Faculty

Alison E Hipwell, PhD, PsyD

Alison E Hipwell, PhD, PsyD

Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology

Contact Details

3811 O'Hara St.
Pittsburgh
 
PA
 
15213
Email
Website
Pittsburgh Girls Study
Assistant
Jen Wilson
bresjl@upmc.edu

Education & Training

PhD
Developmental Psychology, Kings College London, United Kingdom, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience
MA
Developmental Psychology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, Clare Hall
PsyD
Clinical Psychology, University of East Anglia, School of Medicine

Professional Affiliations

Member, International Society for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology
Member, International Marce Society for Perinatal Mental Health
Member, International Congress for Infant Studies

Research Interests

Reproductive mental health; Stress response; Intergenerational studies
Selected Research Publications & Products
  1. Hipwell, A.E., Stepp, S., Moses-Kolko, E., Xiong, S., Paul, E., Merrick, N. McClelland, S., Verble, D. & Keenan, K. (2016). Predicting adolescent postpartum caregiving from trajectories of depression and anxiety prior to childbirth: a 5-year prospective study. Arch Womens Ment Health, 19, 871-882. PMID: 26971266.
  2. Moses-Kolko, E. & Hipwell, A.E. (2016). First-onset postpartum psychiatric disorders portend high 1-year unnatural-cause mortality risk. Am J Psych, 173, 559-561. PMID: 27245187.
  3. Hipwell, A.E. Murray, J., Xiong, S., Stepp, S. & Keenan, K. (2016). Effects of Adolescent Childbearing on Maternal Psychopathology and Substance Use: A Prospective, Population-Based Study Using Risk-Set Propensity Scores. PLoS One, 11, e0155641. PMID:27176826
  4. Keenan, K. & Hipwell, A.E. (2015). Modulation of prenatal stress via fatty acid supplementation: Implications for child mental health. Nutr Rev, 73, 166-174. PMID: 26024539.
  5. Hipwell, A.E., Guo, C., Phillips, M., Swain, J. & Moses-Kolko, E. (2015). Right frontoinsular cortex and subcortical activity to infant cry is associated with maternal mental state talk. J Neurosci, 35, 12725-12732. PMID: 26377462.

Education Interests

Research mentorship; Medical student and resident education

M-PIRE: The Psychiatry Maternal Perinatal Infant Research Collaborative

Drs. Rachel Kolko Conlon and Heather Joseph

Two years ago, Rachel Kolko Conlon, PhD (Research Assistant Professor of Psychiatry), and Heather Joseph, DO (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics), were looking for opportunities to merge their mutual research interests in perinatal and infant mental health. They formed the Psychiatry Maternal Perinatal Infant Research Collaborative, which brings together faculty and trainees with both research and...

International Journal of Eating Disorders: The Association between Preconception Loss of Control Over Eating and Depressive Symptom Trajectories from Childhood through First Pregnancy

Drs. Magee and Levine

Loss of control over eating (the ingestion of food accompanied by the perception of being unable to control the amount of food consumed) is the core psychological phenomenon associated with binge eating. Loss of control over eating during pregnancy impacts prenatal health and often co-occurs with depressive symptoms. Importantly, both loss of control over eating and depression during pregnancy confer risk for poor...

Biological Psychiatry: Neural Network Functional Interactions Mediate or Suppress White Matter–Emotional Behavior Relationships in Infants 

Infant and Mother

Complex and coordinated brain development progresses rapidly within the first year of a baby’s life, and infant white matter development is associated with future cognitive processes and behavioral problems. Elucidating the neural basis of infant emotional behaviors can identify biomarkers of pathophysiological risk for subsequent behavioral and emotional problems. In Biological Psychiatry, investigators including...

University of Pittsburgh Awards Tenure to Alison Hipwell, PhD, PsyD

University of Pittsburgh Awards Tenure to Alison Hipwell, PhD, PsyD

We are delighted to announce that Alison Hipwell, PhD, PsyD, has been appointed Tenured Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology by the University of Pittsburgh. A nationally and internationally recognized pioneer in the study of mental health of mothers and children, Dr. Hipwell’s research focuses on transgenerational influences on postpartum psychopathology and early parenting, as well as developmental origins and...

New Research on Parenting and Early Childhood Mental Health 

New Research on Parenting and Early Childhood Mental Health 

Biological Psychiatry: Patterns of Infant Amygdala Connectivity Mediate the Impact of High Caregiver Affect on Reducing Infant Smiling: Discovery and Replication Research has shown that during a baby’s first months of life, mood disorders and emotional instability in caregivers are associated with lower positive emotionality (smiling, laughter, high pleasure) and higher negative emotionality (frequent crying...