychosomatic training at NYU/Bellevue.  Particular areas of interest include: cultural psychiatry, especially work with the Chinese American population, clinical ethics, collaborative care.

Antoinette Valenti, MD

Antoinette Valenti, MD is the psychiatry residency site director at the Washington DC Veteran Affairs Medical Center and assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University. Dr. Valenti earned both her bachelor’s and medical degrees from the State University of New York at Buffalo and completed her residency and fellowship training at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. She is board certified in general psychiatry and has subspecialty board certification in child and adolescent psychiatry. She also has academic appointments at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, George Washington University School of Medicine and Howard University School of Medicine.

Dr. Valenti treats patients on the acute psychiatry inpatient unit at the Washington DC VA Hospital. She supervises resident physicians and educates medical students from Georgetown University School of Medicine while overseeing education for all psychiatric residents and medical students at the VA hospital. Dr. Valenti’s areas of interest include substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder and mood disorders.

Karimah Ware, PsyD

Karimah Ware, Psy.D. is a Clinical Psychologist with joint appointments in the Departments of Psychiatry and Pediatrics. She is licensed in both Washington, D.C. and Maryland and has an expertise in child and adolescent psychology. Dr. Ware has a particular interest in working with youth, whom research has indicated, as being at an increased risk for development of mental disorders. Her areas of specialty are school mental health; conducting various psychological assessments; facilitating individual, group, and family therapy; providing supervision and training; crisis management; and teacher, psychiatric, and parent consultation. Dr. Ware has worked with patients diagnosed with disorders such as anxiety, depression, bereavement, trauma, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

Dr. Ware, who holds a Psy.D. from the American School of Professional Psychology, has worked in settings ranging from schools to community mental health centers to psychiatric hospitals. In addition, Dr. Ware has facilitated various workshops, to include effective classroom management, depression in youth, and parenting trainings, to name a few. She has a passion to train and supervise others entering the mental health field, and has formed great working relationships with other local universities, as she has had the opportunity to supervise and train clinical psychology externs, interns, associates, and other licensed psychologists. Dr. Ware successfully completed post-licensure, advanced training at the Washington School of Psychiatry in its two-year child and adolescent psychodynamic psychotherapy training program.

Corey Williams, MA, MD

Dr. Williams recently completed the Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Program at University of Pennsylvania-Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He is a former Washington, D.C. public school teacher and received a Masters in Teaching from American University. He then received an MD from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and completed his adult psychiatric residency training at the Yale University Psychiatry Residency Program, where he served on the Departmental Diversity & Inclusion Committee and received recognition for patient advocacy. Dr. Williams is a former APA/SAMHSA Minority Fellow where he conducted research on racial bias in physician recruitment. In addition to providing clinical care in the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Division’s outpatient programs, he will be a part of the Early Childhood Innovation Network and the Center for Wellness In School Environments. Dr. Williams will also dedicate time to research – his interests are focused on examining the ways in which racism shapes medical practice and developing antiracism curriculum for medical trainees.

Babette A. Wise, LICSW

Babette A. Wise, LICSW, is the director of the Substance Abuse Program in the Department of Psychiatry. She has been a full-time member of the department since July 1982. At that time she and Dr. William E. Flynn established the addiction program. She treats individuals, couples and families who are struggling with the disease of substance abuse.

Ms. Wise completed her Master of Arts in special education from The George Washington University in 1975 and her Master of Social Work from The Catholic University of America in 1981. She teaches medical students and psychiatric residents about substance abuse. She also supervises residents in psychotherapy. She has been interviewed extensively over the years in a variety of media outlets about substance abuse and is a resource for colleagues and members of the community about the disease of addiction and treatment.

Willa Xiong, MD

Dr. Xiong is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University School of Medicine and the medical director of the Georgetown Partial Hospitalization Program. In addition, she provides care for adults in the outpatient clinic, and also teaches and supervises Georgetown medical students and psychiatry residents.

Dr. Xiong is board certified in general psychiatry and forensic psychiatry; she completed her residency training at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and a fellowship in forensic psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine. Her research has centered on neuromodulation treatments for treatment-resistant depression and conceptualization of extreme overvalued beliefs in the forensic arena.

Wendy Zack, PhD, LICSW

Dr. Zack received her Ph.D. from the Clinical Social Work Institute and her Masters from McGill University. She is an experienced clinician and supervisor and provides individual and couples therapy with a focus on psychodynamic psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and supportive psychotherapy. She supervises and teaches in the residents training program. Her areas of interest include women’s mental health, mood and anxiety disorders, and stage-of-life transitions.

Affiliate Faculty