The Developmental Affective Science Collective (DASC) is a group of collaborating researchers at the University of Pittsburgh conducting research on affective disorders and affective development. Our work focuses on normative development, affective neuroscience, and the role of affective science in the treatment of youth with affective disorders such as anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder. We are affiliated with the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in the Department of Psychiatry at the University f Pittsburgh, School of Medicine.

Please join us for the inaugural meeting of the Development Affective Neuroscience Symposium on September 13th, 2012 at the University of Pittsburgh in the Biomedical Sciences Tower.

This year’s theme is “Positive Affect and Development.” Positive Affect is conceptualized broadly to include research on positive emotion, motivation, reward, anhedonia, social affiliation, acceptance, and other related constructs.

The purpose of this meeting is to provide a forum to bring together researchers conducting clinically relevant research from a developmental affective neuroscience framework. The meeting is intended to be informal and highly interactive. Speakers will be encouraged to present in progress or cutting edge work and ample time will be set aside for audience discussion.

The intended audience is researchers and trainees from the fields of psychiatry, psychology, neuroscience, and related disciplines who are interested in investigating emotions, mood, affective development, and affective disorders (depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders and other related comorbid disorders) from a neuroscience perspective. While presentations may focus on both typically developing and clinical samples, all work will have relevance to understanding developmental psychopathology. Presentations will range from basic to clinical, and may include a variety of neuroscience approaches (i.e. fMRI, EEG, molecular) as well as clinical or behavioral studies that are relevant to neuroscience models of affective development.

Speakers will be selected by a program committee. If you would like to nominate a speaker. Talks will include 5 talks by senior researchers in the field (20 minutes talk/20 minutes discussion), 6 briefer (15 minute) talks by emerging scholars (grad students, post-docs, or junior faculty), and a panel discussion aimed at integrating information from the day’s talks and delineating future directions. Speaker lineup will be announced when available. We will also have an opportunity for students and postdocs to participate in a roundtable conversation over lunch with one of several leaders in the field.

(GREAT NECK, N.Y. – JULY 13, 2011) Brain & Behavior Research Foundation will honor five outstanding researchers at the Annual Klerman and Freedman Awards event in New York City on July 29.

These Young Investigators are among the more than 3,300 scientists the Foundation has supported with funding for mental health research. Since 1987, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation has awarded close to $300 million in over 4,000 NARSAD grants to scientists worldwide.

Erika E. Forbes, PhD has been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor of Psychiatry. Dr. Forbes earned an AB from Harvard University and an MS and PhD in child clinical and developmental psychology from the University of Pittsburgh. She completed a clinical psychology predoctoral internship and a postdoctoral fellowship at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (WPIC) before joining the University of Pittsburgh faculty as an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry faculty in September 2005. Dr.

Graduate student Stephanie Davis is the winner of a 2011 E.B. Huey Award. These awards were established by Don Routh, Ph.D., an alumnus of the University of Pittsburgh Clinical Psychology Program and former Director of the Clinical Psychology Program at the University of Miami, “in gratitude for the excellence of his graduate education in clinical psychology at the University of Pittsburgh”.  The awards honor E.B. Huey, a noted psychologist at the turn of the century and the first chair in 1904 of the Department of Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh.

Clinical and Developmental Affective Neuroscience Symposium to be hosted by DASC at the University of Pittsburgh in September of 2012. More information coming soon. Please contact for this event.