The Department of Psychiatry Welcomes New Faculty Members Varad Deshmukh, MD, and Thomas Kraynak, PhD
Pitt Psychiatry extends a warm welcome to two new faculty members:
Varad Deshmukh, MD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry)
Dr. Deshmukh received his MD from the University of Queensland School of Medicine – Ochsner Clinical School (Australia). At Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, he completed residency training in psychiatry, serving as chief resident of the adult psychiatry residency training program, followed by a clinical fellowship in addiction psychiatry. During his training, Dr. Deshmukh received the Gene L. Usdin Award for Most Outstanding Psychiatry Resident, the Rogert Hatchette Award for Excellence in Emergency Psychiatry, and the LSU Resident of the year award.
At UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital, Dr. Deshmukh provides inpatient clinical care in the Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES) unit. He additionally works with patients who have co-occurring substance use and psychiatric disorders at the outpatient Center for Psychiatric and Chemical Dependency Services (CPCDS).
Thomas Kraynak, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry)
Dr. Kraynak received his PhD in biological and health psychology from the University of Pittsburgh, where he completed additional training in cognitive neuroscience at the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition. Dr. Kraynak then completed a postdoctoral fellowship with the Pitt Department of Epidemiology. He has received a Health Behavior International Collaborative Award from the Society for Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine/American Psychosomatic Society, and was selected to participate in the Society’s Young Investigator Colloquium in 2023.
Dr. Kraynak’s research interests include stress neurobiology, functional brain imaging, and psychophysiology. He is principal investigator of a National Institute of Mental Health-funded K01 award focused on the neuromodulation of brain and emotional responses to psychological stress.
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Deshmukh and Dr. Kraynak!