Faculty

Cecile D Ladouceur, PhD

Cecile D Ladouceur, PhD

Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology

Contact Details

3811 O'Hara St.
Pittsburgh
 
PA
 
15213
Email
Website
CAN-D Lab
Assistant
Lisa Walker
walkerlm2@upmc.edu

Education & Training

PhD
Clinical and Developmental Psychology, Universit du Qubec, Montreal
Clinical Psychology, Douglas Hospital, Division of Psychiatry
Neuropsychology, Ste-Justine Children's Hospital
Developmental Affective Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh

Professional Affiliations

Member, Association for Psychological Science
Member, Society of Biological Psychiatry
Member, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology

Selected Honors & Awards

Member, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation Scientific Council
Membership, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
Fellow, Association for Psychological Science
Young Investigator Award, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation

Research Interests

Neurodevelopment of emotion and motivation; Puberty and adolescent brain development; Anxiety and mood disorders
Selected Research Publications & Products
  1. Sequeira SL, Silk JS, Jones NP, Forbes EE, Hanson JL, Hallion LS, & Ladouceur CD. Pathways to adolescent social anxiety: Testing interactions between neural social reward function and perceived social threat in daily life. Development and Psychopathology. May 27, 2025:1-16. doi: 10.1017/S0954579424001068. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38801123.
  2. Westbrook CA, Schlund M, Silk JS, Forbes EE, Ryan ND, Dahl RE, McMakin DL, Kendall PC, Mannarino A, Ladouceur CD. The role of reward-related brain activity in response to treatment and later depression severity: data from a randomized controlled trial in early adolescents with anxiety disorders. Transl Psychiatry. 2025 Aug 16;15(1):286. doi: 10.1038/s41398-025-03388-2. PMID: 40818984; PMCID: PMC12357957.
  3. Sequeira SL*, Rosen DK*, Silk JS, Allen KB, Jones NP, Price RB, Ladouceur CD. Dont judge me!: Links between in vivo attention bias toward a potentially critical judge and fronto-amygdala functional connectivity during rejection in adolescent girls. * co-first author. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. 2021. 49:100960. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2021.100960. Epub 2021 May 5. PMID: 33975229; PMCID: PMC8120940
  4. Ladouceur CD, Henry T, Ojha A, Shirtcliff EA, Silk JS. Fronto-amygdala resting state functional connectivity is associated with anxiety symptoms among adolescent girls more advanced in pubertal maturation. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. 2023 Apr;60:101236. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101236. Epub 2023 Mar 22. PMID: 36996571; PMCID: PMC10063408
  5. Ladouceur CD, Kerestes R, Schlund MW, Shirtcliff EA, Lee Y, Dahl RE. Neural systems underlying reward cue processing in early adolescence: the role of puberty and pubertal hormones. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2019 102:281-291. PMID: 30639923; PMCID: PMC7085287

Clinical Interests

Pediatric anxiety disorders; Pediatric mood disorders; Risk for affective disorders in adolescence

Education Interests

Research mentorship; Career development; Leadership

Pitt Psychiatry’s 2025 Research Day, Part I: A Celebration of Science

Research Day Attendees

The 23rd annual Department of Psychiatry Research Day, held on June 12, 2025, was the most highly attended Research Day ever, with 653 faculty members, trainees, and staff gathering at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum on the University of Pittsburgh campus. Lunchtime Roundtables More than 300 individuals participated in or facilitated one of 30 roundtable discussion groups focused on topics including...

Journal of Adolescent Health: The Impact of Insufficient Sleep on White Matter Development in Late Childhood and Early Adolescence

Journal of Adolescent Health

Early adolescence is associated with major changes in sleep-circadian processes, which, combined with biopsychosocial factors, contribute to a decline in sleep duration. Insufficient sleep in childhood and adolescence is associated with future adverse cognitive and mental health outcomes including depression and anxiety. As part of a Brain & Behavior Research Foundation Young Investigator Grant, scientists from...

Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience Neuroimaging - Altered Lateral Prefrontal Cortex Functioning During Emotional Interference Resistance Is Associated with Affect Lability in Adults with Persisting Symptoms of ADHD from Childhood

Drs. Cecile Ladouceur and Brooke Molina

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), characterized by inattention and/or impulsivity/hyperactivity, can include emotional dysregulation (such as affect lability), especially when symptoms persist into adulthood. Some individuals with ADHD have trouble with modulating attention in the context of goal-directed behavior. They may perform significantly worse on cognitive tasks, relative to those without...

The Developmental Affective Neuroscience Symposium: Presenting Translational Research in Developmental Psychopathology

The Developmental Affective Neuroscience Symposium Collage

The Developmental Affective Neuroscience Symposium (DANS) presents recent translational research in developmental psychopathology. The 2023 DANS theme was “ Neurodevelopment of Regulatory Systems: A Focus on Emotions and Motivation,” featuring research focused on the development of neural networks and circuitries implicated in regulating or modulating neural response to emotionally or motivationally salient...

The Department of Psychiatry’s Biggest-Ever Research Day

2023 Pitt Psychiatry Research Day Session

The 21st annual Department of Psychiatry Research Day, held on June 8, 2023 was the biggest Research Day ever, attended by more than 500 faculty members, trainees, and staff, and featuring 160 posters at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh.   Lunchtime roundtables followed the morning poster session. More than 250 participants joined one of 30 roundtable discussion groups...