Dr. Rameshwari V. Tumuluru, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, is Medical Director of the Adolescent Acute Partial Hospitalization Program (AAPHP) at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH), as well as the afterschool Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP). She has devoted her career to community-based care for children and adolescents. In 2017, Dr. Tumuluru received a grant from The Beckwith Institute to create an on...

A deep understanding of the neural basis of cognitive impairment in schizophrenia is critical for the development of treatments for this disorder, as cognitive dysfunction can predict clinical outcomes such a relapse frequency and everyday functioning. Achieving this level of understanding is possible by studying post-mortem human brain tissue. However, thus far, scientists have been prevented from doing so due to...

We are thrilled to announce the launch of a new podcast, Psychiatry Advances, from UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH). WPH is a national leader in the innovative treatment of mental health and addictive disorders. Psychiatry Advances presents original research and patient-centered programs at the cutting edge of psychiatry and the behavioral sciences. Host Loren Roth, MD, MPH, Distinguished Professor Emeritus...

The Department of Psychiatry and UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH) extend a warm welcome to the newest members of our Psychiatry Residency Program. The new residents will enter one of our four residency tracks: General Psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Triple Board and Family Medicine/Psychiatry. Our program has a longstanding reputation for excellence, and those who matched with us are superb...

The 19th annual Department of Psychiatry Research Day on June 13, 2019 was our biggest yet! For the 505 faculty, postdoctoral students, residents, graduate students and staff who attended, the morning poster session and afternoon program offered a stimulating day of research and career development that was equal parts enlightenment, inspiration, fun and, at times, surprise. The morning session featured 140 posters...

Please join us in congratulating the 2019 graduates of UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH) Residency and Clinical Fellowship programs. At the graduation ceremony on June 14, 2019, residents, fellows, and their families and friends celebrated the achievement of this important milestone in medical training. Additionally, several residents received awards in recognition of their accomplishments in medical...

Associate Professor of Psychiatry Yanhua Huang’s primary research interest is the interaction between sleep and reward processing in the brain. She focuses on whether and how sleep, or the lack of it, impacts the brain’s reward circuitry. “ Sleep does a lot,” Dr. Huang said. “It restores our cognitive selves and rebalances our emotional selves.” “Over the past few years we have observed interesting correlations...

We are delighted to announce that Susanne Ahmari, MD, PhD, has been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor of Psychiatry by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Ahmari is a recognized expert in translational research of the neural mechanisms underlying obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). She is a pioneer in the use of optogenetics to uncover these mechanisms. In addition, she is interested in...

Congratulations to Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology and Clinical and Translational Science Martica Hall, PhD, who has received the Sleep Research Society Mary A. Carskadon Outstanding Educator Award for excellence in education related to sleep and circadian research. The award honors outstanding educational contributions to disseminating the knowledge base, research methods and health and safety significance of...

How does a family background of alcohol dependence affect brain morphology? In a recent study published in Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, Shirley Hill, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology and Human Genetics, explored this question through the lens of dopamine signaling, with the goal of determining if changes in dopaminergic expression influence the development of the brain. Dopamine, which is important in...