We are pleased to announce that Leslie Horton, PhD, has been promoted to Associate Professor of Psychiatry by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Horton earned her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, having completed a clinical psychology internship at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH). She conducted postdoctoral research training in Psychiatry’s...

Congratulations to Thomas Karikari, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical and Translational Science), and Rebecca Thurston, PhD (Pittsburgh Foundation Chair in Women's Health and Dementia and Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Clinical and Translational Science, Epidemiology and Psychology), whose high-impact research has been recognized by the University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences. Dr...

Adolescent suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and deaths by suicide have increased substantially in the past 15 years, yet the drivers behind this increase are unknown. While much has been written about the potential role of social media on adolescent suicidal behavior, there is another potential contributor hiding in plain sight—the rise in parental deaths of despair that parallels in the increase in adolescent...

Congratulations to Angela Ianni, MD, DPhil (postdoctoral scholar), who has been selected as a recipient of the Member in Training Award by the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (AAGP). The award recognizes a promising member-in-training who has participated in an ongoing research program and continues to be involved in research training outside the scope of clinical training. Dr. Ianni joined Pitt...

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has awarded Pitt Psychiatry a Center of Excellence (P50) grant renewal for the Center for Adolescent Reward, Rhythms and Sleep (CARRS), led by Colleen McClung, PhD (Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical and Translational Science), and Daniel Buysse, MD (UPMC Endowed Chair in Sleep Medicine and Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Clinical and Translational Science, and...

Life stressors are known risk factors for suicide, but the specific stressor types that most strongly precipitate suicidal outcomes, and on what timescale, remain poorly understood. Social rejection may be an especially potent interpersonal stressor because it threatens to interrupt the maintenance of social bonds and stimulates a cascade of affective, cognitive, and biological changes that promote depression and...

Schizophrenia is frequently associated with functional impairments including deficits in cognition and social interactions. These impairments are thought to emerge from dysfunction in the processing of information across distributed cortical circuits, including the primary visual cortex, the posterior parietal cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Communication across these regions relies on excitatory...

The annual Pittsburgh Schizophrenia Conference, now in its 42nd year, presents the latest clinical and research findings to an audience of psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, psychologists, service coordinators, researchers, and mental health policy administrators, as well as to patients and families. The program additionally includes artwork and music created and performed by individuals receiving treatment for...

Congratulations to Ann Cohen, PhD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry), who has been elected to the National Institute on Aging’s (NIA) National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC) Steering Committee for a three-year term. The NACC serves as the centralized data repository, collaboration, and communication hub for the NIA’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers (ADRC) Program. At the University of Pittsburgh, Dr...

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...