Faculty

Duncan B Clark, MD, PhD

Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Contact Details

3811 O'Hara St.
Pittsburgh
 
PA
 
15213
Email
Assistant
Christina Long
longcx@upmc.edu

Education & Training

MD
Harvard University
PhD
Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles
Clinical Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles
Psychiatry and Medicine, Stanford University
Psychiatry, Stanford University
Psychiatry, Stanford University
Clinical Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles

Specialty Certifications

Board Certification
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology

Professional Affiliations

Member, Research Society on Alcoholism

Selected Honors & Awards

Marie H. Eldredge Research Award, American Psychiatric Association
National Resident Research Award, American Psychiatric Association

Research Interests

Adolescent substance use; Adolescent cognition & brain development; Adolescent sleep
Selected Research Publications & Products
  1. Kiss O, Shaska A, Muller-Oehring EM, Fitzgerald DH, Hasler BP, Franzen PL, Clark DB, Baker FC. Assessment of sleep measures and their agreement: Youth-reported, caregiver-reported, and Fitbit-derived data in a large early adolescent cohort. SLEEP 48(7): zsaf065, 2025. PMID: 40087898 [doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsaf065]
  2. Hasler BP, Oryschkewych N, Wallace ML, Clark DB, Siegle GJ, Buysse DL. Circadian phase in high school students: Weekday-weekend shifts and relationships to other sleep/circadian characteristics. SLEEP 48(4), zsaf031, 2025. PMID: 39901722; PMCID 11985389 [doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsaf031]
  3. Clark DB, Fisher CB, Bookheimer S, Brown S, Evans JH, Hopfer C, Hudziak J, Montoya I, Murray M, Pfefferbaum A, Yurgelun-Todd D. Biomedical ethics and clinical oversight in multisite observational neuroimaging studies with children and adolescents: The ABCD experience. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience 32, 143-154, 2018. PMID: 28716389; PMCID: PMC5745294.
  4. Clark DB, Chung T, Martin CS, Hasler BP, Fitzgerald D, Luna B, Brown SA, Tapert SF, Brumback T, Cummins K, Pfefferbaum A, Sullivan EV, Pohl KM, Colrain I, Baker FC, De Bellis MD, Nooner KB, Nagel BJ. Adolescent executive dysfunction in daily life: Relationships to risks, brain structure and substance use. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 11 (223), 1-14, 2017. PMID: 28716389; PMCID: PMC5694208.
  5. Infante MA, Eberson SC, Zhang Y, Brumback T, Brown SA, Colrain IM, Baker FC, Clark DB, De Bellis M, Goldston D, Nagel BJ, Nooner KB, Zhao Q, Pohl KM, Sullivan EV, Pfefferbaum A, Tapert SF, Thompson WK. Adolescent binge drinking is associated with accelerated decline of gray matter volume. Cerebral Cortex 32(12), 2611-2620, 2022. [doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhab368] PMID: 34729592; PMC9201595

Clinical Interests

Adolescent substance use disorders
Selected Clinical Publications & Products
  1. Suffoletto B, Clark DB, Lee C, Mason M. Development and preliminary testing of a secure large language model-based chatbot for brief alcohol counseling in young adults. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 272: 112697, 2025. PMCID: PMC12207782; PMID: 40334327 [doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2025.112697]
  2. Clark DB, Martin CS, Chung T, Gordon AJ, Fiorentino L, Tootell M, Rubio DM. Screening for underage drinking and DSM-5 alcohol use disorder in rural primary care practice. The Journal of Pediatrics 173, 214-220, 2016. PMID: 2705991; PMCID: PMC4884494
  3. Clark DB. Pharmacotherapy for adolescent alcohol use disorder. CNS Drugs 26(7): 559-569, 2012 [PMID: 22676261]
  4. Clark DB, Moss HB: Providing alcohol-related screening and brief interventions to adolescents through health care systems: Obstacles and solutions. PLoS Medicine 7(3): 1-4, 2010 [e1000214] [PMID: 20231870; PMC 2834707
  5. Clark DB, Gordon AJ, Ettaro LE, Owens JM, Moss HB: Screening and brief interventions with underage drinkers. Mayo Clinic Proceedings 85(4): 380-391, 2010 [PMID: 20360296; PMC2848426]

Education Interests

Research mentorship
Selected Education Publications & Products
  1. Clark DB. Psychopharmacology for adolescents with substance use disorders. In Douaihy A. Addiction Medicine for Non-Specialists. Oakstone CME 2025.
  2. Clark DB. Adolescent substance use disorders. In Douaihy A, Daley DC (Ed.), Substance Use Disorders: Pittsburgh Pocket Psychiatry Series. [Series Editors: Kupfer DJ, Travis M, Horner M] Oxford University Press, New York, NY; 2014, pp. 331-336

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

Research Day Attendees

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...

Suicide Prevention: Social Media and Mental Health for Children & Adolescents 

Person looking at tablet in car

The Services for Teens at Risk (STAR)-Center is a nationally recognized suicide prevention program that combines clinical and outreach services designed to combat the problem of child and adolescent suicide. The STAR-Center provides outpatient assessment and treatment for depressed and anxious children and teens, and offers acute treatment to depressed and suicidal youth through the Center’s intensive outpatient...

New Research: Self-reported Sleep and Circadian Characteristics Predict Alcohol and Cannabis Use

Although multiple specific sleep characteristics can contribute to risk factors for alcohol and cannabis use and related problems in later adolescence and young adulthood, most research has examined a limited range of sleep characteristics within a narrow age span. In a recent study, Pitt Psychiatry investigators including Brant Hasler, PhD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Clinical and...

New Research in Psychological Medicine and Human Brain Mapping on the Effects of Disrupted Sleep and Early Life Stress in Young People

New Research on the Effects of Disrupted Sleep and Early Life Stress in Young People

Psychological Medicine: Experimentally Imposed Circadian Misalignment Alters the Neural Response to Monetary Rewards and Response Inhibition in Healthy Adolescents During adolescence, circadian rhythm and natural sleep and wake times shift later, which can conflict with early school-start times. This incongruence commonly results in circadian misalignment (mismatch between the behavioral sleep-wake schedule and the...

Pitt Psychiatry Awarded $14.8M National Institute on Drug Abuse Center Grant Focused on the Role of Sleep and Circadian Rhythms in Substance Abuse

NIDA Center Grant

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has awarded Pitt Psychiatry a Center of Excellence (P50) grant to fund the Center for Adolescent Reward, Rhythms and Sleep (CARRS). The CARRS Center will be led by Colleen McClung, PhD (Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical and Translational Science) and Daniel Buysse, MD (UPMC Professor of Sleep Medicine and Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical and Translational Science)...