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...

Graduates of the UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH) residency training program gathered with friends, family, loved ones, and supporters at the Pitt University Club on June 1, 2023. Below are the awards and honors presented at the 2023 graduation ceremony. 2023 Psychiatry Student Interest Group Exemplary Service Award for Excellence in Teaching: Faculty: Laima Spokas, MD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry)...

In the first years of life, affective state matching, in which mothers and children imitate and elaborate on each other’s positive emotional expressions—through shared smiling, mutual eye gaze, back-and-forth vocalizations, and joint play—is a hallmark of early mother-child interactions. In addition, positive affective state matching also appears to promote child emotional self-regulation through the process in...

Pitt Psychiatry extends a warm welcome to new faculty member Aliona Tsypes, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry). Dr. Tsypes earned her PhD in clinical psychology from Binghamton University, having completed her clinical internship at the American Psychological Association (APA)-accredited UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital Clinical Psychology Internship program. Dr. Tsypes then remained at the University of...

Two recent studies from Pitt Psychiatry have examined neurocognitive and cardiometabolic function in retired night shift workers compared with retired day shift workers. The late Tica Hall, PhD, an internationally recognized expert in sleep and circadian science, served as senior author of both studies, and we recognize this important work in honor of her memory. Cardiometabolic function in retired night shift...

We are pleased to announce that Barbara Baumann, PhD, has been promoted to Assistant Professor of Psychiatry by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Baumann earned her PhD in clinical and developmental psychology from the University of Pittsburgh, having completed a clinical internship at the University of Chicago Institute for Juvenile Research. She then joined the Pitt Department of Psychiatry as...

Tharick Pascoal, MD, PhD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry) is an internationally recognized expert on the imaging and fluid biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. He recently published two papers examining the multifaceted but interactive nature of Alzheimer’s disease pathology. “Microglia and astrocytes are glial cells that act together and play a major role in the immune response in the human...

Over the past few decades, neuroimaging research in bipolar disorder has identified neural differences underlying cognitive and emotional processing. However, substantial clinical and methodological heterogeneity across neuroimaging experiments (resulting from differences in healthcare systems, diagnostic subtypes, mood state, treatment response, comorbidity, chronicity, and severity)—as well as additional factors...

We are delighted to announce that Carla Mazefsky, PhD, has received conferral of tenure at the rank of professor by the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Mazefsky conducts research on autism spectrum disorder (ASD), investigating mechanisms, correlates, assessment, and treatment for this disorder. She is known as one of the few investigators who has studied the full spectrum of severity in autism. Dr. Mazefsky is...

We are delighted to announce that Susanne Ahmari, MD, PhD, has received conferral of tenure at the rank of associate professor by the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Ahmari’s research focuses on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)—a highly prevalent and often highly debilitating disorder. Dr. Ahmari’s research focuses on developing and applying cutting-edge technologies to uncover neural mechanisms that can be...