Pitt Psychiatry’s 2025 Research Day, Part I: A Celebration of Science

The 23rd annual Department of Psychiatry Research Day, held on June 12, 2025, was the most highly attended Research Day ever, with 653 faculty members, trainees, and staff gathering at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum on the University of Pittsburgh campus.

Lunchtime Roundtables
More than 300 individuals participated in or facilitated one of 30 roundtable discussion groups focused on topics including Handling Disclosure and In-the-Research-Lab Diversity; How to Diversify Your Research Funding Portfolio; Large Language Models; Advances in Digital Mental Health; Advances in Interventional Psychiatry; 7T Imaging; and Advancing Clinical Trials.

Plenary Session
Attendees gathered for the afternoon plenary session featuring Speed Dat(a)ing; a new session, Fast Pitch Psychiatry; a panel discussion entitled Psychiatry Research June 2025: Where Are We Now? Where Are We Headed?, as well as honors & awards.

Speed Dat(a)ing Presenters: 

• Candice Biernesser, PhD – Design & Testing of Flourish: A Digital Suicide Prevention Intervention for Underserved Adolescents Experiencing Online Victimization
• Shinnyi (Cindy) Chou, MD, PhD – Re-visiting the Cannabinoid Receptor as a Treatment Target for Schizophrenia
• Helmet Karim, PhD – Predicting Worry using Neural Activity with Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) Recurrent Deep Neural Networks
• Jessie Northrup, PhD – Exploring Profiles of Emotion Dysregulation in Autistic and Non-Autistic Preschoolers
• Joseph Stujenske, MD, PhD – Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex Exhibits a Rostrocaudal Gradient
• Andrea Weinstein, PhD – Daily Life Cognition as an Early Marker of Alzheimer's Disease

Fast Pitch Psychiatry Presenters: 

• Brian Coffman, PhD – Magnetoencephalography (MEG): Functional Imaging for the Future of Psychiatry
• Fabio Ferrarelli, MD, PhD – transcranial Focused Ultrasound Stimulation (tFUS)
• Jill Glausier, PhD – Focused Ion Beam—Scanning Electron Microscopy (FIB-SEM)
• Cecile Ladouceur, PhD – Puberty: What’s the big deal?
• Oliver Lindhiem, PhD – LemurDx: An Objective Measure of Hyperactivity
• Rui Peixoto, PhD – Wide-Field 2-Photon Microscopy for Cortical Circuits and Human iPSC Derived Organoids
• Marianne Seney, PhD – Why we should care about sex differences in neuropsychiatry research
• Adriane Soehner, PhD – Introducing the Office of Data Management
• Tobias Teichert, PhD – Pittsburgh Center for Non-human Primate Mesoscopic Electrophysiology
• Kymberly Young, PhD – Amygdala Neurofeedback

Psychiatry Research June 2025: Where Are We Now? Where Are We Headed?
David Lewis, MD (Chair, Department of Psychiatry) moderated a panel discussion focused on managing the challenges and uncertainties of the current research environment. Panelists included: 

• Daniel Buysse, MD (UPMC Endowed Chair in Sleep Medicine and Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Clinical and Translational Science, and Medicine)
• Brian Thoma, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry)
• Rebecca Thurston, PhD (Pittsburgh Foundation Chair in Women's Health and Dementia and Professor of Psychiatry, Clinical and Translational Science, Epidemiology and Psychology)
• Susanne Ahmari, MD, PhD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry) 

Emeritus Faculty
The Department honored Carol Greco, PhD, and Elizabeth Venditti, PhD, who have both transitioned to emeritus status, and recognized their outstanding contributions to the Department.

Research Staff Members of the Year: 
Congratulations to the individuals below, who were named 2025 Research Staff Members of the Year in one of three categories, Emerging, Experienced, or Established.

• Erin Belback (Emerging) – Successful Transition to Early Adulthood Milestones (STEAM) program
• Tylar Schmitt (Emerging) – PRIDE iM Lab
• Madeline Block (Experienced) – Pittsburgh Girls Study
• Karla Joyce (Experienced) – ETUDES Center
• Mollie Bandy (Established) – Center for Women’s Biobehavioral Health
• Erin Jacobsen Lewis (Established) – Dementia Epidemiology Program
• Nathan Rockcastle (Established) – Laboratory of Neurocognitive Development

Recognizing Extraordinary Contributions
Dr. Lewis presented Ginnie Lape with an award celebrating her 50 years of extraordinary contributions to the Department through her work in the Office of Grants and Contracts. 

Research Review Committee Members of the Year
Four faculty members were recognized as Research Reviewers of the Year for outstanding quality and quantity of reviews: 

• Mary Torregrossa, PhD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry)
• Joseph Stujenske, MD, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Bioengineering)
• Deepak Sarpal, MD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry)
• Duncan Clark, MD, PhD (Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmaceutical Sciences)

Achievement Awards: 
Two faculty members were recognized for achievement in mentorship, and one for career-long outstanding scientific collaboration.

• Rebecca Price, PhD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Clinical and Translational Science, and Psychology) – Outstanding Mentor Award
• Robert Sweet, MD (UPMC Endowed Professor in Psychiatric Neuroscience and Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology) – Master Mentor Award
• Bernie Devlin, PhD (Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical and Translational Science) – Brilliant and Generous Collaborator Award

 To read Part II of our Research Day recap, click here.