Most studies use individual sleep characteristics to predict health outcomes. However, a recent paradigmatic shift in sleep research has led investigators to study sleep through a “sleep health” framework. Within this framework, sleep is viewed as a multidimensional pattern of sleep-wakefulness that promotes physical and mental well-being and is characterized along multiple domains including duration, continuity...

The Department’s wide variety of federally sponsored postdoctoral research training programs (T32s) offer extensive support to help trainees optimize their ability to launch and sustain a research career in psychiatry. These trainees immerse themselves in a particular area of research for a two- to three-year period of protected time prior to obtaining a K Award and entering residency. Areas of research training...

Dean F. Salisbury, PhD has conducted his extensive research career studying the pathology and pathophysiology in early psychosis—a field in which he is an international expert—with one ultimate goal in mind: early identification of the disorder. His research delves into understanding the basic dysfunctions that will lead to earlier identification, better interventions, and improved outcome in schizophrenia and...

Alexis Fertig, MD is an accomplished clinician and national expert in the area of eating disorders. She provides high-quality clinical care within the intensive outpatient, inpatient, and partial hospitalization eating disorders programs at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. She is director of the UPMC Center for Eating Disorders and is the “go to“ person for difficult consults and complex cases. Dr. Fertig...

Chronic dysfunction in social relationships is a core feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD), and limited research exists regarding the social networks among individuals with the disorder. Examining differences in social integration, social support, and relationship characteristics in social networks may be critical to understanding the character and costs of social difficulties experienced by these...

The Department of Psychiatry is now accepting abstracts for consideration for poster presentations for its 18th Annual Research Day. If you would like to submit an abstract, click here to access the Call for Abstracts and Abstract Submission Form. The deadline for submission is April 6, 2018. Research Day will take place on Thursday, June 7, 2018 at the University Club on the Oakland campus. This full-day event is...

Carmen Andreescu, MD is an internationally recognized expert on the affective neuroscience of late-life mood and anxiety disorders. Her study of the functional and structural neural circuity of emotion dysregulation in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) led her pursue a novel set of hypotheses regarding severe worry as a central feature and organizing concept in research on the neurobiology of GAD. The development...

Jordan F. Karp, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, has been selected as the 2018 Geriatrics Teacher of the Year by the Pennsylvania Geriatrics Society (Western Division). The award recognizes exceptional geriatrics teachers for their dedication and commitment to geriatrics teaching excellence. Charles F. (Chip) Reynolds, III, MD, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, and Lalith K. Solai, MD, Associate Professor of...

Depression is associated with disturbances to sleep and the 24-hour sleep-wake pattern, or rest-activity rhythm (RAR). However, there remains a need to identify the specific sleep/RAR correlates of depression symptom severity in population subgroups, such as strained dementia caregivers, who are at elevated risk for major depressive disorder. In a five-year study led by Dr. Smagula’s mentor, Martica Hall, PhD...

Mary Torregrossa, PhD focuses her research on examining the factors that can lead to vulnerability to drug addiction and relapse. Using animal models to understand how drugs of abuse co-opt learning and memory systems, she seeks to identify interventions that target these underlying neurobiologic substrates in an effort to reduce substance use and relapse. Combining behavioral, molecular, and sophisticated self...