News

WPIC Psychology Internship

WPIC Psychology Internship Program Welcomes
New Co-Director and Interns


Dr. Jill Cyranowski, Katie Griswold and Dr. Michele Levine

Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC (WPIC) and the Department of Psychiatry are pleased to announce the appointment of Michele Levine, PhD as Co-Director of the WPIC Psychology Internship Program. Dr. Levine will work closely with Co-Director Jill Cyranowski, PhD to direct the program and build on its national reputation for quality training in clinical psychology and career development. Ms. Katie Griswold provides administrative support to the program.

The WPIC Psychology Internship is an American Psychological Association-accredited internship program in clinical psychology and is a member of the Academy of Psychological Clinical Science. It is based on a ?clinical science? model of training and professional development which emphasizes the integration of research and clinical training and a commitment to empirically informed approaches to clinical work. The program offers rotations in both inpatient and outpatient settings; individual and group supervision in adult and child assessment and intervention; clinical and didactic seminars; and an opportunity to pursue clinical research activities.

Please join us in welcoming the new class of interns to the Department and WPIC:


Caroline W. Oppenheimer (University of Denver). Advisor: Benjamin Hankin, PhD. Ms. Oppenheimer's interests include the study of developmental pathways to depression among youth, with a focus on interpersonal models of depression, including observed parent-child interactional processes. Ms. Oppenheimer received a National Research Service Award (NRSA) to study observed emotionality as an intermediate trait through which gene-environment interplay may influence the development of depression.
Trina E. Orimoto (University of Hawaii). Advisor: Charles W. Mueller, PhD. Among Ms. Orimoto's primary research interests are measuring characteristics of treatment services in youth systems of care, and dissemination and implementation efforts in community based-settings. She has begun to examine patterns in practice application for youth with co- and multimorbid disruptive behavior problems, and to examine whether the application of practices derived from the evidence base ("common elements") in intensive in-home services significantly predict outcomes for youth with disruptive behavior problems.

Jessica D. Rhodes (SUNY Buffalo). Advisor: Larry W. Hawk, Jr., PhD.  Ms. Rhodes' program of research has concentrated on the cognitive, motivational, behavioral and psychophysiological underpinnings of ADHD and smoking behavior, and the impact of psychopharmacological treatments on these processes. Specifically, her dissertation focuses on the short-term test-retest reliability of acute smoking abstinence effects on a variety of cognitive process (i.e., sustained attention, working memory, and inhibitory control).

Emily J. Ricketts (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee). Advisor: Douglas W. Woods, Ph.D. Ms. Ricketts' research interests include the dissemination of behavioral treatments, stigma reduction, and the role of family factors in tic disorders and body-focused repetitive behavior disorders. She received a National Research Service Award Fellowship to conduct a three-phase project examining Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)-delivered behavior therapy for tic disorders.
Adriane Soehner (University of California, Berkeley). Advisor: Allison G Harvey, PhD. Ms. Soehner's research focuses on characterizing the health and affective consequences of sleep disturbance in mood disorders, and adapting (or developing) sleep interventions for this group. Her work has included epidemiologic studies evaluating sleep disturbances among individuals with mood and anxiety disorders, and the impact of sleep perturbations on course of bipolar disorder. Specifically, her dissertation investigates whether aspects of sleep neurophysiology facilitate, or disrupt, overnight mood regulation in patients with bipolar disorder.