Our Team
Joshua Fitzgerald, M.D.
Principal Investigator & Medical Director
Dr. Joshua Fitzgerald, M.D. is dual Board Certified in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and General Psychiatry. Dr. Fitzgerald is currently faculty for the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He is the Acting Chair for Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Program Director and the Medical Director for UNR Med's First Episode Psychosis Program.
Brian D. Leany, Ph.D.
Co-Investigator & Clinical Director
Dr. Leany is a clinical psychologist and community faculty member in the UNR Psychiatry and Behavioral Health department. He is licensed in both Nevada and California. Dr. Leany’s work broadly focuses on serious mental illness in the community and forensic sector. Dr. Leany is the clinical director for the SOAR program.
Lorraine T. Benuto, Ph.D.
Outreach Coordinator & Cultural Considerations Consultant
Dr. Joshua Fitzgerald, M.D. is dual Board Certified in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and General Psychiatry. Dr. Fitzgerald is currently faculty for the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He is the Acting Chair for Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Program Director and the Medical Director for UNR Med's First Episode Psychosis Program.
Brady Wells, D.O.
Prescriber
Dr. Brady Wells, D.O. is a 3rd year psychiatry resident trainee at the University of Nevada, Reno. Dr. Wells completed his undergraduate training in Exercise Science at Brigham Young University and earned his medical degree at Midwestern University in Arizona. Dr Wells' clinical interests include interventional psychiatry and working with individuals experiencing serious mental illness.
David Krone, M.D.
Prescriber
Dr. Krone is in the second year of child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at the University of Nevada, Reno. He grew up outside of Chicago in Park Ridge, IL. He received his undergraduate degree in neuroscience, his medical degree, and completed the first two years of general psychiatry residency at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. After completing his final year of adult psychiatry training in 2024, Dr. Krone plans to focus on working with children, adolescents, and adults in different settings and hopes to see patients with a range of psychiatric diagnoses.
Cyndy Soto, Ph.D.
Supervising Psychologist
Dr. Joshua Fitzgerald, M.D. is dual Board Certified in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and General Psychiatry. Dr. Fitzgerald is currently faculty for the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He is the Acting Chair for Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Program Director and the Medical Director for UNR Med's First Episode Psychosis Program
Stephanie Reyes
Individual Resiliency Trainer
Stephanie Reyes is a second-year graduate student in the clinical psychology doctoral program at the University of Nevada, Reno. She obtained her bachelor’s in Psychology with a minor in Public Health from the University of California, Merced. Her research is focused on increasing access to behavioral health services for Spanish-speaking Latinxs via telenovelas that were developed using a transdiagnostic protocol. Additionally, she is also interested in using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) to understand skill use patterns among Latinos in their daily lives. During her free time, Stephanie enjoys hiking, spending time with friends and family, and traveling to new places.
Jorge A. Cao Noya
Individual Resiliency Trainer
Jorge is a Ph.D. student in the Clinical Psychology program at the University of Nevada, Reno. He was born and raised in Spain, where he earned his B.A. in Psychology, in the University of Santiago de Compostela. He earned then his M.A. in General Psychology in Cardinal Stritch University, in Milwaukee, WI. He is interested in the relationship between trauma and bilingualism, concretely, in how code-switching can improve the treatment of PTSD and other Trauma-related disorders. During his free time, he likes playing videogames but also enjoys practicing almost any outdoor sport. His favorites are biking, snowboarding and tennis.
Natalia Duda
Individual Resiliency Trainer
Natalia is a second year Clinical Psychology graduate student. She was born and raised in a small town in Poland. After graduating from high school, she moved to the United States and received her B.A in Psychology with a minor in Addiction Treatment Services at the University of Nevada, Reno. Her research focuses the mechanisms behind racial trauma and its impact on one’s mental health in hopes to improve treatment outcomes for victims of racial discrimination. Natalia’s clinical work is concentrated on providing evidence-based interventions for victims of trauma and youth with first symptoms of psychosis.
Cossette Canovas
Family Education Clinician
Cossette Canovas is a graduate student in the clinical psychology program at the University of Nevada Reno. She graduated from UNR with a bachelor’s in neuroscience. Her research is focused on racial discrimination and how racial discrimination impacts cognition, attention, and mental health. Clinically, she wishes to improve treatment accessibility and the dissemination of evidence-based interventions for underserved, vulnerable populations, including ethnoracial minorities and low socioeconomic status individuals. Her primary clinical work is with trauma-exposed populations. In her free time, Cossette enjoys playing video games, watching anime and creative writing.
Monica Zepeda
Centralized Assessor and Individual Resiliency Trainer
Monica is a third-year doctoral student in the clinical psychology doctoral program with a bachelor’s in psychology. Her research interests focus on evidence-based assessment and treatment of common psychological disorders experienced in the aftermath of trauma, implementation and dissemination of brief treatments in integrated behavioral healthcare, and sociocultural factors associated with the development of common psychological disorders in minorities.
Asha Putnam
Family Education Clinician
Asha Putnam is a third-year doctoral student in the clinical psychology program at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). She graduated from UNR with a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience. Her research focuses on trauma populations, specifically people who have been exposed to sexual assault. Clinically, Asha works with individuals who have intellectual and developmental disabilities, anxiety and depression, and trauma exposure. She has a special interest in working with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. She is also a yoga teacher and aspires to integrate evidence-based mindfulness interventions into a variety of clinical group settings. In her free time, Asha enjoys skiing and climbing in the Reno-Tahoe area.
Thomas Wheaton
Case Manager
Thomas earned his bachelor’s degree in Communication from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has volunteered extensively with organizations such as Veterans Affairs and the Koegel Autism Center at UCSB. Thomas is committed to providing services to members of the Reno community. He is planning to enroll in the Master of Social Work program at the University of Nevada, Reno in hopes of becoming a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. In his free time, Thomas enjoys golfing, playing video games and spending time outdoors.
Theresa Meadows
R.N., Nurse
Theresa is a Registered Nurse who earned her degree at Carrington College and has been working in the operating room setting since 2002. She also has a Bachelor's degree in Nutrition from the University of Nevada, Reno and a Surgical Tech degree from Clover Park Tech. Enjoys spending time outside in the summer kayaking, fishing, and off-roading, and in the winter works with glass doing stained glass, fusing and recently started building furniture.