News

We are pleased to announce that Leslie Horton, PhD, has been promoted to Associate Professor of Psychiatry by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. 

Dr. Horton earned her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, having completed a clinical psychology internship at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH). She conducted postdoctoral research training in Psychiatry’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded Clinical Research Training for Psychologists T32 program, followed by the NIMH Innovative Methods in Pathogenesis and Child Treatment Training program. 

Dr. Horton helped found and serves as director of the WPH Hope Team outpatient clinic, which specializes in early detection, prevention, and delivery of evidence-based interventions for teens and young adults at clinical high risk for psychosis. Complementing her clinical work, she conducts research focused on improving our understanding of the mechanisms of risk for psychosis in young people. Dr. Horton’s research has helped to clarify the social and cognitive deficits that precede the onset of psychosis, and the links between stress and social dysfunction among those at risk for psychosis, using real-time assessments.

Dr. Horton is principal investigator (PI) of an NIMH R01 grant examining the role of physiological threat dysregulation as a contributor to social impairment and psychotic-like experiences in at-risk youth. In addition, she is the University of Pittsburgh site PI for an NIMH U01, ProNET: Psychosis-Risk Outcomes Network, a study looking at the causes and course of the earliest stages of psychosis. Dr. Horton also serves as site PI for an NIMH-funded U01, ProCAN: Psychosis Risk Outcomes Compound Assessment Network, designed to establish infrastructure to determine whether the biological, digital, cognitive, and clinical outcome measures developed in ProNET are viable as drug development tools for use in Phase 2 clinical trials. In addition, Dr. Horton serves as UPMC site program director for a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grant supporting the growth of the Hope Team Clinic. Dr. Horton has published her work in influential journals, and co-authored a book entitled About Risk for Psychosis: A Guide for Practice and Research.

Dr. Horton has made important contributions to teaching, clinical supervision, and research mentorship at the University and at UPMC. She is co-director of the Department of Psychiatry’s American Psychological Association-accredited Clinical Psychology Internship program, and teaches medical students and psychiatry residents. At the HOPE Team clinic, she trains psychology interns, psychiatry residents and fellows, psychology and social work graduate students, and clinical staff.

“Dr. Horton’s research utilizes cutting-edge approaches to examining risk for psychosis in young people. In addition, under her outstanding leadership, the Hope Team Clinic has increased access to care for growing numbers of patients, and is a valuable teaching site for clinical trainees,” said David Lewis, MD (Chair, Department of Psychiatry). “She makes numerous important contributions across clinical, research, and teaching domains and is a valuable asset to the Department.”

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Horton!