Pitt Psychiatry Hosts Second Annual Interventional Psychiatry Showcase
In interventional psychiatry research, investigators marry technology development with new knowledge of alterations in neural circuitry in psychiatric disorders. The 2025 Department of Psychiatry Interventional Psychiatry Showcase, attended by faculty, staff, and trainees, focused on transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS). Through lively lunchtime roundtables, followed by afternoon presentations and panel discussions, attendees learned about new research using these methods, and about their applications for treating a range of psychiatric disorders. Helmet Karim, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Bioengineering) served as course director.
The Interventional Psychiatry Showcase featured the following roundtable discussion groups:
Following a welcome and introduction from Department Chair David Lewis, MD, Department members delivered engaging presentations on clinical and research topics related to interventional psychiatry:
- Khaled Moussawi, MD, PhD (Associate Professor of Neurology; University of California, San Francisco): Overview of Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound for Neuropsychiatric Disorders
- Mary Phillips, MD, MD (Cantab) (Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Clinical and Translational Science, and Bioengineering, and Pittsburgh Foundation-Emmerling Endowed Chair in Psychotic Disorders): Modulating Ventral Striatal Activity and Connectivity with Transcranial Focused Ultrasound as A putative Novel Intervention for Cocaine use Disorder
- Ahmadreza Keihani, PhD (Postdoctoral Associate): tFUS in Practice: Planning, Simulations and Points to Consider in Running a Real Session
- Brian Coffman, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry): Charging A Head - Therapeutic Neuromodulation via Transcranial Electrical Stimulation (tES)
- Meryl Butters, PhD (Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical and Translational Science): Slowing Cognitive Decline in Major Depressive Disorder and Mild Cognitive Impairment with Cognitive Remediation & tDCS: A Randomized Clinical Trial
- Henry Chase, PhD (Research Assistant Professor of Psychiatry): Detecting tDCS’s Impact on the Brain via Low Frequency BOLD Activity
- Douglas Teixera Leffa, MD, PhD (Psychiatry Research Pathway Resident): Is tDCS an Efficacious Treatment for Inattention in Adults with ADHD? - Results from the TUNED Trial
The presentations followed by two plenary discussions facilitated by Deepak Sarpal, MD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry), and by Erika Forbes, PhD (Professor of Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Psychology).
Congratulations to those who presented and thank you to all who attended!