News

School of Medicine Promotes Rebecca Thurston, PhD Please join us in congratulating Dr. Rebecca Thurston on her promotion to the rank of Associate Professor of Psychiatry by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Thurston received both her Master?s and doctorate degrees in clinical health psychology from Duke University. Following a clinical internship at the University of Washington School of Medicine...

Francis Lotrich, MD, PhD Promoted to Associate Professor Please join us in congratulating Dr. Francis Lotrich on his promotion to the rank of Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Lotrich attained his medical degree and a doctorate in Behavioral Neuroscience from the Oregon Health & Science University, and is a graduate of the Western...

Differential patterns of activity and functional connectivity in emotion processing neural circuitry to angry and happy faces in adolescents with and without suicide attempt. Pan LA, Hassel S, Segreti AM, Nau SA, Brent DA, Phillips ML. Suicidal behavior is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in adolescence. Despite progress in understanding risk factors for suicidal behavior, the pathogenesis is poorly...

Imaging dopamine transmission in the frontal cortex: a simultaneous microdialysis and [(11)C]FLB 457 PET study Narendran R, Jedema HP, Lopresti BJ, Mason NS, Gurnsey K, Ruszkiewicz J, Chen CM, Deuitch L, Frankle WG, Bradberry CW. Abnormal dopamine levels in the brain?s prefrontal cortex have a negative effect on neurocognitive functions, such as memory, attention and problem-solving. Altered levels of the...

Adolescent Initiation of Drug Use: Effects of Prenatal Cocaine Exposure,Richardson, GA, Larkby, C, Goldschmidt, L, Day, NL Very few studies have focused on the effects that drug exposure during pregnancy may have on subsequent drug use in the offspring. In a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Dr. Richardson and colleagues in the Department of Psychiatry...

JAMA Clinical Crossroads Features Sleep Researcher JAMA recently featured sleep researcher Daniel Buysse, MD as part of the journal's Clinical Crossroads section focusing on insomnia. The article is based on a Clinical Grand Rounds presented by Dr. Buysse at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. The case study involved a 51-year old woman whose insomnia was first diagnosed when she was age 35 and her...