Faculty

Mary L Phillips, MD

Pittsburgh Foundation-Emmerling Endowed Chair in Psychotic Disorders and Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Bioengineering, and Clinical and Translational Science

Contact Details

3811 O'Hara St.
Pittsburgh
 
PA
 
15213
Email
Website
Mood and Brain Lab
Assistant
Jill Morris-Tillman
morristillmanje@upmc.edu

Education & Training

MD
Cambridge University
Psychiatry, Bethlem and Maudsley Hospitals Psychiatry Training

Current Appointments

Director, Center for Translational Research Incorporating Metabolism (CENTRIM-BD)
Director, Center for Neural-Circuit Based Technology Interventions in Psychiatry (CNCTI-P)

Professional Affiliations

President, Society of Biological Psychiatry
Council Member, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation
Member, American Psychiatric Association
Council Member, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
Member, Society of Biological Psychiatry Women's Task Force

Selected Honors & Awards

Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award, National Institute of Mental Health
Highly Cited Researchers 2018 List, Clarivate Analytics
Chancellor's Distinguished Research Award, University of Pittsburgh
Colvin Prize for Bipolar Mood Disorder Research, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation
Joel Elkes Research Award, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
Elected Member, American Society of Clinical Investigation

Research Interests

Neuroimaging in mood disorders & OCD; Neuromodulation in mood disorders; Infant affective neural circuitry
Selected Research Publications & Products
  1. Aro Arora M, Chase H, Bertocci MA, Skeba AS, Eckstrand K, Bebko G, Aslam HA, Raeder R, Graur S, Benjamin O, Wang Y, Stiffler RS, Phillips ML. (2025). Left ventrolateral prefrontal cortical activity during reward expectancy and mania risk. JAMA Psychiatry. 2025 Mar 1;82(3):274-284. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2024.4216. PMID: 39745759.
  2. Schumer MC, Bertocci MA, Aslam HA, Graur S, Bebko G, Stiffler RS, Skeba AS, Brady TJ, Benjamin OE, Wang Y, Chase HW, Phillips ML. Patterns of neural network functional connectivity associated with mania/hypomania and depression risk in 3 independent young adult samples. JAMA Psychiatry. 2024 Feb 1;81(2):167-177. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2023.4150. PMID: 37910117.
  3. Ghane M, Trambaiolli L, Bertocci MA, Martinez-Rivera FJ, Chase HW, Brady T, Skeba A, Graur G, Bonar L, Iyengar S, Quirk GJ, RasmussenSA, Haber SN, Phillips ML. Specific patterns of endogenous functional connectivity are associated with harm avoidance in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Biol Psychiatry. 2024 Jul 15;96(2):137-146. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2023.12.027. Epub 2024 Feb 8. PMID: 38336216.
  4. Afriyie-Agyemang Y, Bertocci Ma, Iyengar S, Stiffler RS, Bonar L, Aslam H, Graur S, Bebko B, Skeba A, Brady T, Benjamin O, Wang Y, Chase H, and Phillips ML. Lifetime depression and mania/hypomania risk predicted by neural markers in three independent young adult samples during working memory and emotional regulation. Mol Psychiatry. 2025 Mar;30(3):870-880. doi: 10.1038/s41380-024-02702-6. Epub 2024 Aug 29. PMID: 39210011.
  5. Zhang Y, Banihashemi L, Versace A, Samolyk A, Taylor M, English G, Schmithorst VJ, Lee VK, Stiffler R, Aslam H, Panigrahy A, Hipwell AE, Phillips ML. Early infant prefrontal cortical microstructure predicts present and future emotionality. Biol Psychiatry. 2024 Dec 15;96(12):959-970. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2024.04.001. Epub 2024 Apr 9. PMID: 38604525; PMCID: PMC11461701.

Education Interests

Research mentoring

Molecular Psychiatry: Associations Among White Matter Microstructural Changes and the Development of Emotional Reactivity and Regulation in Infancy

Molecular Psychiatry

In infancy and throughout childhood, high levels of negative emotionality (for example, frequent and intense crying), low levels of positive emotionality (for example, limited smiling and laughter), and deficits in emotional regulation can predict future behavioral and affective disorders. White matter tracts in the brain develop rapidly in the first postnatal year, and their development is critical for...

Pitt Psychiatry Hosts Second Annual Interventional Psychiatry Showcase

Collage of Interventional Psychiatry Showcase

In interventional psychiatry research, investigators marry technology development with new knowledge of alterations in neural circuitry in psychiatric disorders. The 2025 Department of Psychiatry Interventional Psychiatry Showcase, attended by faculty, staff, and trainees, focused on transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS). Through lively lunchtime roundtables...

JAMA Psychiatry: Left Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortical Activity During Reward Expectancy and Mania Risk

Drs. Manan Arora and Mary Phillips

Mania/hypomania is characterized by elevated reward sensitivity and goal overvaluation, impulsivity, and sensation seeking, and is the defining symptom of bipolar disorder. However, in individuals without a clear history of mania/hypomania, bipolar disorder is often misdiagnosed as major depressive disorder. Replicable neural markers of mania/hypomania risk are needed for earlier bipolar diagnosis, as well as for...

Beatriz Luna, PhD, and Mary Phillips, MD, MD (Cantab) Are Elected Members of the National Academy of Medicine

Drs. Bea Luna and Mary Phillips

The Department of Psychiatry is pleased to announce that two faculty members, Beatriz Luna, PhD, and Mary Phillips, MD, MD (Cantab), have been elected to membership of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). Election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to...

Pitt Psychiatry Establishes Center for Neural Circuit-Based Technology Interventions in Psychiatry

Faculty of the New CNCTI-P Center

The Department of Psychiatry has established a Center for Neural Circuit-Based Technology Interventions in Psychiatry (CNCTI-P), which will be led by Mary Phillips, MD, MD (CANTAB) (Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Clinical and Translational Science, and Bioengineering, and Pittsburgh Foundation-Emmerling Endowed Chair in Psychotic Disorders). Dr. Phillips is an international leader in affective neuroscience...