Faculty

Helmet T Karim, PhD

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Bioengineering

Contact Details

3811 O'Hara St.
Pittsburgh
 
PA
 
15213
Email
Website
Website

Education & Training

PhD
University of Pittsburgh, School of Engineering Bioengineering
University of Pittsburgh School of MedicineGeriatric Psychiatry

Professional Affiliations

Member, Society of Biological Psychiatry

Research Interests

Prediction of treatment response; Risk asessment in Alzheimer's disease; Novel interventions using TMS
Selected Research Publications & Products
  1. Ly M, Gary ZY, Karim HT, Muppidi NR, Mizuno A, Klunk WE, ... & Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. (2019). Improving brain age prediction models: incorporation of amyloid status in Alzheimer's disease. Neurobiology of Aging.
  2. Karim HT, Wang M, Andreescu C, Tudorascu D, Butters MA, Karp JF, ... & Aizenstein HJ. (2018). Acute trajectories of neural activation predict remission to pharmacotherapy in late-life depression. NeuroImage: Clinical, 19, 831-839.
  3. Karim HT, Andreescu C, Tudorascu D, Smagula SF, Butters MA, Karp JF, ... & Aizenstein HJ. (2017). Intrinsic functional connectivity in late-life depression: trajectories over the course of pharmacotherapy in remitters and non-remitters. Molecular psychiatry, 22(3), 450-457.
  4. Karim HT, Tudorascu DL, Butters MA, Walker S, Aizenstein HJ, & Andreescu C. (2017). In the grip of worry: Cerebral blood flow changes during worry induction and reappraisal in late-life generalized anxiety disorder. Translational psychiatry, 7(8), e1204-e1204.
  5. Kay DB, Karim HT, Soehner AM, Hasler BP, Wilckens KA, James JA, ... & Germain A. (2016). Sleep-wake differences in relative regional cerebral metabolic rate for glucose among patients with insomnia compared with good sleepers. Sleep, 39(10), 1779-1794.

Clinical Interests

Novel clinical interventions; Maximizing clinical efficacy

Education Interests

Research mentorship; Graduate student advising; Postdoctoral mentorship

The American Journal of Psychiatry: Experimental Manipulation of the Orbitofrontal Cortex Affects Short-Term Markers of Compulsive Behavior

Individuals with compulsive behavior disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), experience compulsions in which the ability to engage in flexible goal-directed behavior is impaired in favor of habitual behaviors. Research from both animal and human studies have indicated that alterations within the orbitofrontal cortex are a key factor in the onset of compulsive behaviors. However, questions remain...

Pitt Psychiatry Investigators Report New Findings in Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia & Late-Life Depression Research

New Findings in Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia & Late-Life Depression Research

Acta Neuropathologica: Plasma P-Tau231, A New Biomarker for Incipient Alzheimer's Disease Pathology Scientists including Tharick Pascoal, MD, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology) from Pitt Psychiatry have published the discovery and validation of a new blood biomarker of Alzheimer’s disease which, for the first time, can produce remarkably early detection of the pathology. The quantification of...

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Promotes Helmet Karim, PhD, to Assistant Professor of Psychiatry 

Helmet Karim, PhD

We are pleased to announce that Helmet Karim, PhD, has been promoted to Assistant Professor of Psychiatry by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Karim’s research focuses on the predictive role of the acute neural changes associated with treatment response in major depressive disorder (MDD). He is principal investigator of a National Institute of Mental Health-funded K01 career development award,...

Now in Neuropsychopharmacology: Understanding Contextual Processing of Perception in Depression 

Pecina & Colleagues 2020 Neuropsychopharmacology

In a hundred-year-old film, a man is seen looking at a bowl of soup, then at a child in a coffin, then at a woman on a divan. While the film shows the exact same footage of the man three times, interspersed with the other images, audiences perceived that the man reacted to each scene with separate and distinct facial expressions. This phenomenon suggested that audience interpretations of his expression were...