Craig Chepke

Dr. Craig Chepke is a Board-Certified psychiatrist in clinical practice as the medical director of Excel Psychiatric Associates in Huntersville, NC. He serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry for the Atrium Health Psychiatry Residency Program and is the Chief Medical Officer of the Psych Congress portfolio of Continuing Education conferences. Dr. Chepke earned his medical degree from NYU School of Medicine and completed his psychiatry residency at Duke University. As part of an interdisciplinary treatment team in his practice, he employs a person-centered care model to tailor treatments to each individual's needs, integrating traditional pharmacotherapy with psychotherapeutic and physical health and wellness interventions. His clinical and academic interests include serious mental illness, movement disorders, ADHD, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chepke has been recognized as a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and is a recipient of the NAMI Exemplary Psychiatrist Award.

Rakesh Jain, MD, MPH, attended medical school at the University of Calcutta in India. He then attended graduate school at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston, where he was awarded a “National Institute/Center for Disease Control Competitive Traineeship”. His research thesis focused on impact of substance abuse. He graduated from the School of Public Health in 1987 with a Masters of Public Health (MPH) degree.

Dr. Jain served a three-year residency in Psychiatry at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. He followed that by obtaining further specialty training, by undergoing a two-year fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. In addition, Dr. Jain completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Research Psychiatry at the University of Texas Mental Sciences Institute, in Houston. He was awarded the “National Research Service Award” for the support of this postdoctoral fellowship.

Hara is a board-certified Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner currently working in outpatient care but has experience in inpatient and psychiatric hospital settings.
She serves as owner, clinician and clinical preceptor in her private group practice, Fortitude Wellness Group, and is the Chief Operating Officer and Medical Director of a CARFaccredited Outpatient Mental Health Clinic, Greater Chesapeake Health and Wellness in Baltimore City. Hara completed her undergraduate degree at Rutgers University and her Master’s degree in education from Monmouth University in New Jersey. She completed her
Master’s degree in nursing from the University of Maryland with her Post-Master's training as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner from Drexel University.

As a national speaker and Key Opinion Leader (KOL) she has presented on disease states and pharmacology for mental health. This includes clinical
perspectives of and approved treatment options for bipolar I and II disorders, as well as both oral and long-acting treatment options for schizophrenia at various conferences. She is a member of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and the American Psychiatric Nurse Association. She is also a sitting Board Member for the non-profit organization Abilities Network. Her areas of expertise include severe mental illness and psychotic disorders for high-risk populations, mood disorders, depression-related disorders, anxiety, trauma, and attention deficit disorder. She treats across the lifespan from children to adults and also provides medication-assisted treatment for patients with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. Hara is committed to health equity within mental health and psychiatry.

Dr. Craig Chepke is a Board-Certified psychiatrist in clinical practice as the medical director of Excel Psychiatric Associates in Huntersville, NC. He serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry for the Atrium Health Psychiatry Residency Program and is the Chief Medical Officer of the Psych Congress portfolio of Continuing Education conferences. Dr. Chepke earned his medical degree from NYU School of Medicine and completed his psychiatry residency at Duke University. As part of an interdisciplinary treatment team in his practice, he employs a person-centered care model to tailor treatments to each individual's needs, integrating traditional pharmacotherapy with psychotherapeutic and physical health and wellness interventions. His clinical and academic interests include serious mental illness, movement disorders, ADHD, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chepke has been recognized as a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and is a recipient of the NAMI Exemplary Psychiatrist Award.

Dr. Gehrman is Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and a clinical psychologist at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center. He directs the Sleep, Neurobiology and Psychopathology lab at Penn. He has an active research program exploring the mechanisms and treatment of sleep and circadian dysregulation in the context of mental health disorders. Dr. Gehrman’s clinical specialization is on the delivery of cognitive behavioral and chronotherapeutic interventions for insomnia, circadian rhythm disorders, and other sleep disorders. The overarching goal of his work is to advance the understanding of the links between sleep and mental illness through translational research that spans biology to therapeutics.

Dr. Craig Chepke is a Board-Certified psychiatrist in clinical practice as the medical director of Excel Psychiatric Associates in Huntersville, NC. He serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry for the Atrium Health Psychiatry Residency Program and is the Chief Medical Officer of the Psych Congress portfolio of Continuing Education conferences. Dr. Chepke earned his medical degree from NYU School of Medicine and completed his psychiatry residency at Duke University. As part of an interdisciplinary treatment team in his practice, he employs a person-centered care model to tailor treatments to each individual's needs, integrating traditional pharmacotherapy with psychotherapeutic and physical health and wellness interventions. His clinical and academic interests include serious mental illness, movement disorders, ADHD, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chepke has been recognized as a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and is a recipient of the NAMI Exemplary Psychiatrist Award.

my name is Jessica Wright and I am an adult primary care nurse practitioner at the Sleep Disorders Center of Alabama, and I live with narcolepsy type 1. From both a personal and clinical perspective, every day I see how challenging living with narcolepsy or idiopathic
hypersomnia (IH) can be. That really shapes how I approach my patients, especially when they are
hesitant about treatment. I’m able to relate to those concerns and help guide those conversations in a
way that feels more real and supportive. I’m excited to be here today to share both my experience
managing patients with hypersomnia disorders and my own journey living with narcolepsy.

Dr. Craig Chepke is a Board-Certified psychiatrist in clinical practice as the medical director of Excel Psychiatric Associates in Huntersville, NC. He serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry for the Atrium Health Psychiatry Residency Program and is the Chief Medical Officer of the Psych Congress portfolio of Continuing Education conferences. Dr. Chepke earned his medical degree from NYU School of Medicine and completed his psychiatry residency at Duke University. As part of an interdisciplinary treatment team in his practice, he employs a person-centered care model to tailor treatments to each individual's needs, integrating traditional pharmacotherapy with psychotherapeutic and physical health and wellness interventions. His clinical and academic interests include serious mental illness, movement disorders, ADHD, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chepke has been recognized as a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and is a recipient of the NAMI Exemplary Psychiatrist Award.

Kristian Dambrino is a board-certified psychiatric nurse practitioner and the founder of Dambrino Wellness, a mental health clinic in Nashville, Tennessee. She holds a Master of Science in Nursing from Vanderbilt University and a Doctor of Nursing Practice from Belmont University.

A Fulbright Scholar, she is conducting research in Indonesia and India on reducing mental health stigma through nursing capacity building, and serves as adjunct faculty at Belmont University College of Nursing, with prior faculty appointments at Michigan State University and Marian University. As a national speaker and consultant, she serves in leadership as co-chair of Psych Congress Elevate and brings her clinical and research expertise to stages and institutions across the country.

Beyond the clinic, Dambrino is a jazz vocalist who performs annually in France and has shared stages with Oprah Winfrey, Morgan Freeman, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jean Smart, with national television appearances on MSNBC, CNBC, and CMT. She volunteers with Rotary International, Project C.U.R.E., Habitat for Humanity, and the Nashville International Center for Empowerment, has helped raise millions of dollars for hurricane relief in Mississippi, and her sold-out benefit concert Music City Without Borders raised $20,000 for refugee resettlement in Tennessee.