Pitt Psychiatry’s 2025 Research Day featured 225 poster presentations from faculty, trainees, and staff. Forty-six pairs of faculty members discussed posters with the presenters. During the plenary session, Top Poster Awards were presented to the following recipients: Postdoctoral Scholars Ligia Antezana, PhD Wasiu Balogun, PhD Rayan Mroué, MD Jacques-Yves Campion, MD Caroline Christian, PhD Guilherme Povala, PhD...

On June 19, 2025, members of the Department of Psychiatry and UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital community gathered for a screening of a portion of the documentary film Aftershock, which addresses the Black maternal mortality crisis in the United States. David Lewis, MD (Chair, Department of Psychiatry) opened the event, noting, “While the topic of this documentary is sobering, we are incredibly fortunate that our...

The 23rd annual Department of Psychiatry Research Day, held on June 12, 2025, was the most highly attended Research Day ever, with 653 faculty members, trainees, and staff gathering at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum on the University of Pittsburgh campus. Lunchtime Roundtables More than 300 individuals participated in or facilitated one of 30 roundtable discussion groups focused on topics including...

We are pleased to announce that Francisco López-Caballero, PhD, has been promoted to Research Assistant Professor of Psychiatry by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. López-Caballero received his PhD in neuroscience from the University of Barcelona, then came to the University of Pittsburgh Department of Psychiatry for postdoctoral training in clinical neurophysiology. He joined the Pitt Psychiatry...

Please join us in congratulating Lauren Bylsma, PhD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology), who has received the 2025 Outstanding Mid-Career Psychologist Contribution Award from the Association of Psychologists in Academic Health Centers (APAHC). The Outstanding Mid-Career Psychologists Contributions Award recognizes psychologists whose work in medical school and academic health care settings has...

The Services for Teens at Risk (STAR)-Center is a nationally recognized suicide prevention program that combines clinical and outreach services designed to combat the problem of child and adolescent suicide. The STAR-Center annual conference presents best practices in clinical care incorporated into practical guidelines, and this year addressed the theme Creating Partnerships for Just and Inclusive Schools. “The...

Please join us in congratulating Martin Lubetsky, MD; Christopher Martin, PhD; and Kenneth Perkins, PhD, who have transitioned to emeritus status in the Department of Psychiatry. Martin Lubetsky, MD (Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry) Dr. Lubetsky has served as an outstanding leader in the treatment of autism and developmental disorders since joining the Pitt Psychiatry faculty. He has been responsible for the...

Recent studies led by Carla Mazefsky, PhD (Nancy J. Minshew, MD Chair in Autism Research and Professor of Psychiatry, Clinical and Translational Science, and Psychology), highlight current advances in autism research. Dr. Mazefsky is an expert in emotion regulation in autism, which had been previously understudied in autism research. She directs the Regulation of Emotion in Autistic Adults, Children, and Teens...

Congratulations to Ligia Antezana, PhD; Carolina Soares, PhD; and Lindsay Taraban, PhD, who received Best Poster Presentation Awards at the University of Pittsburgh Postdoctoral Association 2025 Postdoctoral Data & Dine Symposium. Dr. Antezana, Dr. Soares, and Dr. Taraban were counted among 11 total award recipients selected from 130 submissions. Dr. Antezana is a clinical psychologist who conducts research in the...

Social determinants of health are non-medical factors of daily life that influence health outcomes. A review of factors influencing cognitive impairment in older adults presented a range of community-level structural and social determinants of health, distinguished from individual risk and protective factors. Investigators led by Mary Ganguli, MD, MPH (Professor of Psychiatry, Epidemiology, and Neurology), analyzed...