Mark Varela,MD

Dr. Albert Fernandez is a board-certified physician who specializes in adult psychiatry. He has expertise in medication management and psychotherapy. His practice emphasizes a holistic approach to treatment and his style is empathic, insight-oriented, and flexible. He has particular interests in helping individuals struggling with depression, difficulty functioning at work or school, life transitions, bipolar spectrum disorders, ADHD, obsessive-compulsive disorders, relationship struggles, anxiety disorders, sleep disturbances, low self-esteem, and more. He received his bachelor's degree in psychology from Princeton University with a certificate in neuroscience. He earned his M.D. from Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University and completed his residency training in psychiatry at the Mount Sinai Morningside and West Hospitals. He has supervised junior residents and medical students. He also worked as a staff psychiatrist at Fordham University and published a review article on the effects of residential relocation on mental health. He is currently a Post-Doctoral Candidate in the Adult Analytic Training Program at the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute.

Dr. Tahira Akbar specializes in adult psychiatry, she completed her four years of residency training at Bergen New Bridge Medical Center in Paramus NJ and additional two years of geriatric psychiatry fellowship from SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY. During her final year of the of residency training, she was appointed as the chief of research. She utilized her extensive research experience to guide and mentor her fellow residents. Under her supervision the program submitted maximum number of research papers and presented medical posters to various psychiatric platforms including American Psychiatric Association.

Dr. Akbar was introduced to tele-psychiatry during the second year of her fellowship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She appreciated that tele-psychiatry allowed her to continue to serve her patients in the comfort of their own homes. During the challenging times of social distancing, she recognized the importance of collaborative care involving family members, social workers, medical team, and therapist to work together in the best interest of her patients while protecting their privacy and individuality.

Dr. Akbar has excellent communication skills, she believes that an open communication is essential for any relationship to prosper especially that of doctor-patient relationship. She provides a comforting environment for her patients to be able to express their needs and encourages feedback while preparing their individual treatment plan. She is experienced in providing psychiatric care to all age groups while her clinical interest focuses on taking care of adults and geriatric population. Dr. Akbar emphases on medication management utilizing a multidisciplinary methodology when treating each patient based on their requirements and tailoring treatment appropriately.

Dr. Abdali is a double board-certified psychiatrist in general adult psychiatry and addiction psychiatry. Dr. Abdali has practiced for over 5 years in a variety of settings including outpatient clinics, inpatient hospitals, emergency rooms, and residential treatment centers.

Dr. Abdali has experience treating depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, ADHD, bipolar disorders, PTSD,  substance use disorders and others. Most recently, Dr. Abdali worked in the VA system, treating veterans utilizing both medication management and psychotherapy.

Dr. Abdali prioritizes shared decision making with his patients in order to facilitate practical treatment plans. During clinical visits, Dr. Abdali combines medication management as well as various therapy modalities including supportive psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and motivational interviewing.

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Dr. Deringer is a psychiatrist with board certification in general psychiatry and addiction psychiatry. She earned her M.D. from the University of Michigan Medical School, and she completed her psychiatry residency and addiction psychiatry fellowship training at New York University. She has previously held faculty roles at New York University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School. She has been involved in training the next generation of psychiatrists through her past work on the Program Director team for the MGH-McLean Psychiatry Residency Program. She has expertise in treating adults with mood disorders, anxiety disorders, substance use disorders, personality disorders, trauma, and ADHD.

Dr. Deringer cares deeply about understanding each patient's unique experience.  She recognizes that mental health symptoms are impacted by an individual's biological make-up, social situation, and their individual way of interacting with others in the world.  She will assess all of these factors and work with you to develop an appropriate treatment plan to help you feel better and meet your goals.  She incorporates supportive psychotherapy into all of her patient meetings; this may include discussions of the role of nutrition, exercise, and sleep habits in your overall well-being.

Dr. Deringer will begin the evaluation process with a thorough one-hour session in which we will discuss your current symptoms, your prior treatment history, your medical history, and your goals for treatment.  At the end of that session, she will begin to formulate her diagnostic impression and treatment recommendations.  Sometimes, the evaluation process may require more than one session, and it may be helpful for Dr. Deringer to gather information, with your permission, from prior treatment or to collaborate with your therapist if you have one.  Dr. Deringer will work with you on a medication treatment plan, if clinically indicated, to help you manage your symptoms and achieve your treatment goals.

Dr. Seth Sherman is a board-certified adult psychiatrist who has been in practice for over ten years. At the heart of Dr. Sherman's clinical approach is a strong emphasis on establishing trust, rapport, and therapeutic alliance to help persons to feel and live well and to progress toward their goals, both in treatment and in life. Dr. Sherman begins with consultation, a compassionate, collaborative process of discovery that culminates in a working diagnostic impression and, in turn, treatment recommendations. For those with whom he engages in a treatment relationship, Dr. Sherman provides psychoeducation, medication management, and individual psychotherapy, this last modality predominantly drawing from both psychodynamic and behavioral psychological models to tailor treatment to each patient. On some occasions, Dr. Sherman may believe that additional therapy is needed and ask that you bring a therapist into your care team to provide the best outcome. Dr. Sherman received his medical degree from Stanford University and went on to complete his residency in psychiatry at Harvard University. After completing training, he cultivated a private practice of psychiatry in San Francisco, California, treating persons with a variety of psychiatric illnesses, while also providing consultation and clinical supervision to psychotherapists in day-treatment and office-based practices. Next, Dr. Sherman served as a psychiatry professor at the Florida Atlantic University Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine in Florida, where, as Associate Director of the Psychiatry Residency Training Program, he provided psychiatric inpatient treatment while bringing leadership, scholarship, teaching, supervision, and mentoring to psychiatry residents and medical students. Most recently, Dr. Sherman worked as a senior medical officer/consultant psychiatrist in New Zealand's public health system, serving local communities with expert diagnosis and treatment for a wide range of mental health conditions. He also continued to supervise U.S.-based psychiatrists, along with New Zealand psychotherapists, in advanced and complex clinical psychopharmacology and psychotherapy.

Dr. Mott grew up in southeastern Idaho. She earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of California at Berkeley in 2009, and her Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree in 2014 from the University of Chicago. She completed her psychiatry residency at the University of Utah in 2018 and became board certified in Psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in 2019. Following her residency, she worked as an inpatient psychiatrist at the Huntsman Mental Health Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah and served as an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Utah. In 2021 she moved to Dallas, Texas to work in a residential and partial hospitalization treatment center for eating disorders. She loves to incorporate psychotherapeutic techniques and goal setting together with medication management to help patients achieve wellness and fulfillment in their lives.

Dr. Mott enjoys treating a wide variety of psychiatric conditions, including depression, anxiety, OCD, bipolar disorder, PTSD, eating disorders and substance use disorders. She believes strongly in individualized treatment that focuses on holistic, compassionate and collaborative care with patients.

She loves to incorporate psychotherapeutic techniques and goal setting together with medication management to help patients achieve wellness and fulfillment in their lives.

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