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Access the UPMC/Pitt Mental and Physical Health Resource Guide

The Department of Psychiatry Advocacy Workgroup has created a Mental and Physical Health Resource Guide for employees of the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC. The guide provides information on how to find information and support on topics including but not limited to workplace accommodations and accessibility, leaves of absence, and short-term disability. Click here to view and print the Mental and Physical Health...

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Promotes Akiko Mizuno, PhD, to Research Assistant Professor of Psychiatry

Akiko Mizuno, PhD

We are pleased to announce that Akiko Mizuno, PhD, has been promoted to Research Assistant Professor of Psychiatry by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Mizuno earned her PhD in cognitive psychology from Carnegie Mellon University. She joined the University of Pittsburgh as a postdoctoral scholar in the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded Clinical and Translational Research Training...

Nature Communications: Streamlined Alzheimer's Biomarker Assay

Nature Communications

Plasma amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides, alone or in ratio with p-tau217, show strong potential as Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers. While immunoprecipitation-mass spectrometry (IP-MS) is the preferred method for plasma Aβ quantification, current assays are resource- and time-intensive. Investigators from Pitt Psychiatry including Yijun Chen, PhD (prior graduate student, Karikari Lab); Chaeryon Kang, PhD (Associate Professor...

Neuropsychopharmacology: New Research on Suicide Biomarkers and on Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Neuropsychopharmacology

Pitt Psychiatry investigators have recently published papers in Neuropsychopharmacology reporting findings on biomarkers for suicidal behavior, as well as on harm avoidance in individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Hair Cortisol Concentrations as a Putative Biomarker for Suicidal Behavior Suicide is a leading cause of death for young adults in the United States, but predicting who will attempt suicide is a...

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Promotes Heather Joseph, DO, to Associate Professor of Psychiatry

Dr. Heather Joseph

We are pleased to announce that Heather Joseph, DO, has been promoted to Associate Professor of Psychiatry by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Joseph earned her DO from Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, and she came to Pittsburgh to complete residency training in Psychiatry at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. She next undertook a clinical fellowship in child and adolescent...

JAMA Psychiatry: Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation of the Dorsomedial PFC and Expectancy-Driven Placebo Mood Effects - A Randomized Clinical Trial

Figures from Pecina & Colleagues JAMA Psychiatry 2026 Article

A growing body of evidence demonstrates that antidepressant placebo medications are not merely control conditions in clinical trials. Rather, the expectations and learning processes engaged with use of placebo actively shape mood outcomes through neural and molecular mechanisms. These effects recruit circuits involved in valuation, interoception, and affective regulation, and engage neurochemical pathways known to...

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