The Department of Psychiatry Welcomes Jiying Ning, PhD, Helmet Karim, PhD, and Stephanie Puig, PhD, to the Faculty
The Department of Psychiatry is delighted to announce that Helmet Karim, PhD, Jiying Ning, PhD, and Stephanie Puig, PhD, have joined the Department of Psychiatry faculty.
Dr. Ning (Research Instructor in Psychiatry) is trained in biochemistry and structural biology. She earned her PhD in Environmental Science from the Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China. She then joined the University of Pittsburgh as a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Peijun Zhang in the Department of Structural Biology. Her research with Dr. Zach Freyberg focuses on developing new approaches in cryo-electron microscopy and cryo-electron tomography to study fundamental biological structures.
Dr. Karim (Research Assistant Professor of Psychiatry) received his PhD in bioengineering from the University of Pittsburgh. He then joined the Department of Psychiatry as a postdoctoral scholar on a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded T32 grant under the mentorship of Carmen Andreescu, MD. Dr. Karim’s research focuses on using both structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging along with machine learning approaches to predict treatment response in depression.
Stephanie Puig, PhD
Dr. Puig (Research Assistant Professor of Psychiatry) earned her PhD in Neuropharmacology from the University of Paris Descartes in Paris, France. She completed postdoctoral training at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, in the Department of Anesthesiology, where her research focused on mapping the network conveying opioid tolerance through alteration of growth factors expression. Dr. Puig continued her training at the University of Pittsburgh in the Department of Anesthesiology, where she conducted postdoctoral research on the involvement of growth factors in the development of opioid tolerance and neuropathic pain. Her research with Dr. Ryan Logan focuses on understanding the mechanisms underlying opioid signaling and addiction.