UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital Resident Dr. Sarah Lim Receives a Pittsburgh Foundation Claire B. Morrison Scholarship Award 

Congratulations to Dr. Sarah Lim, who was selected by The Pittsburgh Foundation to receive a Claire B. Morrison Fund scholarship award. Dr. Lim is in her second year of general psychiatry residency training at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. The Morrison Fund award recognizes residents who demonstrate compassion, altruism and high commitment to excellence in caring for patients. “Dr. Lim is an exemplary resident...

Three Psychiatrists on the Value of Neuroscience Training for a Career in Clinical Practice

Education, a key component of the Department of Psychiatry’s mission, includes providing exceptional training for clinical psychiatrists. For some, clinical training is enhanced by exposure to neuroscience research. We spoke with three of our former residents, Drs. Joseph Pierri, Michael Diamond and Christopher Kye, to learn how foundations in basic neuroscience and academic research have enhanced their careers in...

Brain’s Reward Response Predicts Which Young Adults Seeking Mental Health Care Will Show Improvement Six Months Later, Finds Study by Eckstrand, Phillips and Colleagues

Young adulthood is an especially vulnerable time in development when symptoms of mental illness frequently arise. In fact, nearly one in five people between the ages of 18 and 25 seeks help for symptoms related to depression and anxiety. One particularly common and debilitating symptom is anhedonia, the inability to experience pleasure. A recent study by Pitt Department of Psychiatry researchers is the first to...

UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital Residents Honored by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

AACAP EOP Awardees Drs. Jessica Stephens, Amanda Downey and Cindy Chou

We are delighted to congratulate UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH) residents Jessica Stephens, DO, Amanda Downey, MD, and Shinnyi (Cindy) Chou, MD, PhD, who received Educational Outreach Program (EOP) awards from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP)! A highly competitive program, the EOP provides the opportunity for psychiatry residents to explore research and networking...

Pitt Psychiatry Honored for Innovations in Medical Education at 2019 Association of Directors of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry Annual Meeting

Drs. Jason Rosenstock, Jody Glance, and Pierre Azzam

Congratulations to Jason Rosenstock, MD (Director, Medical Student Education, Department of Psychiatry), Pierre Azzam, MD (Associate Program Director, Office of Residency Training), and Jody Glance, MD (Associate Director, Medical Student Education, Department of Psychiatry), who were selected to receive the Association of Directors of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry (ADMSEP) Innovations Award for “Final...

Rebecca Price, PhD, and Kymberly Young, PhD, Receive the Laurel E. Zaks Memorial Fund Award for Novel Treatments for Depression and Suicidality

Drs. Rebecca Price and Kymberly Young Receive Laurel Zaks Awards

We are delighted to announce dual recipients of the Laurel E. Zaks Memorial Research Fund award: Rebecca Price, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology, and Kymberly Young, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry. The Laurel E. Zaks Fund, established in March 2019, supports Pitt Department of Psychiatry research pertaining to depression and suicide. Dr. Price’s research focuses on how the mind...

For the 5th Consecutive Year, UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital Named a Leader in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality 

Western Psychiatric Leader in LGBTQ Healthcare for 5th Consecutive Year

For the fifth consecutive year, UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH) has been recognized as a “Leader in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality,” having received the top score of 100 in the Human Rights Campaign annual Healthcare Equality Index (HEI). The HEI is a benchmarking tool that evaluates more than 1,600 healthcare facilities' policies and practices related to LGBTQ patients, visitors and employees. The report is an...

Now in The Journal of Neuroscience: Circadian Protein NPAS2 Expression in the Nucleus Accumbens and Cocaine Reward

McClung and Colleagues Journal of Neuroscience 2019

Disruptions of the circadian clock can contribute to or exacerbate vulnerability to substance use disorder in some populations. The laboratory of Dr. Colleen McClung (Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical and Translational Science) investigates the mechanisms by which circadian genes that regulate mood and impulsivity are involved in the risk for substance abuse. In a recent study published in the Journal of...

Two Psychiatry Postdoctoral Researchers Receive Best Poster Awards from the University of Pittsburgh Postdoctoral Association

Drs. Comprere and Tung Honored with UPPDA Best Poster Awards

Congratulations to Department of Psychiatry postdoctoral fellows Laurie Compere, PhD, and Irene Tung, PhD, who have received Best Poster awards from the University of Pittsburgh Postdoctoral Association. Dr. Compere was honored for her poster entitled “Sex Differences During Real-Time fMRI Amygdala Neurofeedback for Major Depressive Orders.” Her mentor is Kymberly Young, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry. Dr...

Seeing the Bigger Picture: Telepsychiatrist Dr. Robert Hudak’s In-Person Visit to a Rural Clinic

Robert Hudak, MD, primarily works with adults with obsessive compulsive disorder at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH), but during the last four years he has also treated patients through WPH’s telepsychiatry program, which averages 10,000 visits annually. Recently, Dr. Hudak traveled to the rural outpatient clinic that serves the patients he treats via telepsychiatry. The trip provided Dr. Hudak with the...