ABOUT DR. VANDANA RAO
THE DOCTOR BEHIND THE PRACTICE
A PATH BUILT ON DEPTH
Dr. Vandana Sethi Rao is a board-certified psychiatrist with over 20 years of combined clinical experience treating children, adolescents, and adults across the full spectrum of mental health conditions. She completed her psychiatry training at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas — one of the nation's top academic medical institutions — earning both a three-year adult psychiatry residency and a two-year fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry.
What that means for you: Dr. Rao doesn't just treat symptoms. She understands the mind at every stage of life.
Dr. Rao's journey to psychiatry is anything but ordinary. Born in Delhi, India into an army family, she earned her medical degree from Kharkov Medical University in Ukraine in 1997. After practicing medicine in India, she pursued a Master's in Public Health at the University of North Carolina, where she trained as an epidemiologist and went on to serve the city of Houston in public health.
That combination — clinical medicine, public health, and psychiatric specialty training — gives Dr. Rao a uniquely whole-person perspective. She sees the patient in front of her, not just the diagnosis.
She also holds a Family Therapy Certification from the Momentous Institute and completed a two-year externship in internal medicine in Houston, TX — further broadening her diagnostic lens before specializing.
BEYOND THE OFFICE
Dr. Rao is fluent in English, Hindi, Punjabi, and Russian — allowing her to serve patients from diverse cultural backgrounds with genuine understanding. Outside of her practice, she is an avid reader, traveler, and gardener, and is currently passionate about the study of Vedic texts.
HER APPROACH
Dr. Rao integrates medication management with evidence-based psychotherapy, including:
-
COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY (CBT)
-
INTERPERSONAL THERAPY
-
PSYCHODYNAMIC THERAPY
-
SUPPORTIVE THERAPY
She also utilizes genetic testing to guide medication decisions — analyzing how your body metabolizes medications based on your unique genetic profile. This takes the guesswork out of prescribing and helps identify the most effective treatment path from the start.