The Department of Psychiatry’s Biggest-Ever Research Day

The 21st annual Department of Psychiatry Research Day, held on June 8, 2023 was the biggest Research Day ever, attended by more than 500 faculty members, trainees, and staff, and featuring 160 posters at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh. 

 
Lunchtime roundtables followed the morning poster session. More than 250 participants joined one of 30 roundtable discussion groups focused on topics including Building and Maintaining Community Partnerships, Enjoying Family and Career, How Best to Prepare for an R Grant as a K Awardee, and Social Justice in Research. Peer Group roundtables enabled medical students, residents, graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and fellows, research staff, and faculty to gather and share experiences. 
 

Attendees gathered for the afternoon plenary, Speed Dat(a)ing and a new session, Psych: CSI—which invited audience participation in solving scientific mysteries—featuring the following presenters:

Speed Dat(a)ing 

Daniel Wonjae Chung, MD, PhD (Integrating Postmortem Studies and Computational Modeling to Decipher Cortical Circuit Abnormalities in Schizophrenia)

Matt Geramita, MD, PhD (A Neural Circuit for Hesitation)

Matt Lehrer, PhD (Effects of Sleep Deprivation and Recovery Sleep on Serum β-Amyloid in Retired Night Shift Workers and Retired Day Workers)

Alfredo Sklar, MD, PhD (Clinical Impact of Impaired Auditory Dynamic Range in First-Episode Psychosis)

Michelle Stepan, PhD (Worse Sleep Quality Predicts Worse Future Mood Symptoms in Teens with Bipolar Disorder)

Mary Woody, PhD (Impact of Emotional Distraction on the Development of Adolescent Depression: A Steady-State Visual Evoked Potential [SSVEPs] Study)

Psych:CSI 

Tina Goldstein, PhD (Suicide Risk in Bipolar Disorder)

Peter Franzen, PhD (Sleep Health and Risk for Depression and Suicide During Adolescence)

Sarah Pedersen, PhD (Identifying Influences on Inequities in Alcohol-Related Problems)

Zachary Freyberg, MD, PhD (In Search of Cell Plasticity)

Mary Torregrossa, PhD (Investigation into Increased Alcohol-Motivated Behaviors in Females)
 

Dr. Lewis recognized the transition of Bill Klunk, MD, PhD, to Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry status, remarking: “Bill’s cornerstone research achievement was his development—in collaboration with Chester Mathis, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Radiology—of Pittsburgh Compound-B, an imaging measure of amyloid burden, a hallmark feature of Alzheimer’s disease. This development, along with other important lines of research, lead to Bill’s wide recognition as  one of the world's top scientists working in Alzheimer’s disease research.”

Carmen Andreescu, MD, received the 2023 Outstanding Mentor Award for achievements including mentorship of postdoctoral scholars, bioengineering and clinical psychology graduate students, MD and MD/PhD students, and postdoctoral fellows, as well as her co-leadership of the Department’s National Institute of Mental Health-funded Clinical and Translational Research Training in Geriatric Mental Health T32 postdoctoral research training program.

Four faculty members were named Research Review Committee Reviewers of the Year: 
Mary Woody, PhD; Khaled Moussawi, MD, PhD; Cecile Ladouceur, PhD; and Max Joffe, PhD.

Research Staff Members of the Year Awards were presented in four categories: Emerging Staff, Experienced Staff, Established Staff, and Research Team of the Year:

• Research Staff Members of the Year (Emerging Staff Category) – Holly Gastgeb, PhD, and Kathryn Guo

• Research Staff Members of the Year (Experienced Staff Category) – Will Foran and Sarah Kimutis 

• Research Staff Members of the Year (Established Staff Category) – Edye Halligan and Joelle Kincman

• Research Team of the Year – Drs. Mary Ann Kelly, Rachael Viehman & Lisa Zimmerman of the Translational Neuroscience Program

The plenary program concluded with Outstanding Poster Presentation Awards for the following recipients:

• Postdocs– Sarah Abbas, MD; Francesco Donati, MD; Amy Hartman, PhD; Andrew Papale, PhD; Madeline Scott, PhD; Salome Vanwoerden, PhD

• Science Trainees (Graduate/Undergraduate)– Yvette Afriyie-Agyemang, MS; Carly Fabian, BS; Victoria Hart; Michael Janeček; Brendan Muldoon, BS; Amar Ojha, BA; Dayna Winograd, BS

• Medical Trainees (Residents/Medical Students)– Brittany Chamberlain; Sayna Matinrazm, BA

• Staff– Camryn Forbes, BS; Kevin Handoko, BS; Collin Lehmann, BS; Autumn Parson, BS; Micah Shelton, MS