UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital Names Four New Medical Directors
(Pictured L-R: Justin Shuster, MD, Laima Spokas, MD, Camila Aponte, MD, Jessica Kettel, MD, PhD)
We are delighted to recognize the achievements of the clinician-educator faculty members below, who have recently been appointed to medical director roles at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH).
Camila Aponte, MD (Medical Director: UPMC Center for Eating Disorders)
Dr. Aponte joined the Department of Psychiatry faculty as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry in spring 2019. Prior to joining Pitt Psychiatry, she served as an attending physician in adult, child and adolescent psychiatry at Washington Hospital, Mon Valley Hospital and Psychiatric Care Systems private practice. Dr. Aponte’s additional clinical interests include child and adolescent psychiatry and psychiatric disorders in underserved populations.
Jessica Kettel, MD, PhD (Medical Director: John Merck Inpatient Program)
Dr. Kettel was appointed Assistant Professor of Psychiatry in 2012. She is a graduate of the Pitt School of Medicine’s Medical Scientist Training Program, as well as WPH’s General Psychiatry residency training program, where she was a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry fellow.
Laima Spokas, MD (Medical Director: Comprehensive Recovery Services)
Dr. Spokas joined the Pitt Psychiatry faculty as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry in 2017. She earned her medical degree Vilnius University School of Medicine in Lithuania and completed her psychiatry residency at Bergen Regional Medical Center in New Jersey. Since joining the Department, she has provided psychiatric care to patients with acute mental illness, as well as supervised residents and medical students, in the Comprehensive Recovery Services unit.
Justin Shuster, MD (Medical Director: General Adult Inpatient Unit)
Dr. Shuster was appointed Assistant Professor of Psychiatry in 2017, following his residency at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. As medical director of WPH’s general adult unit, Dr. Shuster oversees a unit with a patient population experiencing mood, anxiety, psychosis and personality disorders, and works closely with the WPH Psychiatric Emergency Services Division and nearby medical hospitals to coordinate care of these patients.