Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents in the United States. Yet research has shown that transgender adolescents (adolescents whose true gender identity diverges from the gender assigned at birth) have higher rates of suicidal ideation and attempt than cisgender adolescents (adolescents whose gender identity is the same as the gender assigned at birth). In a recent study published in...

Paula Marie Powe, MD, is medical director of the Matilda H. Theiss Child Development Center, which provides a spectrum of behavioral health services for children from infancy to five years old. Dr. Powe’s clinical practice in infant mental health, which pertains to a child's optimal social and emotional development, is driven by the notion that early trauma informs mental and physical health issues later in life...

Sleep researchers including Pitt Psychiatry faculty, trainees and students gathered in late November at the Pitt University Club to explore new research in the field of sleep and circadian science at the Center for Sleep and Circadian Science Research Day. Adriane Soehner, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry), chair of the organizing committee that included members across psychiatry, nursing, public health...

Women’s behavioral health is an essential component of the services provided by UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH), but according to Priya Gopalan, MD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry), “We go way beyond the traditional brick and mortar approach to care.” Dr. Gopalan, who is Chief of Psychiatry at Magee-Womens Hospital and an expert in perinatal psychiatry, explains that a wide spectrum of services supports...

Individuals with schizophrenia often exhibit impairments in the processing of auditory sensory information and auditory learning. Previous research has implicated the involvement of synaptic protein networks in the pathology of schizophrenia. The number, type and strength of connections between synapses are governed in large part by complex protein networks. “In order for the synapse to function, many different...

Pitt Psychiatry enjoyed a strong presence at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (ACLP) earlier this month in San Diego. Members of the Department of Psychiatry including faculty, residents and fellows attended the conference and presented ten symposia/workshops, five oral papers and nine posters. UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital resident Cindy Chou, MD, PhD, a first-year child...

Psychiatry Advances, the Department of Psychiatry podcast launched earlier this year, presents innovative research and patient-centered programs at the cutting edge of psychiatry and the behavioral sciences. The host of Psychiatry Advances is Loren Roth, MD, MPH, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry. If you aren’t caught up with the latest, below are the episodes currently available to stream from the...

The 36th annual Pittsburgh Schizophrenia Conference presented advances in schizophrenia research for an audience of nearly 300 psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, social workers and researchers, as well as patients and their families. K.N. Roy Chengappa, MD (Professor of Psychiatry)—who studies the use of natural substances for bipolar depression and as potential cognition enhancing agents in people with...

Researchers including Pitt Psychiatry investigators Marianne Seney, PhD, and Colleen McClung, PhD, have published a study in Nature Communications describing diurnal rhythms in gene expression in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in individuals with schizophrenia, compared with unaffected comparison subjects. Examining the postmortem brains of 46 comparison subjects and 46 subjects with schizophrenia...