We are pleased to announce that Adriane Soehner, PhD, has been promoted to Associate Professor of Psychiatry by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Soehner earned her PhD in clinical science from the University of California, Berkeley, having completed a clinical psychology internship at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. She then conducted postdoctoral research training in the Department’s...

Identifying biomarkers that can predict future drug use may open new avenues for individualized medicine in preventing and treating substance use disorders. Melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) neuron activity is an integral component of rapid eye movement sleep, and rapid eye movement sleep powerfully regulates the formation and modification of emotional memories. Following cocaine self-administration and...

Daniel Buysse, MD (Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Medicine, and Clinical and Translational Science, and UPMC Endowed Chair in Sleep Medicine), is an internationally recognized expert in sleep medicine research, specializing in the diagnosis, assessment, pathophysiology, and treatment of insomnia. In a recent Clinical Practice article published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Buysse reviewed the...

We are pleased to announce that Erika Forbes, PhD (Professor of Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Psychology), has been elected to the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (BBRF) Scientific Council. The BBRF is the top non-governmental funder of mental health research grants. The Scientific Council reviews and selects the most promising research proposals with the greatest potential to lead to breakthroughs in mental...

Compulsive behaviors are a hallmark symptom of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Striatal hyperactivity has been linked to compulsive behavior generation in humans and rodents. However, the contribution of the two distinct striatal output populations to the generation and treatment of compulsive behavior is unknown. These populations of direct and indirect pathway-projecting spiny projection neurons have...

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has awarded Pitt Psychiatry a T32 postdoctoral training grant focused on substance use disorder research. Led by Colleen McClung, PhD (Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical and Translational Science), and Mary Torregrossa, PhD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry), the goal of the Supportive, Multidisciplinary Addiction Research Training (SMART) T32 program is to provide...

Mary Ganguli, MD, MPH (Professor of Psychiatry, Epidemiology, and Neurology), has worked for more than 35 years on the epidemiology of the aging brain and late-life mental disorders. In two studies recently published in Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders, members of Dr. Ganguli’s team reported on effective strategies to recruit diverse study participants, as well as the results from an investigation of...

Pitt Psychiatry extends a warm welcome to two new faculty members: Daniel Wonjae Chung, MD, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry) Dr. Chung earned his MD and his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh and completed his residency training in psychiatry at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH). Dr. Chung then conducted postdoctoral research training as part of the Department’s National Institute of Mental Health...

We are proud to introduce our new class of PGY1 residents entering our General Psychiatry, General and Child, Family Medicine and Psychiatry, and Triple Board tracks. Please join us in welcoming this group of outstanding physicians as they embark on the next phase of their academic and clinical careers! In addition, the Office of Residency Training is pleased to announce the 2024-2025 Chief Residents: Chief...

Congratulations to Helmet Karim, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Bioengineering), who has received the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) 2024 Replication Award, which recognizes a replication study relevant to the field of neuroimaging, evaluated based on the quality of the replication attempt and importance of the finding. Dr. Karim was presented with the Award at the OHBM Annual Meeting in...