Faculty

Michelle E Stepan, PhD

Michelle E Stepan, PhD

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry

Contact Details

3811 O'Hara St.
Pittsburgh
 
PA
 
15213
Email

Education & Training

PhD
, Michigan State University, Experimental Psychology
Translational Research Training in Sleep Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Professional Affiliations

Member, Sleep Research Society

Research Interests

Sleep, sleep duration, and sleep architecture; Cognition; Emotion regulation
Selected Research Publications & Products
  1. Stepan ME, Wilckens KA, Hostler D, Wallace ML & Franzen PL. (2022). Physical exertion partially mitigates task-switching deficits from sleep loss: Implications for firefighters. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 10-1097.
  2. Stepan ME, Altmann EM & Fenn KM. (2021). Slow-wave sleep during a brief nap is related to reduced cognitive deficits during sleep deprivation. Sleep, 44(11), zsab152.
  3. Stepan ME, Altmann EM & Fenn KM. (2021). Caffeine selectively mitigates cognitive deficits caused by sleep deprivation. Journal of experimental psychology: learning, memory, and cognition, 47(9), 1371.
  4. Stepan ME, Altmann EM & Fenn KM. (2020). Effects of total sleep deprivation on procedural placekeeping: More than just lapses of attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 149(4), 800.

Clinical Interests

Anxiety and mood symptoms

Journal of Affective Disorders: Sleep Quality Predicts Future Mood Symptoms in Adolescents with Bipolar Disorder

Drs. Michelle Stepan and Tina Goldstein

Poor sleep is prevalent in adolescents with bipolar disorder, precedes illness onset, and is associated with worse mood symptoms. Furthermore, adolescents with bipolar disorder are at a heightened risk for suicidal behavior. Because many risk factors for suicidal behavior (e.g., prior history of trauma, family history of bipolar disorder) are not modifiable, it is critical to identify novel risk factors for bipolar...

The Department of Psychiatry’s Biggest-Ever Research Day

2023 Pitt Psychiatry Research Day Session

The 21st annual Department of Psychiatry Research Day, held on June 8, 2023 was the biggest Research Day ever, attended by more than 500 faculty members, trainees, and staff, and featuring 160 posters at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh.   Lunchtime roundtables followed the morning poster session. More than 250 participants joined one of 30 roundtable discussion groups...

The Department of Psychiatry Welcomes Three New Faculty Members

The Department of Psychiatry Welcomes Drs. Parr, Stepan and Punzi

Pitt Psychiatry extends a warm welcome to three new faculty members: Ashley Parr, PhD (Research Instructor in Psychiatry) Dr. Parr earned her PhD in neuroscience, with a focus on neuroeconomics, from Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. She then came to the University of Pittsburgh for postdoctoral research training under the mentorship of Bea Luna, PhD (Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology and...