Faculty

Kymberly Young, PhD

Associate Professor of Psychiatry

Contact Details

3811 O'Hara Street
Pittsburgh
 
PA
 
15213
Phone 412-648-6179
Email
Website
Young Lab Website
Young Faculty Website

Education & Training

PhD
Psychology: Behavior, Cognition, Neuroscience, American University
Clinical Neuroscience, Laureate Institute for Brain Research

Professional Affiliations

Member, Society of Biological Psychiatry
Member, Organization for Human Brain Mapping

Selected Honors & Awards

The Laurel E. Zaks Memorial Research Award,
Donald J. Nash Memorial Outstanding Oral Presentation Award, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Southwestern and Rocky Mountain Division

Research Interests

Real-time fMRI neurofeedback; Autobiographical memory; Neural correlates of mood disorders
Selected Research Publications & Products
  1. Misaki M, Young K, Tsuchiyagaito A, Savitz J & Guinjoan S. Clinical response to neurofeedback in major depression relates to subtypes of whole-brain activation patterns during training. Molecular Psychiatry. 2025: 30:2707-2717.
  2. Leiker E, Riley E, Barb S, Lazzaro S, Compere L, Webb C, Canocali G & Young K. Recall of autobiographical memories following odor vs word cues among adults with depression. JAMA Network Open. 2024:7(2):e2355958.
  3. Compere L, Siegle GJ, Riley E, Lazzaro C, Strege M, Pacoe E, Canovali G, Barb S, Huppert T & Young KD. Enhanced efficacy of CBT following augmentation with amygdala rtfMRI neurofeedback in depression. Journal of Affective Disorders. 2023:339:495-501.
  4. Compere L, Siegle GJ, Lazzaro S, Strege M, Canovali G, Barb S, Huppert T, Young K. Real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging neurofeedback training of amygdala upregulation increases affective flexibility in depression. Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience. 2023:48(3)
  5. Young, KD, Siegle, GJ., Zotev, V., Phillips, R., Misaki, M., Yuan, H., Drevets, WC., Bodurka, J. (2017). Randomized clinical trial of real-time fMRI amygdala neurofeedback for major depressive disorder: Effects on symptoms and autobiographical memory recall. American Journal of Psychiatry. Apr 14. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2017.16060637.

Clinical Interests

Major depressive disorder onset/recovery

Education Interests

Research mentorship; Medical student education; Graduate student education

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...

Biological Psychiatry – The Impact of Intravenous Ketamine on Attentional Bias: Probing Mechanisms of Rapid-Acting Antidepressant Effects in Two Clinical Studies

Biological Psychiatry

Intravenous ketamine produces reliable, fast-acting, and potent antidepressant effects even among individuals with treatment-resistant depression. Ketamine can also be a powerful experimental tool to provide a more precise evaluation of neurocognitive mechanisms underlying reduction in depression symptoms. Cognitive theorists of depression have long posited that systematic alterations in attentional bias (giving...

University of Pittsburgh Awards Tenure to Kymberly Young, PhD

Dr. Kymberly Young

We are delighted to announce that Kymberly Young, PhD, has received conferral of tenure at the rank of associate professor by the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Young is an expert in the neural mechanisms of depression, and her work focuses on altered autobiographical memory in the illness, the translation of mechanistic findings from those findings to neurofeedback strategies, and the development of scalable, cost...

JAMA Network Open: Recall of Autobiographical Memories Following Odor vs Verbal Cues Among Adults With Major Depressive Disorder

Dr. Kymberly Young

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a pervasive and common illness that can severely diminish individuals’ quality of life. Among the challenges associated with major depressive disorder, individuals with MDD may have trouble recalling specific memories (a memory of a single event occurring at a specific place and time) in favor of categorical memories (a generalized memory encompassing several distinct episodes)...

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Promotes Kymberly Young, PhD, to Associate Professor of Psychiatry 

Dr. Kymberly Young Promoted

We are delighted to announce that Kymberly Young, PhD, has been promoted to Associate Professor of Psychiatry by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Young earned her PhD in psychology from American University, then conducted postdoctoral research in clinical neuroscience at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research. Dr. Young joined the University of Pittsburgh Department of Psychiatry at the rank...