Meet Our Team

Dr. Jessica Merkel-Keller is a compassionate and well-equipped board-certified psychiatrist with administrative and physician leadership experience. She trained at Johns Hopkins, where she remains on the faculty, serving The Part-time Faculty Advisory Board. Through Johns Hopkins, she supports the MDPCP initiative which provides psychiatric support to primary care doctors managing psychiatric patients in their own practice in an effort to address national shortages in mental health. For the last 5 years, Jessica has served as the managing director of East Coast Psychiatric Consultants which provides clinical work and leadership resources. In 2018 she led a Pilot Project for the Behavioral Health Administration of Maryland that addressed physician shortages in the State Hospital System (including forensic mental health), leading to decreased patient length of stay and increased access to state hospital beds for detention centers through an innovative telepsychiatry project that was recognized with a team innovation award. She is a subject matter expert, and regularly testifies as an expert witness in psychiatry and medical ethics. She has graduate training in medical ethics from McGill University and has 2 decades of experience working with clinical ethics. She is a tireless advocate for patients which requires continual engagement with leaders in policy and legislation. For the last decade, Jessica has been an active member of the Maryland Psychiatric Society, serving on the board of directors for the last 5 years and the executive committee for the last 2 years. She is the current president-elect. Previously, Jessica served as a medical director overseeing inpatient, IOP, and PHP services for adults and adolescents. She has practiced across the full continuum of the discipline, including the criminal justice system, state hospitals, inpatient services, step-down programs, crisis evaluation and stabilization, assertive community treatment, mobile treatment, consultation-liaison psychiatry, and eating disorder treatment. She is a creative problem solver whose strengths lie in communication, team and relationship development, situational leadership, and helping to create cultures of quality, safety, and excellence.

Dr. Sandra Anoruo is a Family Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner who cares about her patient and is passionate about helping individuals achieve optimal societal functioning. She is known to treat her clients with respect and strives to reduce mental health stigmatization. She moved to Maryland eleven years ago and attended the University of Maryland School of Nursing, earning her Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She went on to work as a Psychiatric registered nurse until beginning her graduate studies a few years later. She graduated with a Master of Science as a Family Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner and obtained a post-graduate nursing degree. She has worked in various settings, including outpatient clinics and correction facilities. She has experience treating a broad range of psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and psychotic disorders, and treating adults and children.

Hello, everyone! I am a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner with about two and one-half years of experience caring for patients of all ages performing medication management, mental health evaluations, and consults in diverse healthcare settings. While I’m particularly focused on anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and insomnia, I also handle PTSD, ADHD, and a variety of other mental illnesses akin to children and adolescents.  Finally, I approach care from a holistic perspective, with an open mind, and the understanding that there is always more to the symptoms than meets the eye, leaving you with the feeling you have met someone who really cares and is focused on helping and being supportive as they navigate your mental health challenges.

Mariel Otter, DNP, PMHNP-BC is a Board-Certified Family Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner with a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Nursing Science degree from Johns Hopkins University and has specialized in psychiatric nursing since 2013.  Prior settings include child inpatient, outpatient, and mobile psychiatry, inpatient and outpatient adult psychiatry, and the Retreat at Sheppard Pratt, a private pay, residential psychiatric unit. She is skilled in the diagnosis and treatment of OCD, ADHD, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, thought disorders, personality disorders, and alcohol use disorders. Treatment is collaborative and based on client preferences/goals, concurrent somatic health considerations, and evidence-based clinical guidelines.  Treatment may include medication management, herbal/dietary supplementation, family therapy, IEP/504 advocacy, behavioral interventions, care coordination, and/or referrals for concurrent specialist care.