Faculty

João Paulo Lima Santos, MD

João Paulo Lima Santos, MD

Research Instructor in Psychiatry

Contact Details

3811 O'Hara St.
Pittsburgh
 
PA
 
15213
Email

Education & Training

MD
Universidade de Fortaleza
Psychiatry, Universidade Federal do Cear
Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Research Interests

Neural correlates of sleep; Psychopathology in young adults
Selected Research Publications & Products
  1. Lima Santos JP, Soehner AM, Biernesser CL, Ladouceur CD, Versace A. role of sleep and white matter in the link between screen time and depression in childhood and early adolescence. JAMA Pediatr. Published online June 23, 2025. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2025.1718.
  2. Lima Santos JP, Soehner AM, Ladouceur CD, Versace A. The impact of insufficient sleep on white matter development in late childhood and early adolescence. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2025 Feb 1;76(2):220-7.
  3. Lima Santos JP, Hayes R, Franzen PL, Goldstein TR, Hasler BP, Buysse DJ, Siegle GJ, Dahl RE, Forbes EE, Ladouceur CD, McMakin DL. The association between cortical gyrification and sleep in adolescents and young adults. Sleep. 2024 Jan 1;47(1):zsad282.

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...

Pitt Psychiatry Establishes Center for Neural Circuit-Based Technology Interventions in Psychiatry

Faculty of the New CNCTI-P Center

The Department of Psychiatry has established a Center for Neural Circuit-Based Technology Interventions in Psychiatry (CNCTI-P), which will be led by Mary Phillips, MD, MD (CANTAB) (Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Clinical and Translational Science, and Bioengineering, and Pittsburgh Foundation-Emmerling Endowed Chair in Psychotic Disorders). Dr. Phillips is an international leader in affective neuroscience...

Biological Psychiatry: Neural Network Functional Interactions Mediate or Suppress White Matter–Emotional Behavior Relationships in Infants 

Infant and Mother

Complex and coordinated brain development progresses rapidly within the first year of a baby’s life, and infant white matter development is associated with future cognitive processes and behavioral problems. Elucidating the neural basis of infant emotional behaviors can identify biomarkers of pathophysiological risk for subsequent behavioral and emotional problems. In Biological Psychiatry, investigators including...

The Department of Psychiatry Welcomes Three New Faculty Members

Welcome, New Pitt Psychiatry Faculty Members! 

Pitt Psychiatry extends a warm welcome to three new faculty members who have joined our Department: Kristen Eckstrand, MD, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry) Dr. Eckstrand earned her MD and her PhD in neuroscience from Vanderbilt University. She completed residency training in adult psychiatry and a fellowship in child psychiatry at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. She then joined the Pitt Department of...