Faculty

César G Escobar-Viera, MD, PhD

César G Escobar-Viera, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral and Community Health Sciences

Contact Details

3811 O'Hara St.
Pittsburgh
 
PA
 
15213
Email
Website
PRIDE iM Lab
Assistant
Tylar Schmitt
schmitttn@upmc.edu

Education & Training

MD
Universidad Nacional de Asuncion, Asuncion, Paraguay, Facultad de Ciencias Medicas
PhD
Health Services Research, University of Florida - Gainesville, College of Public Health and Health Professions
MPH
Management and Policy, University of Florida - Gainesville, College of Public Health and Health Professions
Psychiatry, Universidad Nacional de Asuncion, Asuncion, Paraguay
Research on Media, Technology, and Health/ Health Policy, University of Pittsburgh
Health Services Research, Stanford University

Current Appointments

Director, Program for Internet Delivered Interventions on LGBTQA+ Mental Health (PRIDE iM)

Professional Affiliations

Member, Board of Directors, Society for Digital Mental Health
Member, Society of Behavioral Medicine

Selected Honors & Awards

Scholar, Health Disparities Research Institute, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
Fulbright Scholarship Award, U.S. Department of State

Research Interests

Depression & suicide prevention among LGBTQ+; Digital mental health interventions, social media; Mixed methods
Selected Research Publications & Products
  1. Biernesser C, Win E, Escobar-Viera CG, Farzan R, Rose M, Goldstein T. Development and Codesign of Flourish: A digital suicide prevention intervention for LGBTQ+ youth who have experienced online victimization. Internet Interventions. 2023 Dec;34:100663. DOI: 10.1016/j.invent.2023.100663
  2. Escobar-Viera CG, Coulter RWS, Friedman MR, Thoma BC, Switzer GE, Martina JD, Egan JE, Primack BA. The influence of social media experiences and behaviors on depressive symptoms among sexual and gender minority young adults in the United States: Research protocol for a mixed methods longitudinal study. JMIR Research Protocols. 2023 Jan 1;12:e43627 PMID: 36692929
  3. Escobar-Viera CG, Porta G, Coulter RWS, Martina J, Goldbach J, Rollman BL. A chatbot-delivered intervention for optimizing social media use and reducing perceived isolation among rural-living LGBTQ+ youth: Development, acceptability, and utility. Internet Interventions. 2023 Dec,34:100668. PMID: 37746640
  4. Gordon JD, Whitfield DL, Mammadi T, Escobar-Viera CG. Social support-seeking strategies on social media at the intersection of LGBTQ identity and race/ethnicity: Insights for intervention from a qualitative study. JMIR Formative Research. 2023 Oct; 7:e51702. PMID: 37862069
  5. Escobar-Viera CG, Choukas-Bradley S, Sidani J, Maheux A, Roberts S, Rollman BL. Examining social media experiences and attitudes toward technology-based interventions for reducing social isolation among LGBTQ youth living in rural United States: An online qualitative study. Frontiers Digital Health. 2022. doi: 10.3389/fdgth.2022.900695

Pitt Psychiatry Investigator Kelly Beck, PhD Receives YourMomCares Research Award

Kelly Beck, PhD Accepts Your Mom Cares Award

Congratulations to Kelly Beck, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry), who has received the 2024 YourMomCares Brilliance in Research Award. YourMomCares is a kids’ mental health nonprofit, founded by the moms of musicians, actors, and athletes, to fund innovations in kids’ mental health and wellbeing. Dr. Beck’s project focuses on the Schools Unified in Neurodiversity (SUN) Project, designing school classrooms and...

Suicide Prevention: Promoting Safe and Supportive Environments for All Youth

STAR Center Child in Window

The Services for Teens at Risk (STAR)-Center is a nationally recognized suicide prevention program that combines clinical and outreach services designed to combat the problem of child and adolescent suicide. The STAR-Center provides outpatient assessment and treatment for depressed and anxious children and teens, and offers acute treatment to depressed and suicidal youth through the Center’s intensive outpatient...

César Escobar-Viera, MD, PhD; Nadine Melhem, PhD; Marta Peciña, MD, PhD; & Collaborators Receive Pitt Momentum Fund Award

Dr. Escobar-Viera & Colleagues Receive Pitt Momentum Fund Award

A team of investigators from Pitt Psychiatry, César Escobar-Viera, MD, PhD; Nadine Melhem, PhD; and Marta Peciña, MD, PhD, in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Pittsburgh Schools of Education, Public Health, and Arts and Sciences, have received a University of Pittsburgh Momentum Fund Award for their project, “Examining Psychosocial Correlates of Loneliness and Perceived Isolation Among...

Pitt Psychiatry Awarded $16.2M National Institute of Mental Health Center Grant Focused on Addressing Adolescent Suicide, with Focus on Black and Hispanic Youth

ETUDES Investigators

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has awarded Pitt Psychiatry a Center of Excellence (P50) grant renewal for Enhancing Triage and Utilization for Depression and Emergent Suicidality (ETUDES), led by David Brent, MD (Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Pediatrics, Epidemiology, and Clinical and Translational Science, and Endowed Chair in Suicide Studies). The Center is co-led by Bruce Rollman, MD...

Lack of Representation in Psychiatric Research: A Data-Driven Example From Scientific Articles Published in 2019 and 2020 in the American Journal of Psychiatry

American Journal of Psychiatry: Evidence of Lack of Representation in Psychiatric Research

How well is psychiatric research doing including diverse participants and reporting on sociodemographic characteristics of study samples? A team of researchers from Pitt Psychiatry—led by Sarah Pedersen, PhD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry), and including Rachel Lindstrom, PhD (Senior Statistical Coordinator, Youth and Family Research Program); Paula Powe, MD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry); Kelly Louie, BS...