Cutting-Edge, Specialized Psychiatric Treatment at the Center for Interventional Psychiatry

The UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH) Center for Interventional Psychiatry (CIP) outpatient clinic has long provided cutting-edge, specialized treatment for individuals whose psychiatric disorders have not responded to first-line treatment such as psychotherapy and medication. 

Patients with conditions including treatment-resistant depression, catatonia, persistent mania, difficult-to-treat schizophrenia, and neuroleptic malignant syndrome, can now receive care at a newly renovated, larger, brighter suite on the ground floor of WPH. Treatment provided at the CIP includes noninvasive modalities such as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and SAINT neuromodulation therapy. In addition, the CIP offers ketamine services including intravenous (IV) ketamine and esketamine intranasal therapy. 

In addition to providing patient care, the CIP is an important clinical training site for psychiatry residents pursuing expertise in the delivery of ECT, TMS, IV ketamine and esketamine, as well as for practitioners nationwide who complete the Department of Psychiatry’s Visiting Fellowship in ECT. 

Marie Ann Gebara, MD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry), Daniel Varon, MD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry), and Tejal Bhojak, MD, MS (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry), serve as medical directors of the CIP. 

Dr. Gebara (Medical Director, Ketamine Services) has provided outpatient geriatric psychiatry clinical care, as well as care in long-term nursing facilities, and is additionally involved in research related to treatment-resistant depression in older adults.

Dr. Varon (Medical Director, TMS Services) is a geriatric psychiatrist, award-winning educator, and has participated in research on TMS treatment.

Dr. Bhojak (Medical Director, ECT Services) is a geriatric psychiatrist and additionally serves as medical director of the Visiting Fellowship in ECT.