Lois Macdonnell, MD

Dr. Michele Wiener is a psychiatrist with over 35 years of experience treating patients with mental health issues. Dr. Wiener's practice has historically focused on treating patients with varying mood disorders, anxiety disorders, psychotic disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder, often complicated by substance use disorders. Dr. Wiener enjoys working with patients of all ages. She is skilled in both psychotherapy and medication management. While the emphasis will generally be on medication management, Dr Wiener will utilize insight-oriented, cognitive behavioral, and supportive psychotherapy skills to help her patients reach their treatment goals. She completed her internship at Bronx Lebanon Hospital, her residency at Montefiore Medical Center and a two-year fellowship in biological psychiatry, psychopharmacology and geriatric psychiatry at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She served for over 20 years as Chief of Psychiatric Services for Behavioral Health Services at St John's Riverside Hospital Park Care Pavilion formerly Yonkers General Hospital. Here she was also able to enjoy teaching medical students from The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in their psychiatric rotation. She has been Assistant Medical Director for Arms Acres, in Carmel, NY for over five years.

Dr. Hess is double board-certified in Adult and Geriatric Psychiatry. He completed his psychiatry internship and residency training at St. Vincent's Hospital and Medical Center in New York City, and then completed a geriatric psychiatry fellowship at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center. Dr. Hess has practiced inpatient psychiatry at the Long Island College Hospital, NYU Langone Brooklyn, and Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center. He has also worked in emergency rooms, day hospitals, and consultation-liaison settings, as well as seeing geriatric outpatients at a naturally-occurring retirement community (NORC) on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Dr. Hess has taught St. George's University medical students during their clinical rotations in psychiatry. Dr. Hess has more than 24 years of experience providing patients with compassionate psychiatric care for depressive and bipolar disorders, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and dementia. He uses pharmacotherapy as well as supportive psychotherapy. Dr. Hess may believe that additional therapy is also needed and ask that you bring a therapist into your care team to provide the best outcome. The philosophy of his practice is to collaborate with patients to meet their specific needs and make an impact in various stages of their lives.

Dr. Anne Rohs is board certified in both adult and geriatric psychiatry and has practiced psychiatry for over 10 years. She has extensive experience treating critically ill patients in hospital settings. This experience allowed her to hone skills necessary to care for individuals with complex psychiatric illnesses complicated by medical conditions. Dr. Rohs' approach to care involves providing a consistent, empathic, non-judgmental space to develop and attain shared treatment goals. She is committed to developing a partnership that is always respectful of patients' points of view, and she utilizes this knowledge to inform treatment plans that are safe, effective, and agreeable to patients. At the same time, she is sensitive to financial or insurance coverage factors that may impact treatment. After completing residency training at Montefiore Medical Center, Dr. Rohs was invited to serve an additional year as Senior Chief Resident for its adult psychiatry residency training program. She spent the next year as a fellow in Geriatric Psychiatry before her appointment as an attending physician on Montefiore's acute psychiatric inpatient unit. During her training years, Dr. Rohs made several trips to Uganda to serve as an attending physician with the Doctors for Global Health Project. Dr. Rohs subsequently transferred to Bronx Psychiatric Center (BPC), where she treated inpatients and outpatients suffering from severe mental disorders. At BPC, she expanded her knowledge base and became an expert in advanced psychopharmacology. Dr. Rohs also spent time prior to joining Talkiatry as an attending physician at NYU Langone Hospital. Dr. Rohs specializes in treating a variety of psychiatric conditions including mood disorders, psychotic disorders, anxiety disorders, PTSD, and dementia. She is attuned to the direct and indirect mental health impact of the pandemic and its aftermath on patients of all ages. Dr. Rohs does not usually treat ADHD patients. For the small number of patients she treats who have ADHD, Dr. Rohs requires comprehensive testing, multiple follow ups, and a full medical workup before confirming a diagnosis to ensure appropriateness and safety of chosen treatment.

Background and credentials

Dr. Moni Baidya is double board-certified in adult and geriatric psychiatry with over nine years of experience. She earned her medical degree from Manipal College of Medical Sciences and completed her psychiatry residency and geriatric fellowship training at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. Her background includes work in nursing homes, acute rehabilitation centers, inpatient psychiatric units, and outpatient settings, providing care for diverse patient populations.

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Treatment approach

Dr. Baidya strongly believes that developing a good therapeutic rapport is essential for successful treatment. Her practice primarily focuses on medication management, often combined with supportive, psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral (CBT), and couple’s therapy in 20–30 minute follow-up visits. She takes a holistic approach, particularly for patients with complex medical conditions that impact emotional health, collaborating with interdisciplinary teams and family members when appropriate. In addition to general adult psychiatry, she specializes in geriatric psychiatry and women’s mental health, with a primary focus on treating women with mood and anxiety disorders and geriatric patients with newly diagnosed psychiatric conditions.

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What you can expect in a first visit

During the first visit, patients can expect a comprehensive evaluation where Dr. Baidya takes the time to assess their symptoms, medical history, and treatment goals. She fosters a collaborative and supportive environment, ensuring that treatment plans are tailored to individual needs. Follow-up visits typically last 20–30 minutes, with a focus on medication adjustments and therapeutic support. If additional therapy is necessary, she may recommend integrating a therapist into the patient’s care team for the best possible outcome.

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Why Talkiatry?

We’re a virtual mental health practice that makes it easy to find great care. We combine quality and convenience to help you thrive—faster. Our providers, like this one, are highly trained experts who specialize in medication management and collaborate with you on a treatment plan that fits your needs and comfort level.

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Dr. Dennis Valerstain is a board-certified Adult and Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist. After completing his undergraduate education at Emory University, he attended medical school at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He subsequently completed psychiatry residency at University of Miami/Jackson Health System and further sub-specialized at University of Miami/Jackson Health System with a fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr. Valerstain has had the opportunity of working with a diverse array of patients including children, adolescents, the severely mentally ill, veterans, and cancer patients across three distinct hospital systems. Dr. Valerstain has had varied clinical experiences in specialty inpatient psychiatry units, emergency psychiatry, consultation liaison psychiatry, psycho-oncology, and outpatient clinics via telemedicine and face to face interactions. Dr. Valerstain has experience working with patients of all ages, particularly those with depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, ADHD, Tic disorders, substance use disorders, and more. Dr. Valerstain's practice focuses on medication management and also employs empathic listening, supportive psychotherapy techniques, and a comprehensive and methodological approach to his visits. Given his broad and diverse training experiences, he enjoys problem solving and working collaboratively with patients (and their families) to navigate their complex issues and jointly focusing on simple solutions to work towards improving their mental health.

Svetlana Schwartz, PMHNP, is a board-certified psychiatric nurse practitioner with 18 years of experience in outpatient psychiatry providing care to patients with depression, anxiety, substance abuse, ADHD, Bipolar disorders, OCD, Schizoaffective disorders and Schizophrenia.

Svetlana practice focuses on medication management in conjunction with supportive or cognitive behavioral therapy. She received her Master of Science in Nursing with specialty in adult psychiatry from UMass/Lowell and Bachelor of Science in Nursing from UMass/Boston. She is trained in psychiatric diagnosis, medication management, and psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral therapies. Svetlana has extensive experience evaluating and treating adults in outpatient settings over the past 18 years. Previously, she worked at Arbour HRI Outpatient Clinic in Massachusetts, and for the last 10+ years at Memorial Health Care System in Florida.

As a nurse practitioner, Svetlana believes that addressing mental health concerns is just as important as addressing physical concerns. At Memorial Health Care System, she worked in collaboration with Mind-Body-Wellness Clinic to address patients medical and psychiatric needs. She also trained psychiatric and internal medicine residents in outpatient psychiatry. Svetlana believes that the best approach to mental health is medication management and individual therapy combined.