Join us at the Sheraton Station Square on November 15, 2019 for the 36th Annual Pittsburgh Schizophrenia Conference and learn all about the latest advances in schizophrenia research from leading experts in the field. This year’s meeting will cover early identification and management of first episode psychoses based on knowledge obtained and disseminated from a NIMH funded trial.  Attendees will learn and review immune-inflammatory mechanisms that play a role in subgroups of persons with schizophrenia, especially gluten sensitivity and ongoing work to remediate this sensitivity.  Participants will hear about transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and its potential use in schizophrenia.  From a case example, attendees will learn about clarifying diagnosis and optimizing medications in persons with mental illness in a residential facility.  Finally, attendees will hear from people with serious mental illness who will share their stories of working as Peer Specialists and of using music to help support their recovery.
 

Gerard E. Hogarty Excellence in Schizophrenia Research Memorial Lecture

Lessons Learned from RAISE-ETP: Where Do We Go from Here?
 

John M. Kane, MD
Senior Vice President for Behavioral Health Services
Northwell Health, New Hyde Park, NY
Professor and Chairman
Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
The Zucker Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, NY

Other Topics and Speakers

• Gluten and Schizophrenia: New Target and Precision Medicine - Deanna L. Kelly, Pharm.D., BCPP
• Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) in Schizophrenia and Psychosis: 2019 Update - Steven D. Forman MD, PhD
• Deprescription and Optimization of Medications - Vernon Nathaniel, MD; Susan Wolfe, MA, LPC; Stacy Martin, LSW
• Peer Specialists: Sharing and Working - Susan Brown Padilla, CPS; Bernice Hayes, CPS
• and Flavio Chamis, Composer, Conductor, Educator, Music Consultant and Producer

Who Should Attend
The conference is designed to disseminate the latest clinical and research findings to a wide audience: psychiatrists and other mental health clinicians, including nurses, social workers, psychologists, service coordinators, researchers, patients and their relatives, mental health policy administrators and others who intend to keep current regarding treatment research in schizophrenia.

Learning Objectives
At the completion of the program, participants should be able to:

• Recognize the essential elements of coordinated specialty care early in the course of schizophrenia.
• Recognize the concept of the duration of untreated psychoses and steps taken to reduce the duration.
• Discuss ongoing research to characterize a subgroup of schizophrenia patients with immune response and inflammation to gluten.
• Identify potential pathophysiologic mechanisms related to an immune response to gluten.
• Explain ongoing work for personalizing treatment in this subgroup of schizophrenia with potential gluten sensitivity.
• Recognize the basic mechanisms of non-invasive brain activity modulation with TMS.
• Review the safety profile of TMS treatments.
• Review studies investigating the use of TMS in patients with schizophrenia and psychotic disorders.
• Discuss if a step down longer stay residential placement provides value for clarifying the diagnosis and revisit the treatment approach to persons with serious mental illness.

For More Information . To learn more about the program and to register online, please click on this link or contact Nancy Mundy (Telephone: (412) 204-9090; Email: mundynl@upmc.edu).