University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Promotes Deepak Sarpal, MD, to Associate Professor of Psychiatry
We are pleased to announce that Deepak Sarpal, MD, has been promoted to Associate Professor of Psychiatry by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
Dr. Sarpal received his MD from St. George’s University School of Medicine, then completed psychiatry residency training at Zucker Hillside Hospital at Hofstra/Northwell. Dr. Sarpal joined the Pitt Department of Psychiatry as assistant professor, and additionally serves as medical director of the UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH) Services for the Treatment of Early Psychosis (STEP) clinic, one of the nation’s largest early psychosis clinics.
An expert on the neural basis of treatment response in schizophrenia, Dr. Sarpal aims to improve interventions through precision medicine strategies and novel therapeutics based on neural targets. He is a past recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) K23 grant examining the neural biomarkers of clozapine response, as well as a Brain and Behavior Research Foundation Young Investigator Grant focused on high-field imaging of antipsychotic response. Dr. Sarpal is currently principal investigator (PI) of an NIMH R01 grant using 7-Tesla neuroimaging to deconstruct the mechanism underlying response to antipsychotic medications in individuals with early schizophrenia, as well as an NIMH R21 grant examining whether a novel method for transcranial magnetic stimulation enhances neurocognition and prefrontal cortex circuitry in individuals with treatment-resistant schizophrenia receiving clozapine treatment.
Under Dr. Sarpal’s leadership, the STEP clinic implemented the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)-funded coordinated specialty care model for first-episode psychosis. In addition, STEP joined the NIMH-sponsored Early Psychosis Intervention Network (EPINET), a national learning health care system for early psychosis, and Dr. Sarpal collaborates on multiple related grants and projects.
Dr. Sarpal’s research program has yielded a strong body of impactful scholarship. He has published his research in journals including Neuropsychopharmacology, the American Journal of Psychiatry, and Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. He has been invited to present his research the World Congress of Biological Psychiatry, the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, and the Molecular Psychiatry Association, among many others.
An outstanding teacher and mentor, Dr. Sarpal has taught medical and graduate students, as well as residents and fellows, and has provided research mentoring to numerous young investigators. He is the clinical rotation director and clinical supervisor at STEP, supervising psychiatry residents, as well as medical students training in outpatient psychiatry.
“Dr. Sarpal is exceptionally productive in his innovative research program, is a superb mentor and has demonstrated success in clinical leadership and patient care as medical director of the STEP program. He is also an outstanding collaborator in both the clinical and research domains, and is rapidly gaining prominence as a national and internationally known expert in the treatment of first-episode psychosis,” said David Lewis, MD (Chair, Department of Psychiatry).
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Sarpal!