Faculty

Alfredo L Sklar, MD, PhD

Alfredo L Sklar, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry

Contact Details

3811 O'Hara St.
Pittsburgh
 
PA
 
15213
Email

Education & Training

MD
University of Florida, College of Medicine
PhD
Neuroscience, University of Florida, College of Medicine
Adult Psychiatry, UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital
Training in Transformative Discovery in Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Selected Honors & Awards

Early Career Academic Excellence Award, Congress of the Schizophrenia International Research Society
Young Investigator Award, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation
Danny Hurley Schizophrenia Research Award, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Young Investigator Award, EEG & Clinical Neuroscience Society (ECNS)

Research Interests

Early stage psychosis; Sensory-perceptual processing in the visual system
Selected Research Publications & Products
  1. Sklar AL, Blazer A, Snover W, Lopez-Caballero F, Curtis M, Coffman BA, Hetherington HH, Moon C-H, Salisbury DF & Sarpal DK. (2025), A Synergistic Examination of Excitatory-Inhibitory Balance in First-Episode Schizophrenia Merging 7-Tesla Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging and Magnetoencephalography. Brain Behav, 15: e70735.
  2. Sklar AL, Matinrazm S, Esseku A, Lopez-Caballero F, Curtis M, Coffman BA & Salisbury DF. (2024). Longitudinal evaluation of the early auditory gamma-band response and its modulation by attention in first-episode psychosis. Psychological Medicine, 1-9.
  3. Sklar AL, Yeh FC, Curtis M, Seebold D, Coffman BA & Salisbury DF. (2024). Functional and structural connectivity correlates of semantic verbal fluency deficits in first-episode psychosis. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 169, 73-80.
  4. Sklar AL, Ren X, Chlpka L, Curtis M, Coffman BA & Salisbury DF. (2023). Longitudinal progression of auditory dynamic range deficits in early psychosis and its relationship to negative symptoms. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 49(6), 1508-1517.
  5. Sklar AL, Coffman BA & Salisbury DF. (2020). Localization of early-stage visual processing deficits at schizophrenia spectrum illness onset using magnetoencephalography. Schizophrenia bulletin, 46(4), 955-963.

Clinical Interests

Schizophrenia

The Danny Hurley Schizophrenia Research Fund Is Established in the Department of Psychiatry

Danny Hurley

The newly established Danny Hurley Schizophrenia Research Fund honors the life and legacy of Danny Hurley. Intelligent, curious, and creative, Danny developed an early fascination with both music and scientific inquiry, and excelled academically through elementary and high school, earning perfect SAT scores and serving as valedictorian of his graduating class. After matriculating to a top science and technology...

Schizophrenia Bulletin: Longitudinal Investigation of Auditory Dynamic Range Deficits in Early Psychosis and its Relationship to Negative Symptoms

Brain Image

Negative symptoms of schizophrenia—including apathy, anhedonia, and asociality, as well as blunted affect and alogia—are present during early stages of the disorder, and contribute to marked declines in social and occupational functioning. Few therapeutic options ameliorate negative symptoms, and much remains unknown regarding their neurobiological origins. To improve our understanding of the pathophysiology of...

Pitt Psychiatry News from the 2023 American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Annual Meeting

2023 ACNP Annual Meeting Collage

Many University of Pittsburgh Department of Psychiatry faculty and trainees attended the 2023 American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) annual meeting to learn about and present new research, and connect with colleagues. Below is a recap of Pitt Psychiatry news from the meeting: Honorific Award Mary Phillips, MD, MD (Cantab) (Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Clinical and Translational Science, and...

Schizophrenia Bulletin: Diminished Auditory Cortex Dynamic Range and Its Clinical Correlates in First Episode Psychosis

Drs. Dean Salisbury & Alfredo Sklar

Despite the prevailing focus on executive functioning impairments as primary contributors to clinical outcomes in individuals with psychosis, the contribution of sensory disruptions to disease morbidity in psychosis is receiving increasing attention among scientists who study schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Reductions in neurophysiological markers of both auditory and visual early perceptual processing...

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...