The Psychiatry Research Pathway (PRP) Symposium provides UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital residents engaged in research the opportunity to present their work to an audience of fellow residents, faculty mentors, and other members of our career development community. This year’s program included a talk from seven residents on their current and/or future research, followed by questions and feedback. Program Director...

This fall, early-career investigators in our Department have initiated several innovative National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded K-series career development research projects. We are proud to count these young scientists among the newest members of our faculty and anticipate that their research on psychiatric and substance use disorders will contribute much to the bright future of research in our field. Below...

Last week, 300 attendees of the 2020 TransPride Pittsburgh Health and Wellness Conference, co-sponsored by UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH), viewed more than 50 virtual presentations on topics ranging from gender-affirming care, suicidality among transgender adolescents and supporting young people during gender diversity expression. We spoke with three members of the Department of Psychiatry to learn more...

We are pleased to announce that Judith Morgan, PhD, has been promoted to Associate Professor of Psychiatry by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. After completing a clinical psychology internship at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital, Dr. Morgan undertook a postdoctoral fellowship in affective neuroscience in the Department of Psychiatry under the mentorship of Erika Forbes, PhD. Dr. Morgan’s research...

Benjamin Handen, PhD (Professor of Psychiatry), is contact principal investigator (PI) on a newly awarded National Institute of Health (NIH) MPI U19 grant with a budget of $109 million across five years. The project is funded by the National Institute on Aging, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the INCLUDE (INvestigation of Co-occurring conditions across the...

Congratulations to Barbara Baumann, PhD, and Oliver Lindhiem, PhD, whose projects have each been selected to receive Pitt Innovation Challenge (PInCh) Awards! The Pitt Innovation Challenge competition is supported by the Clinical and Translational Science Institute and is designed to generate innovative solutions to challenging health problems by mitigating risk and providing financial and administrative support to...

Last week we reinvented our annual in-person Research Day as a virtual Research Matinee, a Department-wide exploration of innovative research, career reflections and honors for outstanding faculty and staff. Attendees included nearly 200 Psychiatry faculty, trainees, and staff, who tuned in for plenary speaker Mary Phillips, MD, MD (Cantab), followed by the perennially popular Speed Dat(a)ing, in which six...

Congratulations to LalithKumar K. Solai, MD , who has received the 2020 Distinguished Academician Award from the Indo-American Psychiatric Association (IAPA). The award is given annually to an IAPA life member who has made noteworthy academic contributions to the mental health field through research, teaching, and administrative activities. “I am honored and humbled to receive this award. It has been my pleasure to...

Over the last eight months, the COVID-19 pandemic has magnified the challenges associated with complex or harmful family interactions that can occur as many people spend more time at home, often with decreased access to community supports and services. The Mental Health Technology Transfer Center Network (funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration), in collaboration with the National...

We are delighted to announce that Rebecca Thurston, PhD, has been appointed Tenured Professor of Psychiatry, Clinical and Translational Science, Epidemiology and Psychology by the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Thurston is a widely recognized expert in the field of mid- and late-life women’s mental and cardiovascular health. Her research has generated critical findings that substantially enhanced or changed our...