Our Story
Penn Psycare was founded over 30 years ago with the goal of providing psychiatric services to adults living in Allegheny Valley and surrounding regions. Despite our growth and expansion through the years, we still take the same approach in providing compassionate care to every patient that we serve.
Our Mission
Our mission at Penn Psycare is simple:
to provide our patients with the best care possible. We are able to achieve this by upholding to our high standards of care and never compromising on our values. We stand by integrity, empathy, and transparency - in every situation.
Our Vision
Our vision is to support initiatives that are focused on creating a world where mental health is normalized and seen as equal to other health conditions. We are committed to dissolving stigmas and breaking down barriers to care so that individuals have the opportunity to reach their fullest potential.
Our Providers
Hari Vemulapalli, MD, FASAM
​
Dr. Vemulapalli is a board-certified psychiatrist who has been serving the greater Pittsburgh area for over 20 years. He completed his medical education in India before pursing training in adult psychiatry, followed by a fellowship in geriatric psychiatry at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. Since completing his training, he has gained extensive experience working in both hospital settings and outpatient practices.
In addition to treating common psychiatric conditions in both geriatric and adult populations, Dr. Vemulapalli’s expertise extends to addiction medicine, allowing him to effectively treat patients with co-morbid substance use disorders alongside other mental health issues. His commitment to staying up-to-date on the current literature and best practices reflects his dedication to providing high-quality and evidence-based care for individuals struggling with treatment-resistant mental health disorders.
As part of his vision for comprehensive care, Dr. Vemulapalli is working closely with Lori Shotts on the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) program. This collaborative program is focused on treating individuals with treatment-resistant major depression and other FDA-approved indications, such as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), anxious depression, and smoking addiction. Unlike conventional modalities of treatment involving medications and therapy, TMS offers an advanced and innovative approach that improves patient outcomes to a greater degree than traditional methods, which is in line with the goals of Penn Psycare.
Rajinder Singh Sandhu, MD
​
Dr. Sandhu is a board-certified psychiatrist with nearly 50 years of experience in delivering comprehensive psychiatric care across inpatient, outpatient, and institutional settings. Dr. Sandhu earned his Doctor of Medicine (MD) from Makerere University, Kampala. He completed his psychiatry residency training at both Johns Hopkins Hospital and Henry Ford Hospital—two nationally renowned institutions known for excellence in psychiatric education and clinical innovation.
​
Dr. Sandhu found his way to Pittsburgh to complete his post-residency program in Consultation and Liaison Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. Early in his career, Dr. Sandhu recognized the importance of patient-centered and individualized treatment, which is why he founded Penn Psycare shortly after completing his medical training. Since its foundation, Penn Psycare has become a well-known and respected practice in the community for comprehensive behavioral health and psychiatric services including, but not limited to, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorders, mood disorders, PTSD, psychotic disorders, and substance use disorders.
Kiran Deoras, MD, PhD
​
Dr. Deoras is a board-certified psychiatrist with a distinguished academic foundation and decades of clinical experience. She holds both a Doctor of Medicine (MD) and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), combining research excellence with a deep commitment to compassionate psychiatric care.
​
Dr. Deoras began her career with a strong academic focus, contributing extensively to psychiatric research. Her early work included numerous peer-reviewed publications, abstracts, and presentations, establishing her as a well-published scholar in the field. Although she simultaneously gained ample experience in both clinical and academic settings, in the later stages of her career, she shifted her focus more towards clinical practice, where she has spent the majority of her time delivering quality care to individuals from all walks of life, in both inpatient and outpatient settings.
​
Dr. Deoras’ approach is rooted in empathy, clinical rigor, and individualized treatment planning. She is known for her thoughtful and thorough patient care, and she continues to apply her academic foundation to inform evidence-based psychiatric practice, offering a unique blend of scholarly insight and clinical compassion to every patient she serves.
Lori Shotts, CRNP, AGNP-C, PMHNP-BC
​
Lori Shotts is a dual Board-Certified Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP-BC) and Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner (AGNP-C) with nearly 40 years of nursing experience that spans a wide range of healthcare settings. Early in her career, she assumed the role as a psychiatric staff nurse at Allegheny Valley Hospital before holding other positions with partial hospitalization programs and rehabilitation centers.
​
Prior to joining Penn Psycare in 2020, Lori completed her bachelor’s in nursing from Waynesburg University in 2017 before continuing to pursue a master’s as well as her nurse practitioner credentials from Maryville in 2019, with a focus in adult and geriatric care. During COVID, she crossed fields and obtained the post-master’s Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner certification from Wilkes University in 2021. With her years of experience across multiple settings, Lori offers a well-rounded, integrative approach to treating mental and physical health conditions across the adult lifespan.
​
As part of her commitment to bettering the mental health of the community in which she has dedicated her entire career, Lori has taken on additional responsibilities spearheading the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) program alongside Dr. Vemulapalli in an effort to provide the most advanced and best practices to all patients that choose Penn Psycare for their services.
Dawn Wingerter, MSN, PMHNP-BC
​
Dawn Wingerter is a Board-Certified Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP-BC) with over a decade of diverse nursing experience and a deep commitment to behavioral health. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Ohio University in 2013 and completed her Master of Science in Nursing at Wilkes University in 2023.
​
Prior to joining Penn Psycare in 2024, Dawn worked with a range of behavioral health organizations across her career, including New Directions, Centerville Clinics, Chartiers Center, LTSR and RTP programs, and the Human Services Center.
​
In addition to providing services at Penn Psycare, Dawn holds a role at the Veterans Health Affairs (VA) in Buter, PA, serving as a remote-based registered nurse who is a central point of contact, assisting with scheduling appointments, clinical telephonic triage, virtual visits, and pharmacy services. With a career spanning multiple community-based and clinical settings, Dawn brings extensive experience in delivering high-quality mental health care to individuals with complex psychiatric and emotional needs.
Wendy Cubero, EdS, LPC
​
Wendy Cubero is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Pennsylvania with over 30 years of experience practicing in the mental health field. She has worked across a broad spectrum of settings, including outpatient clinics, schools, and community mental health centers, supporting individuals, couples, adolescents, and families.
​
Wendy earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Penn State University in 1994. After completion of her degree, she assumed roles as a mental health technician, substance abuse counselor, school counselor, and outpatient therapist, before pursuing a Master of Science in Counselor Education at East Carolina University, which she completed in 2002. Following this, she earned an advanced degree, allowing her to specialize further and obtain her Education Specialist (EdS) in Counselor Education from the same institution.
​
Wendy utilizes an eclectic and person-centered approach to therapy, as she believes that therapy is a journey to transform individual life struggles into positive life changes. She offers empathetic listening and compassion to every patient because she understands that coping with emotions can be difficult and overwhelming, and these internal struggles often cause issues with the individual and those who are closest to them. She provides a safe, nurturing, and nonjudgmental way to promote change. She believes that everyone is doing the best they can with the information they are given at any moment. Given these open-minded viewpoints, she hopes to serve as a guide along each patient’s unique journey to promote their individual health and wellbeing.