Fellow Biographies

Our alumni are applying the skills and experience gained from the Fellowship to make an impact on the field, and on the lives of their patients. Below is a sample of some of our Fellows’ experiences during training and their diverse career pursuits.

Nicole Bates, MD, completed medical school at the University of Washington before relocating to Pittsburgh to complete her residency in adult psychiatry followed by the CL psychiatry fellowship. During training, she developed clinical and scholarly interests in resident education, psycho-oncology, palliative care, and psychotherapy. She currently serves patients in psycho-oncology at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, appointed as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry with the University of Washington. Her work focuses on mental health in cancer and palliative settings, with additional interests in collaborative care, meaning-centered psychotherapy, clinical education, and relationships among cancer pain, depression, and opioids.

Morgan Faeder, MD, PhD earned a PhD in Chemical Physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and went on to conduct post-doctoral research at the Weizmann Institute of Science before completing Medical School at the University of Pittsburgh. During his Residency in Psychiatry at the UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital, Dr. Faeder’s scholarly work involved assessing nursing comfort and aptitude in administering delirium rating scales. Dr. Faeder’s interests include neuroscience and education; he currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Shelly A Kucherer, MD began the CL fellowship after completing her general adult psychiatry residency at UPMC. Following her 2018-2019 appointment to the CL fellowship, she was thrilled to continue her career at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital as an assistant professor of psychiatry. Currently Dr. Kucherer splits her time between the CL psychiatry service where she works with fellows, residents and medical students, and the adult Center for Autism and Developmental Disorders, where she also serves as the associate medical director. Her many clinical interests include CL psychiatry, autism, and intellectual disabilities. In addition to her clinical responsibilities, Dr. Kucherer helps to lead the group supervision for fellows and is a part of the Department's Clinician Educator Faculty Development Program (CEFDP).  

Darcy Moschenross, MD, PhD graduated from the combined MD/PhD program at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, before completing her Residency in Psychiatry at the UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. Her scholarly work during residency involved implementing novel clinical rotations in embedded psychiatric care with the emergency department and internal medicine services, while assessing staff satisfaction with these programs. Dr. Moschenross currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Nona A. Nichols, MD, received her medical degree at University of Alabama School of Medicine. She completed residency in adult psychiatry at Wake Forest School of Medicine and served as chief resident during her PGY-IV year. She completed her fellowship in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She is now working as a consultation-liaison psychiatrist for the Cleveland Clinic.  In addition to general psychosomatic medicine, areas of interest include women's mental health, ethics, palliative care, and education.

Neeta Shenai, MD graduated from the Saint Louis University School of Medicine, and completed her residency in psychiatry at the UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. Her academic interests include women's mental health, trauma, and medical student education. A graduate of the AACE Track, Dr. Shenai's project involved integrating a brief educational intervention to an inpatient OB-GYN setting for patients with co-occurring substance use and trauma disorders. Dr. Shenai is currently an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Robin Valpey, MD graduated from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, before completing her residency in psychiatry at the UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. Her academic and clinical interests include women's mental health, psycho-oncology, rural health and health care disparities. Dr. Valpey’s work includes collaborating with colleagues at the Hillman Cancer Center satellite clinics to assess psychiatric needs and approaches to improve psycho-oncologic care outside of the Pittsburgh area.