The ongoing success of Pitt Psychiatry’s innovative research program is in large part thanks to the indispensable research staff who run labs and provide administrative oversight for grants. Meet five members of our research staff who recently received Department of Psychiatry Research Employee of the Year awards: Dan Galeza (Administrative Liaison, Neuropsychology Research Program) Dan Galeza was nominated by...

In a hundred-year-old film, a man is seen looking at a bowl of soup, then at a child in a coffin, then at a woman on a divan. While the film shows the exact same footage of the man three times, interspersed with the other images, audiences perceived that the man reacted to each scene with separate and distinct facial expressions. This phenomenon suggested that audience interpretations of his expression were...

Highly responsive to resident feedback, the Department of Psychiatry Office of Residency Training (ORT) adapts existing programs and develops new initiatives on an ongoing basis to meet the needs of UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH) trainees. Below, Michael Travis, MD (Senior Director for Postgraduate Physician Training), Sansea Jacobson, MD (Director, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and Triple Board Training)...

This month, Jeanie Knox Houtsinger (Department of Psychiatry Director of Academic Affairs) celebrates a thirty-year career at UPMC, the last 13 of those years in the Office of the Chair of the Department of Psychiatry. A fount of institutional knowledge who has dedicated her career to supporting our scientists and clinicians, it is common across the Department for the most obscure or vexing questions to be met with...

Individuals diagnosed with borderline personality disorder often report leading stressful and tumultuous lives. Research suggests that they are likely to experience more prospective stressors (known as stress generation), and more emotional reactivity following those stressors (known as stress reactivity) than individuals without borderline personality disorder, including those diagnosed with other psychiatric...

We are delighted to announce that Greg Siegle, PhD, has been promoted to Professor of Psychiatry by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. After receiving a PhD in psychology, Dr. Siegle completed postdoctoral training at the University of Pittsburgh Department of Psychiatry before joining our faculty in 2001. Dr. Siegle also holds appointments in the Pitt Department of Psychology, the Center for the...

We are delighted to announce that Shaolin Yang, PhD, has joined the faculty as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry. Dr. Yang received his PhD from the Department of Radio Physics, School of Electronic Information, at Wuhan University in China. He received postdoctoral training from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Department of Radiology and was a postdoctoral visiting fellow in the Neuroimaging...

Congratulations to Cecile Ladouceur, PhD, who has been named a fellow with the Association for Psychological Science (APS). Fellow status is awarded to members of the APS who have made sustained outstanding contributions to the science of psychology. “Dr. Ladouceur is a widely recognized expert in developmental affective neuroscience. Her studies of emotion regulation in young people have a had substantial impact...

We are pleased to announce that Victor Villemagne, MD, has joined the faculty as Professor of Psychiatry, and Tharick Pascoal, MD, PhD, has been appointed Assistant Professor of Psychiatry. Dr. Villemagne and Dr. Pascoal are widely recognized experts in Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers and will greatly enhance our innovative research program in this area. Dr. Villemagne brings to Pitt a wealth of experience and...

The annual UPMC Celebrating Senior Champions reception honors distinguished individuals for their outstanding accomplishments in creating a better life for senior citizens. This year, we are pleased to congratulate Richard Morycz, PhD, and Scott Lammie, who each received Senior Champion awards. Dr. Morycz (Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Medicine, and Social Work) received the UPMC Senior Service Caregiver...