Research
Overview
STAR-Center faculty lead research projects focused on improving understanding of youth depression and suicide and identifying novel prevention and intervention approaches.
Some examples of recent STAR-Center research studies include:
- Development and testing of a brief app-based safety planning intervention for teens
- Examination of the role of sleep disturbance in risk for youth suicide
- Identification of brain-based neural patterns that identify suicidal individuals
Click the blue arrows to learn more about ongoing and completed projects.
Dr. Goldstein's Research
Tina Goldstein, PhD
Dr. Goldstein is a licensed psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh where she also serves as Director of Psychotherapy Training in Pediatric Mood Disorders and Co-Director of the Psychology Internship Training Program. Tina received her BA in Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She joined the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh and the Child and Adolescent Bipolar Spectrum (CABS) Clinical Research Group in 2006. She has committed her career to understanding and treating youth with, and at-risk for, mood disorders and suicide. In her role, she enjoys teaching, training, supervising, and conducting clinical research. Tina likes to run, play outside, and eat candy.
Dr. Brent's Research
David Brent, MD
Dr. Brent is a Distinguished Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Epidemiology, Academic Chief of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Endowed Chair in Suicide Studies. He received post-doctoral training in psychiatric epidemiology at WPH from 1982-1985. Dr. Brent has been funded by NIMH continuously since 1985. His areas of expertise are epidemiology, nosology, family studies, treatment development, and clinical trials, with a clinical emphasis on suicide and mood disorders. He has conducted work on the psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy of depression, as well as case-control, genetic, and longitudinal studies related to suicide. His current work focuses on the uses of modern computational approaches (e.g., machine learning) and technology-supported interventions to assess and attenuate suicidal risk. His work has been recognized with awards from NARSAD, the AFSP, the APA, the AACAP, and the JED Foundation.
Dr. Sakolsy's Research
Dara Sakolsky, MD, PhD
Dr. Dara Sakolsky is an Associate Professor in the School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She completed a combined MD/PhD program at Temple University, earning her PhD in Pharmacology. She is a board-certified in adult and child/adolescent psychiatrist with extensive experience treating youth with mood and anxiety disorders. Dr. Sakolsky has served as a principal investigator at the University of Pittsburgh for the Child/Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal Extended Long-term Study (CAMELS) and co-investigator on several NIMH funded studies examining the phenomenology and treatment of mood and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. She also works clinically as the Associate Medical Director at the Services for Teens at Risk (STAR) clinic and psychiatrist at Child and Adolescent Bipolar Services (CABS) outpatient clinic.
Dr. Biernesser's Research
Candice Biernessar, PhD, LCSW
Dr. Biernesser is a behavioral health scientist and licensed clinical social worker currently appointed as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests rest in three areas: adolescent suicide prevention, the study of social media experiences, and the development and testing of digital interventions. Her current line of research focuses on examining ways to understand and mitigate the impact of negative social media experiences, particularly focusing on cybervictimization given its linkage to suicide risk among youth. She is passionate about developing digital interventions to improve the mental health of adolescents from underserved and minoritized communities. She and her team have been integral to the development, testing, and implementation of a range of digital tools from smartphone apps, texting programs, chatbots, and more through funding received from the National Institute of Mental Health and American Society for Suicide Prevention.
Dr. Zelazny's Research
Dr. Jamie Zelazny, PhD, MPH, RN
Dr. Zelazny has over 40 years of psychiatric nursing experience in clinical and research settings, primarily with suicidal youth. Her research is focused on the use of technology to identify and manage suicidal thoughts and behavior in youth. She will also be leading a grant from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) with colleagues at Johns Hopkins University to pilot a psychological autopsy study of youth who died by suicide, which includes digital and contextual risk factors.
Dr. Zelazny is a co-developer of BRITE, a supportive safety plan phone application for patients with high levels of suicidal ideation or recent suicidal behavior and a co-author of the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). In addition to these research interests, she has a strong interest in bioethics, specifically the protection of participants in research involving technology and in research involving suicidal individuals. Dr. Zelazny is a Vice Chair at the University of Pittsburgh Institutional Review Board.