Faculty Profiles
Dr. Peter Buckley serves as Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior and as Associate Dean for Leadership Development at the Medical College of Georgia. Dr. Buckley came to MCG in 2000 from Case Western Reserve University where he was Vice Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Medical Director for the state psychiatric services in Cleveland. He earned a medical degree from Ireland’s University College Dublin School of Medicine. He completed internships at St. Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin and a psychiatry residency and research fellowship at St. John of God Psychiatric Services in Dublin. Dr. Buckley was recently elected chair of the PanAmerican Division of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He is also inaugural chair of the National Institutes of Health’s Interventions Committee for schizophrenia spectrum disorders, personality disorders and disorders of late life. He previously served on a subcommittee of the National Institute of Mental Health’s Data Safety and Monitoring Board and Loan Repayment Program Special Review Panel. He formerly served as president of the American Association of Chairs of Departments of Psychiatry and is a member of the National Foundation for Mental Health Board of Directors and the International Congress on Schizophrenia Advisory Board. He is on the Scientific Council of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders. |
Josephine Albritton, MD Dr. Josephine Albritton completed her MD at Medical College of Georgia after receiving her BS from Augusta State University. She serves as Director of Clinical Skills Center. |
John G. Arena, PhD Dr. John Arena is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior at the Medical College of Georgia, and Lead Psychologist at the Charlie Norwood Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia. He is the recipient of the 2009 Distinguished Scientist Award of the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback and is a fellow of Divisions 18 (Psychologists in Public Service) and 38 (Health Psychology) of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Arena is currently president of the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback and has twice been president of the Augusta Area Psychological Association. Dr. Arena's area of expertise is psychological and psychophysiological assessment and treatment (e.g., biofeedback, relaxation therapy, cognitive behavior therapy) of chronic pain and the psychophysiological disorders. He has had over 100 articles and chapters published in numerous journals, including Headache, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Neurology, and Pain. |
Patrick A. Boudewyns, PhD Dr. Patrick Boudewyns is a Professor and Clinical Psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior. He presently works part-time. He retired from the Augusta VA Medical Center in 2000 where he had served as the Chief Psychologist and the Executive of the Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences Service Line. Dr. Boudewyns received his Ph.D from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee in 1968. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Georgia Psychological Association. He is a past president of the Division of Psychologists in Public Service of the American Psychological Association and the Association of VA Chief Psychologists. His research and clinical specialties are in the treatment of anxiety disorders and more specifically Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. |
Bernard Davidson, PhD Dr. Bernard Davidson is associate professor of Psychiatry and Health Behavior. He is a licensed psychologist in Georgia and has served on the faculty as the Director of Family Therapy Training for psychiatry and psychology residency training programs since 1989. His clinical practice focuses on child, adolescent, and family issues associated with relationship distress. He also provides individual psychotherapy, for a number of presenting problems, for children and adults that are associated with anxiety, depression, and mood disturbance. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia, an MSW from the University of Georgia, and a M.A. from Farleigh Dickinson University. His current research interests focus on multiple family group programs as diversions to youth probation and factors associated with youth delinquency and prevention. He has received grant funding and has published in this area. Prior to his appointment at MCG, he has served as associate professor and Associate Chairperson for the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Texas Tech University from 1980-1988. |
Denise R. Evans, MD Dr. Denise Evans is the Service Line Executive for Mental Health and Geriatrics at the Charlie Norwood VAMC - Augusta where she oversees psychiatry residency training and medical student education. She received her doctorate from the Medical College of Ohio after completing her BS at the University of Toledo. |
Adriana Foster, MD Dr Adriana Foster started to work with severely mentally ill people since her residency at Baylor. As a faculty member at Baylor College of Medicine, she performed inpatient, outpatient and Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) work at Michael E DeBakey VA in Houston TX, obtained certification in electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) from the Association for Convulsive Therapy and was an integral part of the ECT team at the VA. Currently, Dr Foster treats patients with psychotic and mood disorders at MCG Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic in Stoney Building and at Serenity Behavioral Systems in Augusta, GA. Her teaching areas include psychopharmacology, measurement of psychopathology with rating scales and medical student education in psychiatry. She has published peer reviewed articles in Biological Psychiatry, Neuropsychopharmacology, General Hospital Psychiatry, The Journal OF ECT, Psychiatric Clinics of North America and co-authored book chapters for Conn’s Current Therapy and the American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Psychopharmacology. Her clinical interests include chronic severe mental illness, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, pharmacogenetics, and ECT. |
Priscilla Gilman, MD Dr. Priscilla Gilman completed her MD at Case Western Reserve after receiving her BA from Swarthmore College. Her areas of teaching include Psychotherapy (DBT, CBT, systems, interpersonal, supportive, and dynamic), individual, couple, group |
Henry M. Hobby, MD Dr. Henry “Mac” Hobby completed his MD at Medical College of Georgia after receiving his BS from Davidson College. His clinical interests include Forensic Psychiatry and Bipolar Disorder. Dr. Hobby conducts research on Mood Disorders, Anxiety Disorders, Alzheimer’s, Dementia and Schizophrenia. His areas of teaching include Mood Disorders, Anxiety Disorders and Psychiatric Nosology. |
Amy House, PhD Dr. Amy House completed her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of Georgia in 1996. She completed internship and postdoctoral fellowship training at the Medical College of Georgia, and has been on the faculty since that time. Dr. House’s clinical and teaching interests focus broadly on the psychology of women, and more specifically on the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder related to sexual trauma and intimate partner violence, as well as the treatment of borderline personality disorder, and depression in pregnancy and the postpartum period. Dr. House is a cognitive-behavioral therapist and heads the CBT training program for psychology and psychiatry residents in the department as well as a specialty clinical program in dialectical behavior therapy. Dr. House’s research interests have focused on the impact of trauma on mental and physical health outcomes. More recently, she has become interested in issues of stigma and prejudice, and is involved in research on reducing mental health stigma among medical professionals. |
Brian Kirkpatrick, MD Dr. Brian Kirkpatrick is Vice Chair of Psychiatry and Health Behavior. Dr. Kirkpatrick's research focus is in schizophrenia. He is pursuing projects in two major areas: 1) Investigating the medical problems and abnormalities associated with schizophrenia. The focus is on medical problems that may be inherent to the disease itself, rather than such factors as poor health habits and medication side effects. As an outgrowth of this work, he has started to investigate adult, circulating stem cells. One of the hypotheses being tested in this area is that schizophrenia is a syndrome of accelerated aging. He is also investigating the possibility that reverses some of these metabolic problems may improve the neuropsychiatric symptoms in people with psychosis. 2) Dr. Kirkpatrick has a longstanding interest in negative symptoms, and in the group of patients with "deficit schizophrenia" who have enduring, idiopathic negative symptoms. This group appears to have a disease separate from other forms of schizophrenia. His current focus is on the differential genetics of this group. His clinical interests include psychotic disorders. |
Christian R. Lemmon, PhD Dr. Christian Lemmon completed received his PhD from University of Mississippi after receiving his MA from University of Texas – El Paso and his BA from Washington College. Dr. Lemmon’s areas of teaching include eating disorders, obesity, psychotherapy process seminar and Essentials of Clinical Medicine II (ECM II-Problem-Based Learning). He serves as the Health Behavior Program Leader for the Psychology Training Program and is a member of the Residency Education Committee, Medical Student Advisory Group. He conducts research on Eating disorders, psychological implications of bariatric surgery and prevention and treatment of childhood obesity. Dr. Lemmon’s clinical interests involve assessment, individual, group and family therapy for anorexia nervosa, binge eating disorder and other related feeding disturbances. He is also involved in the assessment and treatment of bariatric surgery candidates. |
Eric Lewkowiez, MD Dr. Eric Lewkowiez is an assistant professor in the Division of Child, Adolescent and Family Psychiatry. He received his MD degree from the University of South Carolina and an MS in Microbiology and Immunology from the Medical University of South Carolina. He completed a General Psychiatry Residency and Child and Adolescent Fellowship at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Dr. Lewkowiez came to MCG in 2003, after 3 years of private practice in Columbia, SC. He is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Inc. He functions primarily as Director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Outpatient Teaching Clinic and Medical Supervisor to the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Consultation/ Liaison Service. His teaching areas include Basic Pediatric Psychopharmacology, Advanced Pediatric Psychopathology, Development, and ADHD. Dr. Lewkowiez's clinical areas of interest include ADHD, Pervasive Developmental Disorders, and Mood Disorders. He is also very interested in medical student education and advocating for children. He was recently elected Member-at- Large for the Executive Committee of the Georgia Council for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. |
Donna Londino, MD Dr. Donna Londino is an Associate Professor in the Division of Child, Adolescent, and Family Psychiatry at the Medical College of Georgia. She is also Medical Director of Inpatient Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Services. She is a graduate of the MCG School of Medicine and received her residency and fellowship training through the Department of psychiatry and Health Behavior at MCG. She is board certified in both general psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry. Dr. Londino's clinical interests include acute stabilization of severe mental health disorders in children and adolescents through multidisciplinary inpatient care, outpatient treatment including social skills training of individuals with high functioning autism and Asperger’s syndrome, psychopharmacology, and therapy for young children and their families. Her research interests include neurofunctioning and psychopharmacologic treatment of mental health disorders in the pediatric population. She is active in medical education and curriculum development for medical students and residents and serves on several committees related to the same at the Medical College and nationally through the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. |
P. Alex Mabe, PhD P. Alex Mabe received his doctoral degree in clinical psychology from Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. Currently, he is professor, Director of Psychology Residency and Postdoctoral Training, and Chief of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior at the Medical College of Georgia. He is currently the principal investigator for the MCG-VAMC Consortium- Psychology Workforce Development program. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Graduate Psychology Education Program having successfully obtain grant awards on this project since 2002. His publications include over 40 articles in the areas of clinical child and pediatric psychology as well as other mental health care issues. He is a member of the American Psychological Association and a Fellow of the Georgia Psychological Association. He has been a reviewer for 12 professional journals and Dr. Mabe has made numerous presentations at national and international professional meetings on topics related to children’s mental health, family and parent management training, and the recovery model of mental health services. Dr. Mabe is licensed as a psychologist in Georgia and South Carolina and has been providing clinical psychology services to children and their families in the Central Savannah River Area for over 26 years including extensive work with military families on assignment at Fort Gordon, Georgia. His current research interests include parenting and child treatment services. In addition he is a member of Project GREAT (Georgia Recovery-Based Educational Approach to Treatment) that is piloting an effort to assist in system transformation of an academic psychiatry department to a Recovery model of care through teaching and dissemination. |
Sahebarao P. Mahadik, PhD Dr. Sahebarao Mahadik received his PhD, BS and MS from University of Poona. His clinical interests incorporate Schizophrenia, Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Stroke. Teaching areas include Neurobiology and Psychopharmacology of Psychiatric Disorders. Dr. Mahadik conducts research in the areas of Neurobiology, Neurochemistry of Schizophrenia and its treatment and Neuroprotection after brain injury. |
Dr. Donald Manning is Professor of Psychiatry and Health Behavior, and Director of Public Health at MCG. He has recently served as Medical Director for the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities and is currently Special Consultant to the Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. Dr. Manning is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists, a Fellow of the American College of Physician Executives, and Past-President of the Georgia Psychiatric Physicians Association. He has previously held faculty appointments at the Medical University of South Carolina, Emory University, Medical College of Pennsylvania/Hahnemann Medical College, Temple University, and Creighton University. He is board certified in psychiatry and in geriatric psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Following graduation from Duke University with a degree in chemistry, Dr. Manning received his medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina, where he also completed his residency training. He has served in many administrative and educational positions, including on the faculty at the Medical University of South Carolina as Director of Residency Training and Associate Dean for Admissions, on the faculty at Emory University as Vice-Chairman and Interim Chairman as well as Director of the Geriatric Center, at Crozer-Keystone Health System (PA) as Hospital Administrator and Administrator of Senior and Behavioral Health Services, at Alegent Health (NE) as Chief Medical Officer, and at Central State Hospital (GA) as Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Manning also has degrees of Master of Medical Management and Master of Business Administration. He has numerous publications, book reviews, lectures, consultations and book chapters resulting from a career focused on public and geriatric psychiatry, medical management and bipolar/mood disorders. |
Ramanujam Mohan, MBBS Dr. Ramanujam Mohan completed his doctorate at University of Madras. His areas of teaching include Forensic Psychiatry and Administrative Psychiatry. Dr. Mohan’s clinical interests involve Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Forensic Psychiatry. The majority of his clinical activity takes place at the Charlie Norwood VAMC - Augusta where he is involved in supervising and training psychiatry residents. |
Carmen Nichita, MD Dr. Carmen Nichita is assistant professor and director of the recently approved Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Program. She obtained her Medical Doctor degree at Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, Romania. Dr. Nichita joined the psychiatry department at the Medical College of Georgia after completing a general psychiatry residency program at the MetroHealth Medical Center (Case Western Reserve University) in Cleveland, OH and at the Medical College of Georgia. She pursued one additional year of training in forensic psychiatry at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia, SC. She is currently board certified in both, general psychiatry and forensic psychiatry. Her interests are related to the forensic psychiatry subspecialty such as civil issues (medical malpractice, sexual harassment, independent medical evaluations, personal injuries), or criminal issues (competency to stand trial and criminal responsibility evaluations, evaluations for the sentencing phase of the capital cases, etc.). |
Ananda Pathiraja, MBBS |
Dale Peeples, MD After completing medical school at USC in Columbia, South Carolina, Dr. Dale Peeples continued his training at MCG in the Department of Psychiatry. He completed his internship, residency, and fellowship in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at MCG. Since staying on as faculty, Dr. Peeples continues to work in both inpatient and outpatient services in the child and adolescent division. He primarily works with a child and adolescent population, but does see some adults with ADHD. Further, he continues to work in the field of telepsychiatry throughout his training and provides services to Georgians in under-served areas in this manner. Dr. Peeples also has an interest in juvenile corrections and currently provides services to the Regional Youth Detention Centers of Augusta and Sandersville, Georgia. Additionally, he has recently begun working on child custody evaluations. |
Anilkumar R. Pillai, PhD Dr. Anilkumar Pillai earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from M.S.University of Baroda, India. He began his postdoctoral career at Population Council, Rockefeller University, New York and came to MCG in 2004. Dr. Pillai’s research interest is to understand the role of Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) in the pathophysiology and treatment outcome of schizophrenia. Dr. Pillai’s research strategy involves the cellular and molecular techniques using postmortem brain samples, clinical samples and animal studies. The major projects are (1) to examine the role of antisense and epigenetic mechanisms of regulation of BDNF gene expression in schizophrenia, (2) to explore novel treatment strategies with BDNF signaling as a molecular target for schizophrenia, (3) to understand the post-translational mechanism of regulation of BDNF and BDNF receptor, TrkB following chronic stress. |
Niranjimi Reddy, MBBS Dr. Niranjini Reddy completed her doctorate at Osmania University. Her areas of teaching include Psychiatric care in the prison population. Clinical interests are comprised of Crisis Intervention, Outpatient Psychiatry and Chronic/Persistent Mental Illness. Dr. Reddy has expertise in the area of Self Mutilation in the prison population. |
Susan D. Sato, PhD Dr. Susan Sato is an assistant professor and clinical psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior. She is the Director of the MCG Employee-Faculty Assistance Program. Dr. Sato received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Washington State University and completed internship at the Long Beach VA Medical Center in health psychology. She subsequently completed a fellowship in geriatric psychology at the Palo Alto VAMC and an additional fellowship in health psychology at the Medical College of Georgia. Her professional interests are in employee psychological wellness, severe mental illnesses, geriatric/caregiver issues, and clinical training of residents. |
Simon Sebastian, MD Dr. Simon Sebastian, Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior at the Medical College of Georgia received his medical education at St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore, India. He completed his psychiatry residency at the Philadelphia Psychiatric Center and was on the faculty of Louisiana State University School of Medicine in Shreveport before moving to Augusta. As a faculty member of MCG, he was the Medical Director of Georgia Regional State Hospital for nine years. Since then he has been at the outpatient clinic at MCG and is currently the Director of the Schizophrenia and Mood Disorder Program and the Mental Health/Mental Retardation Clinic. He is Board Certified in General and Forensic Psychiatry. His research interests include Schizophrenia, Mood Disorders and managing the psychiatric problems of developmentally challenged individuals. He has extensive experience in Disability Determination for Social Security, Veterans and Independent Medical Evaluations. Recently, “eMedicine by WebMD” recognized his active contributions to the peer-reviewed, online eMedicine Clinical Knowledge Base on his article entitled “Mental Retardation”. eMedicine is the most authoritative and accessible point of care medical reference available to physicians and other health care professionals on the Internet. eMedicine has a worldwide audience, representing some 230 countries. The site is part of the Medscape Professional Network, which receives an average 1.5 million physician-visits per month. |
Sandra G. B. Sexson, MD Dr. Sandra Sexson is Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics and Chief as well as Training Director of the Division of Child, Adolescent, and Family Psychiatry within the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Georgia. Dr. Sexson graduated from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine and completed postgraduate training in Child Development (University of Mississippi), General Psychiatry (University of Texas at San Antonio) and Child Psychiatry (Washington University in St. Louis). Prior to her present appointment she has served as Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Training Director at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio and at Emory University. Her primary professional focus has been in psychiatric education with a clinical and research focus in education and in the emotional issues of children and adolescents with chronic medical illnesses. She is an active leader in psychiatric education in the United States, having served in her career as an officer in various positions including president of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Training, as a member of the Psychiatry RRC and as its Vice-Chair and Chair, as a team leader in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry as well as a member of various test development committees and as a senior examiner in both Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, as a leader in the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) as an officer and extensive work with Education and Training as well as Lifelong Learning, with the American College of Psychiatrist as both the former Editor-in-Chief of PRITE, the Psychiatry in-training examination and the founding editor of the child psychiatry in-training examination. Presently she is serving as chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s Council on Medical Education and Lifelong Learning and continues to chair the AACAP’s Work Group on Lifelong Learning and continues to work on a number of national committees addressing advances in educational and assessment issues in psychiatric education and is the president-elect of the Society of Professors of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the group that represents the heads of Divisions of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the United States. Clinically Dr. Sexson’s focused interest has been in the areas of infant psychiatry and emotional issues of children and adolescents with chronic medical illnesses although her practice runs the full gamut of child and adolescent psychiatry. She has been regularly named to the prestigious lists of America’s Top Doctors and Best Doctors in America and has been named to the Top Psychiatrists in America. |
Nitin S. Shendarkar, MD
Dr. Nitin Shendarkar is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Health Behavior. He obtained his medical degree from India. He completed General Adult Psychiatry residency training at the Medical College of Georgia. A winner of the E.J. McCranie award for clinical excellence in Psychiatry, he joined the faculty in 2004. He is board certified in General Adult Psychiatry. Dr. Shendarkar has also completed a research fellowship in Psychopharmacology. He has authored several articles published in peer-reviewed journals of Psychiatry. He leads the MCG Psychiatry clinic initiative in a rural setting in central Georgia. His current work focus includes a team-based approach in acute inpatient care in correctional mental health, with emphasis on treatment of severe self-mutilation. His research interests include psychopharmacology of psychotic and mood disorders and prevention of self-mutilation. |
Stewart A. Shevitz, MD Dr. Stewart Shevitz has been at the Medical College of Georgia since 1992, and currently serves as Director of the General Psychiatry training program as well as overseeing medical student education activities in the Department. After obtaining his B.A. from the University of Virginia in psychology, Dr. Shevitz attended the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He completed his psychiatric training at Dartmouth medical school, and then served two years as the staff psychiatrist on the Navajo Indian reservation in Arizona. Following 2 years as an attending on the C-L service at Vanderbilt University, Dr. Shevitz spent 13 years as Director of Psychiatry at a large general hospital in Eugene, Oregon. Upon obtaining his Masters in Health Administration degree from the University of Colorado, he returned to academics at the Medical College of Georgia where he served as Interim Chair from 1996-2000 and since 2000 as Director of Psychiatric Education. Dr. Shevitz has authored articles on recovery, psychiatric administration, psychotherapy, and consultation-liaison psychiatry. He has served as an examiner for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology for the past 30 years. He has been active in organized medicine and currently serves as president of the medical staff for the Medical College of Georgia hospital. He also just finished a 3 year term on the Board of Trustees of the Georgia Psychiatric Physicians Association and continues as a member of the Association’s Ethics Committee, CME committee, and Fellowship committee. In May of 2008 Dr. Shevitz was awarded Distinguished Life Fellow status in the American Psychiatric Association. |
Lionel P. Solursh, MD Dr. Lionel Solursh received his M.D. from U Toronto in 1959, his Diploma in Psychiatry (Gold Medalist) in Psychiatry from U Toronto in 1962 and was board certified in Internal Medicine and Psychiatry by the Royal College of Physicians (Canada) in 1964 and 1965. Following international involvement in substance abuse research, education and clinical care, his clinical, research and publishing activities have heavily involved Psychotrauma (Post-traumatic Stress), and Human Sexuality. He is a member of several psychiatric, medical and sexuality organizations, and is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. |
Lara M. Stepleman, PhD Dr. Lara Stepleman is an associate professor and the Director of HIV and MS Psychological Services. She received her Ph.D. in 2001 from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Counseling Psychology. Within the Psychology Residency, she is the director for the Medical Psychology-HIV emphasis track. She also teaches seminars in group therapy and behavioral medicine to psychiatry residents, offers an HIV psychology elective to advanced medical students, and serves as a mentor for medical student summer research. Her research interests relate to adaptation to chronic medical illness, especially mental health and sexual functioning concerns. Dr. Stepleman is a member of the American Psychological Association and serves as a reviewer for a number of peer-reviewed journals. |
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MCG and Augusta, Georgia
Psychiatry and Health Behavior
997 St. Sebastian Way
Augusta, GA 30912
706-721-6719
Brenda Maddox, bmaddox@mcg.edu
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