Clinical Scholars Program Overview - Pittsburgh Mind-Body Center (www.pghmbc.org)

One of the initiatives of the Faculty Development Component of PMBC-II is the Mind-Body
Clinical Scholars Program. This program is designed for residents, postdoctoral fellows, and
junior faculty with primary responsibilities in patient care who would like to receive research
training in behavioral medicine and health psychology. The program provides 25% salary support
for two years. Scholars have access to Center resources (i.e., workshops/lectures, research support
cores) and work with a mentor to formulate a research plan for the period of support (e.g., manuscript
development and grant writing). Clinical scholars are also eligible to apply for pilot funds to help them
initiate their research. Current Mind-Body Clinical Scholars (2007-2009) are Laura Dietz, Ph.D.,
and Isabella Soreca, M.D. Former Mind-Body Clinical Scholars (2005-2007) are
Ronald Glick, M.D., and Toby Debra Yanowitz, M.D.

Laura Dietz, Ph.D. is a developmental and clinical psychologist, and an Instructor in the
Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Dr. Dietz received her
doctoral degree at the University of Pittsburgh in 2004, after completing a clinical internship in
pediatric psychology at the Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. Her research interests
focus on the relationship between interpersonal stress and depression in children, and the
development of family based psychosocial treatments for depressed and anxious preadolescents.
Dr. Dietz’s primary aim as a Clinical Scholar is to explore changes in depressed children’s

stress-reactivity after a course of psychosocial treatment. Under the mentorship of Drs.
Jill Cyranowski and Karen Matthews, she will obtain additional training in biosocial models of
stress vulnerability and methods of assessing stress response in the cardiovascular, limbic
(e.g., HPA axis), and sympathetic nervous systems of children. During her tenure as a PMBC
Clinical Scholar, Dr. Dietz will conduct pilot studies utilizing these models and methodology to
(1) collect cardiovascular and HPA indices of stress-reactivity in a sample of children seeking
outpatient treatment for depression, (2) assess changes in children’s stress-reactivity after they
complete a course of psychosocial treatment, and (3) conduct exploratory analyses of
stress-reactivity and treatment outcomes in depressed children that may inform mediator or
moderator hypotheses for a future R01 proposal.

Isabella Soreca, M.D. is a visiting instructor in the Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Soreca
graduated from the University of Siena, School of Medicine with a degree in medicine in 1999 and
completed the residency in Psychiatry at the same University in 2004. In 2005 she joined the
Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. Since then she has been involved in the
clinical activity of the Depression and Manic Depression Prevention Program, directed by Ellen
Frank, PhD, and has worked under the supervision of Andrea Fagiolini, MD. This program is
specifically focused on the medical risk reduction in patients with bipolar disorder. She is
participating in the Pittsburgh Mind-Body clinical scholars program under the mentorship of
Richard Jennings, PhD and Peter Gianaros, PhD. Dr. Soreca’s overall goal is to identify biological
and neural mediators of treatment response and early markers of relapse risk in mood disorders.
She is particularly interested in exploring biological and neural markers that could mediate the
antidepressant activity of behavioral interventions such as aerobic exercise or interpersonal and
social rhythm therapy (IPSRT), and identifying possible markers of endophenotypes that would
benefit the most from these interventions.

Ronald Glick, M.D. is Assistant Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Physical
Medicine and Rehabilitation. His practice focuses on pain management and complementary
medicine. He is the Medical Director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at UPMC Shadyside,
and is participating in the Mind-Body Clinical Scholars program under the mentorship of Peter
Gianaros, Ph.D. Dr. Glick's primary aim in this Program is to study autonomic physiology,
specifically heart rate variability, as a possible mediating factor in the response of individuals to
complementary approaches such as meditation, biofeedback, massage therapy, and
acupuncture. With the support of the Clinical Scholars Program, he will be setting up a basic
autonomic testing protocol at his center. The time and support afforded by this program will
allow Dr. Glick and the research team at the Center for Integrative Medicine to obtain
baseline and follow-up measures on a variety of patients receiving services and to use this
information as preliminary data in applications for externally funded grants.

Toby Debra Yanowitz, MD. is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Neonatology and
Developmental Biology, Department of Pediatrics, at the University of Pittsburgh School of
Medicine. Dr. Yanowitz graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in
Molecular Biology and subsequently graduated from Albert Einstein School of Medicine with a
degree in medicine in 1991. She completed her pediatric internship and residency at Children’s
Hospital of Philadelphia and her Fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at Women & Infants
Hospital of Rhode Island in Providence.

Dr. Yanowitz has focused her research endeavors on the pathogenesis of brain injury in premature
infants. Her studies have largely focused on how cardiac function, cerebral blood flow and cerebral
oxygenation may be altered during the fetal/neonatal inflammatory response that accompanies
chorioamnionitis (infection of the placenta and fetal membranes). Chorioamnionitis is one of the
major causes of cerebral palsy in infants, and its cause is not entirely understood. During her
time as a Mind-Body Clinical Scholar, Dr. Yanowitz will evaluate how stress during pregnancy
impairs maternal immune function and thus predisposes to this potentially devastating infection.

Faculty Development Main-Page
Seminars, Workshops & Colloquia
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Clinical Scholars Program

12/10/2007 MS/la/ tc