University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Promotes Carmen Andreescu, MD, to Professor of Psychiatry
We are pleased to announce that Carmen Andreescu, MD, has been promoted to Professor of Psychiatry by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
Dr. Andreescu earned her MD from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila” in Bucharest, Romania. She completed residencies in neurology at the University Hospital and psychiatry at the Al. Obregia Clinical Hospital in Bucharest. Dr. Andreescu served on the Al. Obregia Clinical Hospital faculty until coming to the United States for residency training in adult psychiatry at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH), and the WPH clinical fellowship in geriatric psychiatry. Dr. Andreescu was promoted to associate professor in 2018, and received conferral of tenure in 2019.
Specializing in geriatric psychiatry, Dr. Andreescu is an internationally recognized expert in the clinical treatment of late-life anxiety and depression. Her research focuses on the affective and cognitive neuroscience of anxiety and depression among the elderly, as well as markers of treatment response in anxiety and depression among this population. Dr. Andreescu is one of the few investigators in her field to employ a neurocognitive and translational approach to these disorders. Her groundbreaking research has demonstrated the important clinical distinction between worry and anxiety, and that some components of anxiety in older adults have different clinical and functional implications.
Dr. Andreescu currently leads or co-leads multiple R-level grants from the National Institutes of Health. In the most recent renewal of her National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded R01, Dr. Andreescu is testing a mechanistic model positing that chronic anxiety accelerates brain aging through several pathways mediated by specific markers of chronic stress. A second NIMH R01 led by Dr. Andreescu proposes a model of network homeostasis positing that depressive episodes are characterized by disrupted homeostasis in key neural networks involved in affect regulation and cognitive function.
Dr. Andreescu is a recipient of the American Psychiatric Association Hartford-Jeste Award for Future Leaders in Geriatric Psychiatry, recognizing her important contributions to the field. She is a fellow in the Advanced Research Institute in Geriatric Psychiatry, and serves on the editorial board for the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
An outstanding educator, Dr. Andreescu has mentored graduate and medical students, postdoctoral trainees, and early-career faculty. She co-directs Pitt Psychiatry’s NIMH-funded Clinical and Translational Research Training in Geriatric Mental Health T32 postdoctoral training program. Earlier this year, Dr. Andreescu was recognized with the Department of Psychiatry’s Outstanding Mentor Award.
“Dr. Andreescu is an exemplary scientist, educator, and physician—and internationally recognized expert in geriatric psychiatry and neuroimaging,” said David Lewis, MD (Chair, Department of Psychiatry). “Her outstanding research and valuable contributions to the top professional organizations in her field demonstrate her excellence as a member of the scientific community. In addition, she is a superb teacher and skilled mentor whose trainees have demonstrated a high level of achievement.”
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Andreescu!