About Our Team

Penelope Carter, MD, Medical Director
Psychiatrist, Medical Director

Dr. Carter is a clinical psychiatrist and the Medical Director of Penn Center for Women’s Behavioral Wellness.  She also works with the broader Penn Medicine system, as a perinatal psychiatrist with the Richard D. Wood Jr. Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment (CFDT), and as a child and adolescent psychiatrist with the CHOP Center for Advanced Behavioral Healthcare.  She received her medical degree from University of Virginia School of Medicine.  She completed her adult psychiatry residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She completed Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, during which she was the inpatient chief fellow. Dr. Carter has academic interests in investigating the impact of trauma exposures on mental and physical health. 

Lauren Dubner, MD
Reproductive Psychiatrist

Dr. Dubner is a clinical psychiatrist in the Penn Center for Women’s Behavioral Wellness and in the Penn Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic. She has specific interest and expertise in perinatal and postpartum psychiatric disorders including mood and anxiety disorders, perimenopausal mood disorders, preconception counseling on psychiatric medication management during pregnancy, and PMDD. Dr. Dubner received her medical degree from Thomas Jefferson University, where she received membership into the national Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. She completed her adult psychiatry residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, during which she served as Outpatient Chief Resident. During residency, Dr. Dubner also served as co-leader of the women’s mental health certificate program, for which she continues to serve as a mentor for residents interested in the field. During residency, she received an American Psychiatric Association Resident Recognition Award, as well as The Association of Women Psychiatrists Alexandra Symonds Fellowship Award, which is awarded to female psychiatry residents/fellows who have demonstrated potential for leadership and contribution in women’s health.

Megan Johnson LCSW
Clinical Social Worker

Megan is a licensed clinical social worker with training in cognitive-behavioral therapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction.  She holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania.  Prior to joining PCWBW in October 2021, Megan spent five years at Thomas Jefferson University’s Family Center, where she delivered psychotherapy to pregnant and parenting women struggling with both perinatal mental health concerns and substance use disorders. Megan has special interest and experience with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, infertility and assisted reproduction, pregnancy after loss, traumatic delivery, and parental adjustment. Megan’s approach focuses on helping patients understand how their past experiences, environment, relationships impact their emotional health while also empowering them to move forward with self-compassion.

Sara Kornfield, PhD, Clinical Director
Clinical Psychologist

Dr. Kornfield is a licensed clinical psychologist, the Clinical Director of PCWBW, and leads the Maternal Wellness Initiative (MWI).  The MWI is a perinatal care-mental health integration program which seeks to enhance health care service delivery in obstetrical settings for pregnant and postpartum women with mental health problems.  As part of this initiative, Dr. Kornfield provides psychotherapy at the Helen O. Dickens Center at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.  As a clinical psychologist at the PCWBW, she provides clinical consultation and ongoing psychotherapy related to women’s behavioral health across the lifespan at 3535 Market Street in University City.  She is also trained and certified to provide mental healthcare to the transgender community. Dr. Kornfield’s research focuses on posttraumatic stress disorder during pregnancy, development of a brief psychotherapeutic treatment that can be delivered in primary care or prenatal care settings, and improving access to perinatal mental health care. See her publications here.

Reid Mergler, MD
Reproductive Psychiatrist

Dr. Mergler is a clinical psychiatrist at the Penn Center for Women’s Behavioral Wellness, who specializes in Reproductive Psychiatry and women’s mental health. She completed her adult psychiatry residency training at Tufts Medical Center in Boston in June 2023. She received her medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and completed her first year of residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Montefiore Medical Center. She is the co-founder of the National Reproductive Psychiatry Trainee Interest Group, and she was awarded the Association of Women Psychiatrists Symonds Fellowship in 2021. She is an active member of the American Psychiatric Association Women’s Mental Health Committee, Marce of North America and the Association of Women Psychiatrists. She has a special interest in trauma-informed care, childbirth-related PTSD, polycystic ovary syndrome and perimenopause. Her publications are listed here

Sheila Shanmugan, MD, PhD
Director of Research, Reproductive Psychiatrist

Dr. Shanmugan is a reproductive psychiatrist and the Director of Research at the Penn Center for Women’s Behavioral Wellness. She is also an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry, Obstetrics/Gynecology, and Radiology at Penn. Her clinical expertise includes perinatal and postpartum psychiatric disorders, perimenopausal mood disorders and cognitive dysfunction, menopausal hormone therapy, and PMDD. She precepts the Women’s Mental Health clinic at the Outpatient Psychiatry Center, during which she supervises senior resident physicians who treat patients with hormone-related psychiatric symptoms. In 2021, she founded Penn’s Women’s Mental Health Certificate Program, a curriculum consisting of clinical experiences, expert mentorship, focused didactics, and research pursuits by which psychiatry residents can obtain specialized training in reproductive psychiatry. Dr. Shanmugan is also an internationally-recognized physician-scientist and directs the Translational Reproductive Neuropsychiatry and Data Science Lab. Her research leverages multi-modal neuroimaging, clinical data science, and hormone administration paradigms to identify biological markers of risk and resilience to psychiatric symptoms during periods of hormonal fluctuations, such as during pregnancy and menopause. Her work has been published in leading scientific journals including the American Journal of Psychiatry and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. She has received multiple prestigious awards for her pioneering research including the NIH Director’s DP5 Early Independence Award, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award for Medical Scientists, and a Brain and Behavior Research Foundation Young Investigator Award. More information on Dr. Shanmugan’s research program is available here. 

Lindsay Sortor, PsyD
Clinical Psychologist

Dr. Sortor is a clinical psychologist with expertise in reproductive and perinatal issues as well as psycho-oncology. Her specific areas of interest include infertility, perinatal mood disorders, parental adjustment, and NICU support.  Dr. Sortor also offers support to women at various stages of cancer diagnosis and treatment, and is available to see patients at 3535 Market Street in University City.

Sonja Spangler, LCSW
Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Sonja is a licensed clinical social worker at the Penn Center for Women’s Behavioral Wellness. She received her Masters of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania in 2021. Sonja specializes in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and uses a psychodynamic approach to help patients gain insight into their current issues and develop a greater sense of presence in their everyday lives. She has experience working with individuals who are struggling with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, adjusting to parenthood, or recovering from a traumatic birth. Sonja is passionate about creating a nonjudgmental space where patients can safely open up and be vulnerable.