The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has awarded Pitt Psychiatry a T32 postdoctoral training grant focused on substance use disorder research. Led by Colleen McClung, PhD (Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical and Translational Science), and Mary Torregrossa, PhD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry), the goal of the Supportive, Multidisciplinary Addiction Research Training (SMART) T32 program is to provide...

Mary Ganguli, MD, MPH (Professor of Psychiatry, Epidemiology, and Neurology), has worked for more than 35 years on the epidemiology of the aging brain and late-life mental disorders. In two studies recently published in Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders, members of Dr. Ganguli’s team reported on effective strategies to recruit diverse study participants, as well as the results from an investigation of...

Pitt Psychiatry extends a warm welcome to two new faculty members: Daniel Wonjae Chung, MD, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry) Dr. Chung earned his MD and his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh and completed his residency training in psychiatry at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH). Dr. Chung then conducted postdoctoral research training as part of the Department’s National Institute of Mental Health...

We are proud to introduce our new class of PGY1 residents entering our General Psychiatry, General and Child, Family Medicine and Psychiatry, and Triple Board tracks. Please join us in welcoming this group of outstanding physicians as they embark on the next phase of their academic and clinical careers! In addition, the Office of Residency Training is pleased to announce the 2024-2025 Chief Residents: Chief...

Congratulations to Helmet Karim, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Bioengineering), who has received the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) 2024 Replication Award, which recognizes a replication study relevant to the field of neuroimaging, evaluated based on the quality of the replication attempt and importance of the finding. Dr. Karim was presented with the Award at the OHBM Annual Meeting in...

We are pleased to announce that Kristine Wilckens, PhD, has been promoted to Associate Professor of Psychiatry by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Wilckens received her PhD in cognitive psychology from the University of Pittsburgh, and completed postdoctoral research training in the Department’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded Clinical and Translational Research Training in...

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 12, 2024. Below are the awards and honors presented at the 2024 graduation ceremony. 2024 Psychiatry Student Interest Group Exemplary Service Award for Excellence in Teaching Faculty: Daniel Bender, DO Residents: Jessica Stephens, DO, and...

The 22nd annual Department of Psychiatry Research Day, held on June 13, 2024, was the most highly attended Research Day ever, with 544 faculty members, trainees, and staff gathering at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum on the University of Pittsburgh campus. Lunchtime Roundtables More than 260 individuals participated in or facilitated one of 19 roundtable discussion groups focused on topics including...

Pitt Psychiatry’s 2024 Research Day featured 173 poster presentations from faculty, trainees, and staff. Each poster presenter was visited by one pair of reviewers from among a total of 55 faculty discussants. During the plenary session, Outstanding Poster Presentation Awards were presented to the following recipients: Postdoctoral Scholars: Lindsay Taraban, PhD Thomas Kraynak, PhD Stanely Seah, PhD Safaa Eldeeb...

The National Institute of Mental Health has awarded Pitt Psychiatry a multi-PI, multi-site U01 award focused on applying computational methods to identify sleep signatures predictive of mental health outcomes among youth engaged in pediatric primary care. The Pediatric Precision Sleep Network (PPSN) will be led by contact principal investigator Adriane Soehner, PhD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry), and multiple...