Congratulations to Nermin Toukhy, PhD (postdoctoral associate), who has received an International Academy of Suicide Research (IASR) Early Career Research Award for the biological studies of suicide. Dr. Toukhy earned her PhD in psychology from Bar-Ilan University in Israel. Under the mentorship of David Brent, MD (Endowed Chair in Suicide Studies and Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Clinical and...

Pitt Psychiatry investigators have recently published research studies on mental health in late life in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, Nature Communications, and Neuropsychopharmacology. Below is a summary of original research on amyloid beta accumulation, neuroinflammation, neurodegeneration, and severe worry in older adults. Periventricular Diffusivity Reflects APOE Ε4-Modulated Amyloid Accumulation and Cognitive...

Emotion dysregulation, characterized by an individual’s challenges in monitoring and modifying emotional reactivity, is more likely to occur among autistic people than among non-autistic people. Emotion dysregulation is associated with multiple forms of mental health difficulties such as depression, anxiety, and aggression in autism. In addition, emotion dysregulation in autism has been associated with the need for...

Tina Goldstein, PhD (Pittsburgh Foundation Endowed Professor in Psychiatry Research, and Professor of Psychiatry and Associate Professor of Psychology), and Michele Levine, PhD (Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, and Psychology), co-directed the Department of Psychiatry’s Clinical Psychology Internship Program for more than 10 years. In 2025, Dr. Goldstein and Dr. Levine...

The annual meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), held in October 2025 highlighted and honored the innovative clinical and research achievements of Pitt Psychiatry faculty and trainees. Clinical Perspectives In a Clinical Perspectives session, “The Music I Want to Hear: A Journey Through Research,” David Brent, MD (Endowed Chair in Suicide Studies and Distinguished Professor of...

We are pleased to announce that Abigail Schlesinger, MD, has been promoted to Professor of Psychiatry by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Schlesinger earned her MD from the University of Pittsburgh and completed general psychiatry residency and a research fellowship in perinatal mental health at the University of Michigan. Dr. Schlesinger came to Pittsburgh for a clinical fellowship in child and...

Please join us in congratulating Piper Carroll, MD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry), who has received the Gateway Medical Society 2025 Rising Star Award. The Rising Star Award recognizes physicians who demonstrate consistent leadership and commitment to the tenets of clinical excellence, community health & advocacy, and tangible work to reduce health disparities within care delivery systems and within the health...

The journal Nature has named Thomas Karikari, PhD, one of three Rising Stars in Aging Research. Dr. Karikari is an internationally recognized expert in plasma biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease. His research focuses on improving our understanding of the mechanistic and biochemical basis of neurodegenerative proteinopathies in the human brain and biofluids, and applying this knowledge to the development of diagnostic...

Congratulations to Amy Byrd, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology), who has received the 2025 YMC Shrink Tank Brilliance Award. Dr. Byrd is a clinical and developmental psychologist whose research examines dynamic biopsychosocial processes underlying the development and persistence of aggression and related psychopathology in children and families, with the goal of informing and refining targeted...

We are pleased to announce that Rebecca Price, PhD, has been promoted to Professor of Psychiatry by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Price earned her PhD in clinical psychology from Rutgers University, having completed her clinical internship at the University of Pittsburgh/UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH). She remained in Pittsburgh for postdoctoral research training in the Department’s...