The Department of Psychiatry Welcomes New Faculty Members Anastasia Samaras, MD; Madeline Scott, PhD; and Robert Tessier, MD, MPH

The Department of Psychiatry extends a warm welcome to three new faculty members:

Anastasia Samaras, MD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry)

Dr. Samaras earned her MD from Eastern Virginia Medical School, where she additionally completed psychiatry residency, serving as chief resident. Dr. Samaras then undertook geriatric psychiatry fellowship training at Mass General Brigham in Boston, and served for two years as a staff psychiatrist at McLean Hospital, working with older adults through an outpatient clinic and through e-consults to the Mass General Brigham Population Health Mind and Memory Care Program. 

At UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital, Dr. Samaras provides clinical care through geriatric outpatient services, primarily working with long-term care facilities.

Madeline Scott, PhD (Research Instructor in Psychiatry)

Dr. Scott received her PhD in neurobiology from the University of Alabama, then came to Pittsburgh for postdoctoral research training with the Department’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded T32 program in translational neuroscience and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute T32 program in sleep medicine. Dr. Scott’s research focuses on investigating the role of biological rhythms in psychiatric illness.

In the lab of Colleen McClung, PhD (Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical and Translational Science), Dr. Scott contributes research expertise on two grants, including an R01 sponsored by the NIMH investigating molecular rhythm changes in individuals with psychiatric disease (MPI: Dr. McClung and Marianne Seney, PhD). 

Robert Tessier, MD, MPH (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry)

Dr. Tessier earned his MD and MPH from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He completed psychiatry residency training at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH) in the Academic Administrator Clinician Educator pathway, where he served as chief resident of well-being. Dr. Tessier additionally completed a clinical fellowship in public service psychiatry. 

Dr. Tessier provides clinical care through WPH’s outpatient addiction medicine services, a comprehensive continuum of integrated services for co-occurring substance abuse and psychiatric disorders. 

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Samaras, Dr. Scott, and Dr. Tessier!