The Department of Psychiatry Welcomes Aliona Tsypes, PhD, to the Faculty

Pitt Psychiatry extends a warm welcome to new faculty member Aliona Tsypes, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry).

Dr. Tsypes earned her PhD in clinical psychology from Binghamton University, having completed her clinical internship at the American Psychological Association (APA)-accredited UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital Clinical Psychology Internship program. Dr. Tsypes then remained at the University of Pittsburgh for postdoctoral research training with Pitt Psychiatry’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded Clinical Research Training for Psychologists T32 program.

Dr. Tsypes’s research integrates electroencephalography, computational modeling, and ecological momentary assessment to deepen our understanding and enhance treatment of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Her primary focus lies in elucidating the factors precipitating the shift from suicidal ideation to attempted suicide in crisis situations. She currently leads an NIMH-funded K23 recruiting adults with diverse histories of suicidal ideation and attempts. The study involves experimental manipulations aimed at approximating some of the increased cognitive demands imposed on decision-making by a crisis. Dr. Tsypes’s goal is  to advance a mathematically precise and clinically informative understanding of how cognitive resources are deployed during decision-making in rapidly changing environments.

Dr. Tsypes has published articles on suicidal behavior and reward responsiveness in journals including the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Journal of Psychiatric Research, and the Journal of Affective Disorders, and presented her research at scientific conferences including the Society of Biological Psychiatry, the International Academy of Suicide Research/American Foundation for Suicide Prevention International Summit on Suicide Research, and the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies.

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Tsypes.