Dr. Fay Womer joined Vanderbilt in 2022. She has longstanding clinical and research interests in psychotic disorders. Her research work has focused on the cerebellum in psychiatric disorders, as well as international collaboration in neuroimaging studies of major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. Through her work, Dr. Womer hopes to contribute to the development of early interventions and more effective treatments in psychotic disorders.
Dr. Womer obtained her medical degree from the University of Connecticut. She completed general psychiatry residency training at Washington University (2007), followed by a postdoctoral research fellowship in chronic mental illness at Yale University (2009).
Dr. Hall’s interests include clinical operations, performance/quality improvement, creating systemic change in health care systems, and fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce.
Dr. Melissa Hall joined the Vanderbilt Department of Psychiatry in 2022. She serves as the Medical Director of Hospital Services for Vanderbilt Behavioral Health. In this role, Dr. Hall provides physician leadership and oversight for the hospital-based service line at Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital, which includes adult inpatient services, neuromodulation, and psychiatric assessment services.
Dr. Hall previously served as the Clinical Director of Middle Tennessee Mental Health Institute where she oversaw the clinical operations of the facility. Prior to this, she served as Lead Psychiatrist and Psychiatry Training Director at Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System, where she oversaw the practice and delivery of psychiatric care and psychiatric education and training.
Dr. Hall completed her general psychiatry residency at Morehouse School of Medicine and her fellowship in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry at The George Washington University School of Medicine.
Dr. Rachael Muscatello is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at VUMC. She received her PhD in Neuroscience from Vanderbilt University in 2020 and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at VUMC.
Dr. Muscatello’s research program aims to examine the interrelation between multiple physiological stress systems, including the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and autonomic nervous system. A key focus of her research has been to identify unique physiological response profiles as markers of risk for internalizing comorbidities in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using multiple methods for assessing psychosocial functioning, including behavioral observation, neuropsychological measures, biological markers of physiological regulation and reactivity such as heart rate variability and salivary cortisol, as well as parent- and self-report. For individuals with autism spectrum disorder, a combination of psychological stress in social interactions and dysregulated physiological regulation and responsivity may partially contribute to elevated rates of psychiatric comorbidities in this population. As such, identifying dysregulated physiology as a contributor to development of internalizing symptoms in youth with ASD may inform systems for determination of high-risk individuals and therefore, promote earlier, targeted intervention and improved quality of life for those at greatest risk.
