Outstanding Faculty Members: UMass Depression Center

Faculty members have extensive experience in national networks for research, training, and service. They have been active leaders in the NIDA Clinical Trials Network (Yale, UPenn/RWJMS, and McLean nodes); the UMass Department of Psychiatry’s Mental Health Agency Research Network; the NICHD lithium study; the NIMH ED-SAFE study (suicide assessment in emergency rooms); the Stanley Center Projects in bipolar disorder; the Veterans Administration study of homeless veterans; the Central Massachusetts Addiction Consortium; the National Children’s Study; and, previously, in the NIMH CATIE Study; the NIMH STEP-BD study; and the NIMH Study of the Pharmacotherapy of Psychotic Depression (STOP-PD).

The UMass Depression Center’s key faculty members are also leaders within the Medical School’s ForHealth Consulting division – the consulting arm for the medical school throughout Massachusetts and in 20 other states in the nation.

UMass Depression Center Faculty:

Anthony J. Rothschild, MD
Director, UMass Depression Center
Irving S. and Betty Brudnick Endowed Chair and Professor of Psychiatry
Director, Center for Psychopharmacologic Research and Treatment
Program Director, Depression Specialty Clinic
Research Focus: psychotic depression; treatment-resistant depression

Sheldon Benjamin, MD
Interim Chair, Department of Psychiatry
Director of Neuropsychiatry
Director, Psychiatry Residency Training
Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology
UMass Chan Medical School

F. Alexander Blount, EdD
Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health and Psychiatry Director, Director of Behavioral Science, FMCH
Department of Family Medicine
Research Focus: primary care in mental health

Edwin D. Boudreaux, PhD
Professor and Director of Research, Departments of Emergency Medicine and Psychiatry
Research Focus: screening for suicide risk in the Emergency Room setting

Maryann Davis, PhD
Research Associate Professor of Psychiatry
Director of the Learning and Working Transitions RTC 
Research Focus: transition age youth
Implementation Science and Practice Advances Research Center (iSPARC)

Barry Feldman, PhD
Assistant Professor and Director of Psychiatry Services in Public Safety
Research Focus: suicide risk and prevention

Marianne Felice, MD
Professor of Pediatrics, and Obstetrics and Gynecology
Research Focus: evaluation and treatment of depression in children and adolescents

William Fisher, PhDProfessor of Psychiatry
Research Focus: people who suffer from mood disorders and the criminal justice system

Lisa Fortuna, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Director of Child and Adolescent Multicultural Health Research, Systems and Psychosocial Advances Research Center (SPARC) 
Research Focus:  Latino and immigrant mental health services
research, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), adolescent substance abuse and
co-occurring disorders in adolescence.

Jean Frazier, MD
Robert M. and Shirley S. Siff Chair in Autism
Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics
Vice Chair and Director, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders (CANDO), Co-Director of the Child and Adolescent Neurodevelopment Initiative (CANDI)
Research Focus: diagnosis and treatment of individuals with
neurodevelopmental disorders such as early onset bipolar disorder (BPD), schizophrenia and autism.

Gerardo Gonzalez, MD
Associate Professor of Psychiatry
Director, Division of Addiction Psychiatry, Director, Addictions and Comorbidity Treatment Service (ACTS)
Research Focus:  neurobiology and pharmacotherapy for cocaine and opioid dependence

Wendy Marsh, MD
Associate Professor of Psychiatry
Director, Bipolar Disorder Specialty Clinic
Psychiatrist, Women’s Mental Health Specialty Clinic
Center for Psychopharmacologic Research and Treatment 
Research Focus: bipolar disorder and reproductive endocrinology

Thomas McLaughlin, ScD, MA, MDiv 
Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, Department of Pediatrics
Research Focus: health delivery system innovation for common mental disorders in primary care populations, especially major depressive disorder in chronically medically ill patients as well as adolescents with mood disorders

Haley Melikian, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychiatry
Brudnick Neuropsychiatric Research Institute (BRNI)
Research Focus: cellular regulation of cocaine- and antidepressant-sensitive neurotransmitter transporters

Constance Moore, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Associate Professor of Radiology, Associate Director for Translational Imaging 
Research Focus: neuroimaging in the etiology of psychiatric disorders

Sherry Pagoto, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine
Co-Founder, UMASS Center for mHealth and Social Media
Research Focus: leveraging digital health in the treatment of obesity and cancer prevention

Tatyana Shteinlukht, MD, PhDMedical Director, ECT Service, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Research Focus: ECT, Veterans Mental Health

David Smelson, MD
Professor of Psychiatry and Vice Chair for Clinical Research
Director of Translational Research, Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital
Director of Dual Diagnosis for the Veterans Affairs New England Health Care System
(Network 1), Chair of the VA Mental Health QUERI Dual Diagnosis Workgroup, Co-Chair of VA/DOD Dual Diagnosis Clinical Practice Guidelines
Research Focus: pharmacological and behavioral treatment of addiction

Eric G. Smith, MD
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, UMass Chan Medical School
Clinical & Research Psychiatrist, Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital& the Center for Health Quality Outcomes & Economic Research, Bedford, MA
Research Focus: suicide prevention

Rosalie Torres Stone, PhD
Assistant Professor
Director of Multicultural Studies, Systems and Psychosocial Advances Research Center (SPARC) 
Research Focus: sociocultural-specific factors in examining access to mental
health services and health related outcomes for racial and ethnic minority populations

Carol Upshur, EdD
Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health
Research Focus: depression in Primary Care- Co-PI of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Linda Weinreb, MD
Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health and Pediatrics
Vice Chair, Director for Research, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health , UMass Chan Medical Director, Homeless Families Program,Family Health Center of Worcester, Worcester, MADepartment of Family Medicine and Community Health
Research Focus: depression in primary care; primary care depression management for homeless mothers; primary care management of alcohol abuse in homeless mothers