Addiction Psychiatry Fellows
2024-2025
Dr. Yesenia Almaguer
Born in Pharr, TX, and raised on both sides of the border in McAllen, TX, and Monterrey, Mexico, Dr. Almaguer attended Ross University School of Medicine and Lincoln Medical Center (NY) for residency. Sadly, mental illness and substance use disorder is not only lacking treatment options but is lacking diagnosis, and life at the border is very harsh, replete with violence, abuse, and addiction. The intersection of trauma and substance use treatment fascinates Dr. Almaguer. As a result, Dr. Almaguer strove to become a better trauma therapist by studying with pioneers like Bessel van der Kolk. In Dr. Almaguer's experience, trauma treatment finds substance use to be a symptom of the trauma rather than a primary target. Her future goal is to become a clinician educator and expand her private practice after fellowship. She would like to grow her charity called "Worst Patient" to destigmatize mental illness/addiction around doctors. She would also like to expand her work as a Certified Intervention Professional doing Mental Health/Addiction Interventions. Opening a mental health clinic at the border of Texas/Mexico is one of her goals as well. Dr. Almaguer’s special interests are in Psychedelic work (she is certified in Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy through the Ketamine Training Center by Phil E Wolfson, M.D.), Energy work, Trauma-informed care, and Forensic Psychiatry. Her hobbies are motorcycle driving, outdoor/indoor skydiving, dancing, traveling, hiking, trying different cuisines/new restaurants, and exercising.
Dr. Barbara “Bobbie” Banner
Born and raised in Merkel, TX, a small town of about 2,000 people just west of Abilene, in the north-central plains area, Dr. Banner went to the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston for medical school. Residency training took place at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Growing up in a more rural area, Dr. Banner has always had interest in working in unserved and overlooked populations (whether because of somebody's identity or location). Dr. Banner’s main focus was on LGBTQIA+ populations, with a specific interest in gender-affirming care. Because of the high rates of substance abuse in that specific population, Dr. Banner got first exposure to addiction psychiatry while working with them in medical school and residency. When first starting the residency at UTSW, Dr. Banner felt addiction psychiatry was a subspecialty that they needed a good foundation in and began seeking out more and more electives in the field. Dr. Banner found both the treatments given (whether medication, therapy, or social support) were engaging and rewarding work, which overlapped both with previous interests (like LGBTQIA+ populations) and other parts of the residency experience that were enjoyed (public/community-based care, long-term patient populations). Dr. Banner is searching for a specific starting point for future work, but goals are to better integrate addiction psychiatry into public psychiatry spaces (state hospitals, MHMRs, etc.) along with continuing to be a clinical educator. Dr. Banner enjoys reading and writing, as well as music and theater, especially if performances can be seen live.
Dr. Kwame Frimpong
Born and raised in Kumasi, Ghana, where he received his medical degree from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Medical School, Dr. Frimpong completed Psychiatry Residency training at Harlem Hospital, NY, affiliated with Columbia University. Dr. Frimpong’s desire to provide a holistic treatment approach to persons with mental illness steered him toward Addiction Psychiatry. He witnessed the larger comorbid rates of addiction with other mental illnesses during his residency, as well as the lack of psychiatrists’ comfortability in treating addiction in tandem with other mental illness (e.g., MDD, Schizophrenia, Bipolar) that led to some patients receiving treatment for other diagnoses while glaringly not receiving treatment for their addiction, which in a way perpetuated and worsened their primary diagnosis. He yearns to be a psychiatrist who will feel confident, comfortable, and equipped to provide a holistic treatment approach to the benefit of his patients. His future goal is to establish a teaching role in a hospital to consolidate his knowledge, with an ultimate plan to transition into private practice due to his passion to establish long-term relationships with patients. Dr. Frimpong spends his spare time watching soccer and the NBA with his kids and wife.
Dr. Vincent Li
Born in China and raised in Texas, Dr. Li completed medical school and residency at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Li was attracted to the Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship due to Dr.’s Wakhlu easy convincing. Dr. Lie believes that the addiction faculty here are great educators, and he wants to work with and learn from them for another year. He also wants to refine his ability to help patients with substance use disorders, as these disorders are so prevalent in the psychiatric population, and dangerous drugs like Fentanyl are sweeping through Dallas. Dr. Li’s future goals are to become a clinical educator and focus on inpatient psychiatry. Dr. Li’s special interests and hobbies are music, international food, cooking/baking, traveling, and hiking.
Dr. Patrick Butler
Born and raised in Houston, Dr. Butler studied public health at University of Austin, completing a public health degree at University of Texas School of Public Health, and completed medical and psychiatry residency training at UT Health San Antonio Long School of Medicine. Community and public psychiatry and addiction are strong interests, and seeing how intertwined substance use disorders are with psychiatric and medical disorders--and how debilitating they can be--convinced him to pursue further training and specialization in addiction psychiatry. Outside psychiatry, he enjoys hiking, camping, running, biking, playing with his dog, and listening to audiobooks.
Previous Fellows
- 2001
- 2002
- 2003
- 2004
- 2005
- 2006
- 2008
- 2009
- 2010
- 2011
- 2012
- 2013
- 2014
- 2015
- 2016
- 2017
- 2018
- 2019
- 2020
- 2021
- 2022
- 2023
- 2024
2000-2001
Mark Laty, M.D.
Dr. Laty practices in Virginia.
2001-2002
Maureen Onuaguluchi, M.D.
Dr. Onuaguluchi completed the Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Program.
2002-2003
Hisham Ibrahim, M.D.
Dr. Ibrahim is Associate Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Ambulatory Services at UT Southwestern.
Sidarth Wakhlu, M.D.
Dr. Wakhlu is the Associate Chief of the Addiction Division and the Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Director for the Department of Psychiatry at UT Southwestern.
2003-2004
Muneeza Hayee, M.D.
Dr. Hayee works at the Bonham VA residential treatment program.
2004-2005
Arvind G. Singh, M.D.
Dr. Singh is in practice at Prince County Hospital, Summerside, Prince Edward, Canada.
Christopher Lord, M.D.
Dr. Lord has a thriving clinical practice in Charlotte, NC, where he regularly consults with the McLeod Addictive Disease Center and the Dilworth Center for Chemical Dependency and serves as a forensic consultant.
2005-2006
Glenn M. Horwitz, M.D.
Dr Horwitz is in private practice in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
2007-2008
John Christian Cather, M.D.
Dr. Cather has a psychiatric practice in Dallas, Texas.
2008-2009
Anthony Mazzarulli, M.D.
Dr. Mazzarulli practices at Green Oaks Behavioral Healthcare in Dallas, conducts research at the University of North Texas, and teaches Behavioral Science for the USMLE for Falcon Physician Reviews.
2009-2010
Soo Young Chong, M.D.
Dr. Chong practices at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX.
Padmaja Puppala, M.D.
Dr. Puppala worked on the Addiction Team at the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center and is now at Central Texas Healthcare System.
2010-2011
Phil Chung, M.D.
Dr. Chung is an outpatient Addiction Psychiatrist for the Puget Sound VA Health Care System.
Julie (Ross) Pittman, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Pittman is the medical director for Nexus Recovery Center and part of the UT Southwestern Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Faculty.
2011-2012
Xingchun Tang, M.D.
Dr. Tang is a staff psychiatrist at the Austin VA Community Based Outreach Clinic.
2012-2013
Julie Brown, M.D.
Dr. Brown is a staff psychiatrist at an outpatient clinic for veterans in Oregon.
Nathan Carter, D.O.
Dr. Carter has held many different professional roles since graduating from the fellowship.
2013-2014
Spencer Lee, M.D.
Dr. Lee is in private practice and is an Adjunct Faculty Member at UT Southwestern Medical School.
Jin Li, D.O.
Dr. Li is a staff psychiatrist at Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston, TX.
2014-2015
Yusra Benhalim, M.D.
Dr. Benhalim works as a medical director for Optum.
Nicholas Piotrowski, M.D.
Dr. Piotrowski is Medical Director of Addictions at Wabash Valley Alliance.
Qingman Ruan, M.D.
Dr. Ruan is an attending psychiatrist at the Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD NeuroPsychiatric Center.
2015-2016
Lindsay Chapman, D.O.
Dr Chapman is a Staff Psychiatrist within the VISN 20 Health Care System.
Adriane dela Cruz, M.D.
Dr. dela Cruz is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at UT Southwestern Medical School, as well as Associate Program Director, General Psychiatry Residency Program; Assistant Director, Academic Colleges; and Co-Course Director, Brain and Behavior. Additionally, Dr. dela Cruz has hosted the "Yeah, No Journal Club."
Jessica Hutto, M.D.
Dr. Hutto is working at the North Texas VA Health Care System/Tyler Community Based Outpatient Clinic.
2016-2017
Nicholas Heyne, M.D.
Dr. Heyne is in private practice.
Austin Lin, M.D.
Dr. Lin is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
2017-2018
John Coleman, M.D.
Dr. Coleman works as an Army Psychiatrist in El Paso.
Paige Marnell, M.D.
Dr. Marnell is the Director of Addiction Services for Gateway Behavioral Health in Savannah, Georgia.
Zakaria Zayour, M.D.
Dr. Zayour is the head of the psychiatry department in Dar Al Shifa Hospital, Kuwait, and has an Adjunct Faculty appointment at UT Southwestern Medical School.
2018-2019
Fabrizzio A. Delgado, M.D.
Dr. Delgado is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Site Director for Fellow Pain rotation at Parkland.
Ivanshu Jain, M.D.
Dr. Jain is working as a staff psychiatrist at Terrell State Hospital.
Radha Tripuraneni, M.D.
Dr. Tripuraneni joined the VA North Texas Healthcare System, working in the outpatient Grand Prairie clinic, primarily seeing addiction patients as well as patients with psychiatric disorders.
2019-2020
Ryan Mals, M.D.
Dr. Mals is a clinical addiction psychiatrist at Presbyterian Medical Group in Albuquerque, NM, serving in a broad range of settings including IOP, inpatient, outpatient clinic, research and community outreach/education throughout the state of New Mexico.
Amit Mistry, M.D.
Dr. Mistry is an addiction psychiatrist at the Substance Treatment and Recovery Clinic in the Oklahoma City VA Health Care System.
Veronica Perez, M.D.
Dr. Perez is the Division Director of Addiction Medicine at Baylor Scott & White in Temple, TX.
2020-2021
Devin Dunatov, M.D.
Dr. Dunatov will be joining a private practice in Phoenix, AZ, doing outpatient and residential substance use treatment.
Daniel Lavin, D.O.
Dr. Lavin will be working as an addiction psychiatrist for Baylor Scott and White in Temple, Texas.
Vivek Shah, M.D.
Dr. Shah will be working as a Staff Psychiatrist at North Texas State Hospital, Wichita Falls, Texas.
2021-2022
Dr. Arqam Abdali
Staff Psychiatrist, Michael DeBakey VA Health System Community Based Outpatient Clinic in Conroe, Texas
"My clinical experiences in medical school and residency have shown me the devastation addiction brings to people's lives, and those closest to them. Meeting people where they are in their journey and helping them in the process of recovery is a very special experience. This experience is what drew me towards Addiction Psychiatry. My clinical experience in the UTSW Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship has been outstanding. I've been able to learn from wonderful faculty who have truly shown me how to care for patients with empathy, and compassion. I hope to carry this knowledge to my future clinical work."
Dr. Poorvanshi Alag
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry - Texas Tech Health Science Center, Lubbock, Texas
Dr. Vecheslav Fedorchenco
Heading Health (Treatment Resistance Depression Clinic, Private Practice)
Dr. Stephanie Joseph
Amen Clinic in Irving-Las Colinas, Texas area (Private Practice)
Dr. Timothy Saeed
Telehealth position with Talkitry
2022-2023
Dr. Rukhsar Ahmed, taking some time off before deciding on the next part of her journey in professional medicine.
Dr. Sukhmeet Bedi, working as Staff Psychiatrist at Grand River Hospital and St Mary’s General Hospital, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
Dr. Jason Seymour, working at VA Outpatient Substance Use Clinic in Northern Florida.
Dr. Juan Sosa, is an Assistant Professor an UT Southwestern and on the Addiction Team at the Dallas VA.
Dr. Maria Velasco, is a Clinical Assistant Professor at UT Southwestern, primarily working in the Parkland Outpatient Addiction Clinic.
2023-2024
Leadership and Professional Development
Simratdeep Sandhu was a Co-Investigator on two National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) Clinical Trials: STIMULUS (TMS versus Sham for Stimulant Use Disorders) and CURB-2 (Intramuscular Naltrexone and Subcutaneous Buprenorphine versus placebo for moderate-severe Cocaine Use Disorders).
Natalie Seminario passed her General Psychiatry Board examination in September 2023 and was a co-investigator on three National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) Clinical Trials: STIMULUS, MURB (Subcutaneous Buprenorphine versus placebo for moderate-severe Methamphetamine Use Disorders) and CURB-2.
Joshua Walther passed his General Psychiatry Board examination in September 2023 and was a co-investigator on two National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) Clinical Trials: STIMULUS (TMS versus Sham for Stimulant Use Disorders) and CURB-2 (Intramuscular Naltrexone and Subcutaneous Buprenorphine versus placebo for moderate-severe Cocaine Use Disorders).
Mingxu Zhang passed her General Psychiatry Board examination in September 2023 and was a co-investigator on two National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) Clinical Trials: STIMULUS (TMS versus Sham for Stimulant Use Disorders) and CURB-2 (Intramuscular Naltrexone and Subcutaneous Buprenorphine versus placebo for moderate-severe Cocaine Use Disorders).
Scholarly Presentations and Publications
Mingxu Zhang presented on substance use disorders in the Future Doctor Pathway Program at Parkston High School April 2024.
Joshua Walther presented on Adolescent Substance Use Disorders to the Young Men Service League in Dallas February 2024.
Natalie Seminario presented at Texas Medical Association Conference 2024 on Exploring the Interplay of Substance Use Disorder, High-Risk Sexual Behaviors, and HIV in Heterosexual Populations: Implications for Public Health and Preventive Medicine Strategies. She also had her presentation accepted for AACAP Annual Conference 2024 Influencers Under the Influence: substance-related messaging available to teens on social media platforms. Her poster Tobacco Use Disorder Treatment in Youth with the rise of E-cigarettes was accepted at Texas Society of Psychiatric Physicians Conference 2024. She also authored a chapter in the book “Supporting your students dealing with grief in Clinical Considerations” in School-based Health: An Evidence Based Guide for Physicians, Advanced practice providers and School Nurses.
Simratdeep Sandhu presented an Update on Cannabis Use Disorders at the Department of Psychiatry Advances in Sub-Specialty Psychiatry on April 2, 2024.
Teaching and Education
Natalie Seminario presented on Management of Alcohol & Opioid Use Disorders for MS-4 Frontiers in Medicine: Behavioral Health and Neuromedicine class May 2024.
After Graduation
Simratdeep Sandhu, Private Practice
Joshua Walther, Dallas VA Medical Center
Mingxu Zhang, Inpatient Facility in Texas