News

Holly Swartz, MD Promoted to Professor of Psychiatry

Congratulations to Holly Swartz, MD, on her promotion to the rank of Professor of Psychiatry by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.  

A graduate of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Dr. Swartz completed her psychiatry residency and a research fellowship at the Payne Whitney Clinic at the New York Hospital ? Cornell University Medical Center, and held academic appointments at those institutions prior to her recruitment by the University of Pittsburgh in 1997.  

Dr. Swartz has a long-standing interest in psychotherapeutic issues related to the treatment of affective disorders that has guided both her clinical and research activities.   She has served as the medical director of the Depression and Manic Depression Prevention Program at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC (WPIC) since 2011 and previously served as the medical director of WPIC?s Bipolar Intensive Outpatient Program.   Additionally, Dr. Swartz serves as a consulting psychiatrist for Allegheny County?s Early Head Start Program, a University of Pittsburgh and community collaboration program which provides comprehensive services to low-income families with children.  She also has directed quality improvement projects to implement Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy (IPSRT) across all levels of care at WPIC, and on behavioral health inpatient units at Mercy Hospital. In recognition of her clinical and administrative work related to IPSRT, Dr. Swartz was presented with the 2009 WPIC Clinical Excellence Award for Trainer of the Year.

In addition to her outstanding clinical work, Dr. Swartz is a successful academic scientist.  With support from a K23 career development award from the National Institute of Mental Health, she evaluated a brief treatment version of IPT (IPT-B) and found that it was associated with greater reductions in maternal depression and in child depression at a nine-month follow up.  This work laid the groundwork for two NIMH R01 grants for which Dr. Swartz serves as the Principal Investigator.  The first study compared IPT-B to brief supportive therapy as treatments for depressed mothers of school age children with behavioral health disorders while the second study examines psychotherapy and combined interventions for acute bipolar II depression. Dr. Swartz also serves as the Principal Investigator of a  pilot study of IPRST for bipolar spectrum disorder from the Depressive and Bipolar Disorder Alternative Treatment Foundation (DBDAT). In addition to these projects, Dr. Swartz has collaborated and contributed to numerous other grants. She is the recipient of the Gerald L. Klerman Young Investigator Award from the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (2005), and the Klerman Interpersonal Psychotherapy Award from the International Society for Interpersonal Psychotherapy (2009) in honor of her outstanding research accomplishments. She has widely disseminated her work, co-authoring 52 peer-reviewed journal articles and serving as the first or senior author 20 of those publications.  Dr. Swartz has presented her findings at conferences and scientific meetings throughout the United States, Europe, Mexico, and Canada.  Her reputation in the field has also resulted in several important grant reviewing activities for the NIMH, NIH, the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation in New Zealand, and the Contrat de Recherche Clinique (CRC) in Paris.  Dr. Swartz has also held leadership  positions in the  New Clinical Drug Evaluation Unit (NCDEU) program since 2009, and was appointed a member of the prestigious American College of Neuropsychopharmacology in 2013.

Dr. Swartz is a highly respected and talented lecturer and mentor who has displayed a passion for trainee and junior faculty career development throughout her academic career. Her teaching activities have encompassed psychiatry residents, medical students, psychology interns, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and junior faculty. Her dedication to professional development has also led her to present on topics such as grant writing and mentorship, and she is an active member of the Department?s Clinician Educator Career Development Program, serving as an advisor to junior faculty in the clinician educator pathway. In addition to her didactic teaching, Dr. Swartz is also a superb mentor to predoctoral students, postdoctoral fellows, residents, and junior faculty. Indeed, Dr. Swartz has formally mentored 25 trainees and junior faculty during the course of her career.  She is also a mentor for two T32 training programs ? Clinical Research Training for Psychologists and the Psychiatric Epidemiology Training Program. Dr. Swartz has also served on five dissertation and thesis committees within the School of Social Work, the Department of Psychology, and the Graduate School of Public Health.  

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Swartz on her promotion.