Board Certified Psychiatrist located in Fort Worth, TX
About Dr. Diana Ghelber, MD
A Journey Across Three Continents — From Romania to Israel to Texas
I began my medical training in 1981 at the Universitatea de Medicină și Farmacie Grigore T. Popa in Iași, the oldest medical school in southeast Europe, and earned my medical degree in 1987. From the start, I was drawn to psychiatry: the complexity of the human mind, the mystery of conditions that no lab test can fully explain, and the possibility of restoring hope when people feel most vulnerable.
After my internship at Bacău County Hospital, I emigrated to Israel, where I completed a psychiatry residency at Ben Gurion University and became a board‑certified psychiatrist. Over the next 18 years, I worked in a wide range of clinical, academic, and leadership roles. I co‑directed an emergency psychiatry ward and later directed the emergency department at Sha’ar Menashe Mental Health Center. I led an adult outpatient psychiatry clinic at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center and served as a consultant psychiatrist for the Israel Ministry of Defense, caring for Holocaust survivors, second‑generation survivors, and families who had lost loved ones to wars and terror attacks. That work gave me a deep understanding of trauma, resilience, and the long reach of PTSD.
During those years, I also taught psychiatry at Ben Gurion University’s School of Medicine, completed a Sleep Medicine Fellowship at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine in Tel Aviv, and was among the first physicians to complete the inaugural Clinical Hypnosis Course at Ben Gurion University. These experiences shaped my expertise in trauma, PTSD, eating disorders, and treatment‑resistant conditions, and reinforced a core belief that guides me to this day: truly listening to patients and validating their experience is the foundation of effective care.
In 2003, I immigrated to the United States. Three years later, I began a second psychiatry residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, immersing myself in American psychiatric training, research methods, and clinical culture. I went on to earn American board certification from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and became licensed to practice in Texas.
In 2010, I founded the Institute for Advanced Psychiatry in the Fort Worth area. Shortly afterward, I became the first psychiatrist to bring Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to Fort Worth and surrounding communities, opening new possibilities for patients with treatment‑resistant depression. By 2012, I was among the first in the region to offer ketamine infusions for patients with severe depression and high suicide risk.
Today, as Medical Director of the Institute for Advanced Psychiatry, I focus on conditions that are often considered the most difficult to treat: treatment‑resistant depression, PTSD, eating disorders, addiction, insomnia, and OCD. Many of my patients come to us from across the United States and abroad after years of trying multiple medications without relief. My approach is integrative and grounded in the science of neuroplasticity — the brain’s ability to reorganize and heal. Using advanced treatments such as Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (Deep TMS), Prism neurofeedback for PTSD, ketamine infusions, medication management, and psychotherapy, we work together to reshape neural pathways and restore functioning where conventional treatments have fallen short. I am also a certified provider of buprenorphine treatment for opioid addiction. Every treatment plan is individualized, because no two patients are alike — and no one should be told that they are out of options.
My commitment to psychiatry extends beyond the clinic walls. As Principal Investigator at North Texas Clinical Trials, I have led and participated in numerous industry‑sponsored clinical trials across multiple therapeutic areas and phases. I have authored peer‑reviewed publications on Deep TMS for adult and adolescent depression, EEG‑derived neurofeedback for PTSD, inositol treatment for eating disorders, and suicide risk assessment. I also serve as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Sciences at Texas Christian University, helping train the next generation of healthcare professionals.
What drives my work is a simple conviction: no one should suffer without options. Whether I am treating a patient, conducting research, or teaching, my goal is always the same — to expand what psychiatry can offer and to never give up on the people who trust me with their care.
I speak English, Romanian, and Hebrew — a reflection of a career built across three continents and shaped by the patients and communities I have been privileged to serve.