University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Promotes Neil Jones, PhD, to Associate Professor of Psychiatry
We are pleased to announce that Neil Jones, PhD, has been promoted to Associate Professor of Psychiatry by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
Dr. Jones earned his PhD in clinical psychology from Duke University, having completed a clinical psychology internship at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. Dr. Jones remained in Pittsburgh as a postdoctoral scholar in Pitt Psychiatry’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-supported Clinical Research Training for Psychologists T32 training program, and completed additional postdoctoral research training on understanding and treating neuropsychiatric symptoms of pediatric physical illness.
Dr. Jones is a leader in the field of mental disorder mechanisms. Using multimodal approaches including neuroimaging and peripheral psychophysiology, he has developed an important research program advancing a conceptual framework of mental disorders that integrates psychology, neuroscience, and physiology. He has demonstrated that rumination predicts poor response to cognitive therapy for depression, and identified a potential neurobiological intervention target. In addition, Dr. Jones has identified the neurobiological underpinnings for impaired cognitive control and cognitive errors in depression.
Dr. Jones currently leads an NIMH R01 grant investigating the biological systems underlying the impact of potential threat on cognitive control in mood disorders, and is multiple principal investigator of a second NIMH R01 focused on using a multimodal neuroimaging approach to study the neurodevelopment of emotional interference resistance in adolescence to adulthood. Dr. Jones additionally collaborates as co-investigator on multiple additional studies funded by the National Institutes of Health, as well as by Wellcome LEAP.
A nationally recognized expert in child and adolescent psychology, Dr. Jones has published multiple studies in top journals. He is a standing member of the NIMH study section on adult pathopsychology and disorders of aging, and serves on the board of consulting editors at the Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science.
Dr. Jones is a superb teacher and mentor, and has worked with medical students, psychiatry residents, undergraduate and graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars. He is highly involved with the Department’s Clinical Psychology Internship Program and is a founding member of the program’s Diversity, Inclusivity, Cultural Humility, and Equity committee.
“Dr. Jones is well known for bringing exemplary creativity and rigor to his research. He has made many important, innovative contributions to improving our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying mental illness, and is achieving well-deserved increasing prominence as an expert in this area,” said David Lewis, MD (Chair, Department of Psychiatry). “In addition, Dr. Jones is an outstanding teacher and mentor who has accelerated the research initiatives and career paths of his trainees, and he has made numerous important contributions to the scientific community at the University of Pittsburgh and nationally.”
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Jones!