Faculty

Helmet T Karim, PhD

Helmet T Karim, PhD

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Bioengineering

Contact Details

3811 O'Hara St.
Pittsburgh
 
PA
 
15213
Email
Website
Website

Education & Training

PhD
Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, School of Engineering
Geriatric Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Professional Affiliations

Member, Society of Biological Psychiatry
Member, American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry

Selected Honors & Awards

Replication Award, Organization for Human Brain Mapping

Research Interests

Prediction of treatment response, machine learning; Risk assessment in Alzheimer's disease; Novel interventions using TMS
Selected Research Publications & Products
  1. Ly M, Gary ZY, Karim HT, Muppidi NR, Mizuno A, Klunk WE, ... & Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. (2019). Improving brain age prediction models: incorporation of amyloid status in Alzheimer's disease. Neurobiology of Aging.
  2. Karim HT, Wang M, Andreescu C, Tudorascu D, Butters MA, Karp JF, ... & Aizenstein HJ. (2018). Acute trajectories of neural activation predict remission to pharmacotherapy in late-life depression. NeuroImage: Clinical, 19, 831-839.
  3. Karim HT, Andreescu C, Tudorascu D, Smagula SF, Butters MA, Karp JF, ... & Aizenstein HJ. (2017). Intrinsic functional connectivity in late-life depression: trajectories over the course of pharmacotherapy in remitters and non-remitters. Molecular psychiatry, 22(3), 450-457.
  4. Karim HT, Tudorascu DL, Butters MA, Walker S, Aizenstein HJ, & Andreescu C. (2017). In the grip of worry: Cerebral blood flow changes during worry induction and reappraisal in late-life generalized anxiety disorder. Translational psychiatry, 7(8), e1204-e1204.
  5. Kay DB, Karim HT, Soehner AM, Hasler BP, Wilckens KA, James JA, ... & Germain A. (2016). Sleep-wake differences in relative regional cerebral metabolic rate for glucose among patients with insomnia compared with good sleepers. Sleep, 39(10), 1779-1794.

Clinical Interests

Novel clinical interventions; Maximizing clinical efficacy; Anxiety, depression, dementia

Education Interests

Research mentorship; Graduate student advising; Postdoctoral mentorship

Neuropsychopharmacology: Brain and Cardiovascular Responses to Acute Stress in Remitted and Recurrent Late-Life Depression

Neuropsychopharmacology

Among older adults who successfully achieve clinical remission from depression, 35%-45% will experience a new depressive episode within two years. The factors that contribute to the emergence of recurrent depressive episodes in older adults are not well understood. Psychological stress may play a role in depression remission and recurrence, yet important questions remain about the brain and physiological profiles...

Pitt Psychiatry Hosts Second Annual Interventional Psychiatry Showcase

Collage of Interventional Psychiatry Showcase

In interventional psychiatry research, investigators marry technology development with new knowledge of alterations in neural circuitry in psychiatric disorders. The 2025 Department of Psychiatry Interventional Psychiatry Showcase, attended by faculty, staff, and trainees, focused on transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS). Through lively lunchtime roundtables...

Psychiatry Residents Present Robust Research at the 7th Annual Psychiatry Research Pathway Symposium

PRP Residents and Mentors

The Psychiatry Research Pathway (PRP) Symposium provides UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital residents engaged in research the opportunity to present their work to fellow residents, faculty mentors, T32 postdoctoral research program directors, and interested members of our academic community. This year, the PRP Symposium began with a panel discussion focused on interventional psychiatry, moderated by Katherine Lyman...

Helmet Karim, PhD, Honored by the Organization for Human Brain Mapping

Helmet Karim, PhD, Honored by the Organization for Human Brain Mapping

Congratulations to Helmet Karim, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Bioengineering), who has received the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) 2024 Replication Award, which recognizes a replication study relevant to the field of neuroimaging, evaluated based on the quality of the replication attempt and importance of the finding. Dr. Karim was presented with the Award at the OHBM Annual Meeting in...

Pitt Psychiatry’s 2024 Research Day, Part I: A Research and Networking Bonanza

Research Day 2024

The 22nd annual Department of Psychiatry Research Day, held on June 13, 2024, was the most highly attended Research Day ever, with 544 faculty members, trainees, and staff gathering at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum on the University of Pittsburgh campus. Lunchtime Roundtables More than 260 individuals participated in or facilitated one of 19 roundtable discussion groups focused on topics including...