Faculty

Stephen F Smagula, PhD

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Epidemiology

Contact Details

3811 O'Hara St.
Pittsburgh
 
PA
 
15213
Email
Website
Geriatric Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory

Education & Training

PhD
University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health Epidemiology
MS
Columbia University, Graduate School of Education, Health & Psychology Neuroscience and Education
University of Pittsburgh School of MedicineSleep Medicine
University of Pittsburgh School of MedicineLate-Life Mood Disorders Research

Research Interests

Rest-activity rhythms and health; Brain aging and mental health; Accelerometer-guided interventions
Selected Research Publications & Products
  1. Smagula SF, Beach S, Rosso AL, Newman AB, Schulz R. (in press). Brain structural markers and caregiving characteristics as interacting correlates of caregiving strain. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
  2. Smagula SF, Krafty RT, Taylor BJ, Martire LM, Schulz R, & Hall MH. (in press). Rest-activity rhythm and sleep characteristics associated with depression symptom severity in strained dementia caregivers. Journal of Sleep Research.
  3. Smagula SF, Stone KL, Fabio A, Cauley JA. (2016). Risk factors for sleep disturbances in older adults: evidence from prospective studies. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 25:21-30. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2015.01.003.
  4. Smagula SF, Ancoli-Israel S, Blackwell T, Boudreau R, Stefanick M, Paudel M, Stone KL, Cauley JA. (2015). Circadian rest-activity rhythms predict future increases in depressive symptoms among community-dwelling older men. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 23(5): 495-505. doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2014.06.007.
  5. Smagula SF, Butters MA, Anderson SJ, Lenze EK, Dew MA, Mulsant, BH, Lotrich FE, Aizenstein H, Reynolds CF. (2015). Antidepressant response trajectories and associated clinical prognostic factors in late-life depression. JAMA Psychiatry, 72(10):1021-1028. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry .2015.1324.

Education Interests

Aging epidemiology; Sleep-wake rhythm research; Statistical and causal inference

Pitt Psychiatry Hosts Virtual Research Matinee—An Afternoon of Discovery, Reflection, and Celebration 

Last week we reinvented our annual in-person Research Day as a virtual Research Matinee, a Department-wide exploration of innovative research, career reflections and honors for outstanding faculty and staff. Attendees included nearly 200 Psychiatry faculty, trainees, and staff, who tuned in for plenary speaker Mary Phillips, MD, MD (Cantab), followed by the perennially popular Speed Dat(a)ing, in which six...

Diverse Scientists Worldwide Join the Inaugural Summer SWIM, a Virtual Sleep & Circadian Science Workshop

Diverse Scientists Welcomed at Summer Swim Sleep Workshop

In August 2020, 74 scientists from five continents joined the Department of Psychiatry’s virtual Summer SWIM (Sleep and Circadian Workshop on Indispensable Methods), led by Martica Hall, PhD (Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology and Clinical and Translational Science), and Daniel Buysse, MD (UPMC Professor of Sleep Medicine (Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical and Translational Science), of the University of...

Dr. Stephen Smagula Correlates Greater Sleep Fragmentation and Less Sustained/Sharply Segregated Resting and Active Periods in Strained Caregivers with Depression Severity

Dr. Stephen Smagula

Depression is associated with disturbances to sleep and the 24-hour sleep-wake pattern, or rest-activity rhythm (RAR). However, there remains a need to identify the specific sleep/RAR correlates of depression symptom severity in population subgroups, such as strained dementia caregivers, who are at elevated risk for major depressive disorder. In a five-year study led by Dr. Smagula’s mentor, Martica Hall, PhD...