The Department of Psychiatry welcomes two of its talented early career researchers to the stage for its next Researchers on the Rise lecture series. On October 26th Jill Glausier, PhD and Maria Jalbrzikowski, PhD will present findings from their latest research and discuss how this work will inform future areas of study.
Dr. Jill Glausier’s research investigates the circuitry, cellular, and molecular mechanisms that contribute to prefrontal cortex dysfunction and working memory deficits in individuals with schizophrenia. She earned her PhD in neuroscience from Emory University and then joined the Translational Neuroscience Program within the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. With the support of both T32 and F32 training grants from NIH, Dr. Glausier successfully completed her postdoctoral training. She is now an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry with support from a K01 career development award from NIMH and a NARSAD Young Investigator Award from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. Dr. Glausier is investigating the relationship between alterations in neuronal circuitry and reductions in oxidative phosphorylation to identify likely upstream causes of prefrontal cortical dysfunction in schizophrenia using postmortem human brain tissue and animal models.
Psychosis largely emerges during adolescence and early adulthood, yet relatively little is known about which neural circuits are intact and which go awry during this period of neurobiological development. Using multiple neuroimaging modalities, Dr. Jalbrzikowski will identify deviations from normative neurodevelopmental patterns in youth with psychosis spectrum symptoms. She will discuss how alterations in brain-based maturation profiles may predict which individuals transition to a psychotic disorder and identify sensitive time periods for intervention. Dr. Jalbrzikowski will also describe the rationale for integrating genomic and neuroimaging data to understand the development of psychosis. She will report on ongoing “big data” studies that use high dimensional data sets to identify mechanisms of and potential risk factors for psychosis.
The entirety of this program will be a lecture by the speaker(s). All individuals able to control the content of this educational activity are required to disclose all relevant financial relationships with any proprietary entity producing, marketing, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services, used on, or consumed by, patients. Registration is not required for this event. This event is free and there will be no refunds. The University of Pittsburgh is an affirmative action, equal opportunity institution.
Location. Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic Auditorium
For More Information. Please contact Frances Patrick at patrickfm@upmc.edu or at 412-246-6787.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this lecture, participants will be able to:
Describe basic organization of neural circuitry in the human prefrontal cortex.
Discuss how the role of mitochondria supports neural functioning in health and disease.
Describe how alterations in neural circuitry and mitochondria may inform novel therapeutic targets for cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia.
Describe how adolescent neurodevelopment is important to understanding the pathophysiology of psychosis.
Discuss recent findings that report links between age-related changes in neurodevelopment and psychosis spectrum symptoms.
Describe promising new methods to integrate genomic and neuroimaging data to understand the development of psychosis.
Continuing Education Credit: The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine designates this educational activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM. Each physician should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Other health care professionals are awarded .15 continuing education units (CEUs), which are equal to 1.5 contact hours. In accordance with Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education requirements on disclosure, information about relationships of presenters with commercial interests (if any) will be included in materials which will be distributed at the time of the conference. WPIC is approved by the American Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. WPIC maintains responsibility for this program and its contents. This program is being offered for 1.5 continuing education credits.
The indicated number of clock hours of continuing education is provided through Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC’s Office of Educational Resources and Planning, a PA-approved provider of social work continuing education in accordance with all the applicable educational and professional standards of the Pennsylvania State Board of Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapist. These clock hours satisfy requirements for LSW/LCSW, LPC and LMFT renewal. For more information, call (412) 204-9085.
