The Department of Psychiatry Welcomes Rachel Vaughn-Coaxum, PhD, to the Faculty
We are delighted to announce that Rachel Vaughn-Coaxum, PhD, has joined the faculty as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry.
Dr. Vaughn-Coaxum earned her PhD in clinical psychology from Harvard University. She completed her clinical psychology internship at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital, followed by the Department’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded Clinical Research Training for Psychologists T32 postdoctoral program.
Dr. Vaughn-Coaxum’s research focus is on understanding depression-specific implications of childhood adversity for treatment response in young people, with the long-term goal of enhancing the effectiveness of interventions for depression among youths who have experienced childhood adversity. During her postdoctoral training under the mentorship of Tina Goldstein, PhD, Dr. Vaughn-Coaxum examined the influence of adversity on cognitive deficits and emotion regulation in youth intervention and naturalistic studies. She is currently principal investigator (PI) of an NIMH K23 award focused on childhood adversity and biobehavioral influences on the acquisition of evidence-based psychotherapy skills in adolescent depression.
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Vaughn-Coaxum to the Pitt Psychiatry faculty!