Vani Rao

Dr. Vani Rao completed her residency in adult psychiatry at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM). She served as Chief Resident during her fourth year of residency. She then completed a fellowship in Neuropsychiatry at JHUSOM.

She served as a fulltime faculty from 2000- 2013 and the Medical Director of the Brain Injury Program and the Director of Neuropsychiatry fellowship program, from 2005-2017, in the department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, JHUSOM.

She is currently a part-time staff at JHUSOM and has a private practice in Washington DC.

She is a member of the Miller Coulson Academy of Clinical Excellence. This honor is given to the physicians who are “committed to teaching excellence and patient care.” Her neuropsychiatric research work has mainly focused on mood and sleep problems associated with traumatic brain injury. She has received funding from the National Institute of Health, The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. Department of Defense, Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), and pharmaceutical companies.

She has co-authored 3 books: The Traumatized Brain: A Family Guide to Understanding Mood, Memory, and Behavior after Brain Injury, published by Johns Hopkins press, 2015.

Mental Illness among South Asian Americans: Twenty Culturally Mindful Case Studies : published by iUniverse 2019.
Healing the Traumatized Brain: Coping after Concussion and Other Brain Injuries. Vaishnavi S & Rao V. A Johns Hopkins Press Health Book, 2023.

She is a member of the UCNS ( United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties) Board of Directors representing the Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry (BN&NP) program.

She is also the associate editor of the Journal Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences.