News

The Department of Psychiatry is thrilled to congratulate Jim Jedlicka (Lead PC Consultant), who has received a 2021 UPMC ACES award for his outstanding work in the Office of Academic Computing (OAC) at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. The prestigious ACES award, received by fewer than 1% of UPMC staff annually, honors individuals who regularly go above and beyond.

Jim has been working for PC Support in the OAC since 2005 and now leads the team that builds and maintains the workstations used by researchers and administrators in the Department of Psychiatry, handling hardware and software issues and assisting our researchers in maintaining optimal productivity.

“Jim has worked to keep our group’s computing infrastructure functional for many years. This has often involved getting us software on short notice, putting in long hours to iron out problems that were not easily solved, and dealing with our group’s unique and challenging software and hardware environment,” said Greg Siegle, PhD (Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology and Associate Professor of Clinical and Translational Science). “Throughout all of this time, Jim has remained positive and cheerful, and has preserved an attitude that we will get through whatever hardship our computing environment presents to us. The more urgent our situation, the quicker Jim has worked. As such, we have come to trust, depend on, and value Jim as a member of our research team. In an environment in which it’s easy to feel alone, Jim always has our back.”

Additional Departmental faculty members have echoed Dr. Siegle’s gratitude for Jim’s specialized skill sets. “We often work with customized software that was developed for a specific experimental purpose. It runs well when it is first purchased, but over time maintaining upgrades for the software is prohibitively expensive, so we generally maintain original versions of the software on old computers, as it is often not compatible with newer computers. This means the lab depends on Jim’s ability to service older devices and maintain them, which can be very tricky, as fixes for older computers are generally not readily available. It has also meant that Jim is on the constant lookout for us to acquire useful discarded computers from around the university. Jim is always patient with us and understands our unique needs,” said Judy Cameron, PhD (Professor of Psychiatry).

“Jim is personable and always able to solve my IT troubles, spanning from administrative issues, setting up new machines, and general tech support. I love working with Jim,” said Amelia Versace, MD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry).

Congratulations, Jim!