People

Dr. Carmen Andreescu, Director of ARGO

Dr. Andreescu is a tenured Associate Professor of Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and a licensed psychiatrist, with additional expertise in Geriatric and Interventional Psychiatry. She is the Director of ARGO Neuroscience of Aging Research Program.
Dr. Andreescu’s research uses multimodal neuroimaging methods, behavioral measures and ecological momentary assessments to interrogate the neural basis of late-life mood and anxiety disorders and their association with accelerated aging. She is also interested in applying targeted interventional methods such as TMS for late-life mood and anxiety disorders.

Dr. Helmet Karim, Assistant Professor and TETRA Director

Dr. Helmet Karim is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh. His career development award from NIMH focuses on the neural mechanisms of TMS treatment response in major depression using machine learning. He is also the director of Tetra – a group of analysts focusing on neuroimaging and machine learning in Psychiatry. He enjoys hiking on one of Pittsburgh’s many trails. 

Professional Links: NCBI, Google Scholar, Research Gate, LinkedIn, ORCID

Dr. Andrew Gerlach, Postdoctoral Scholar in Psychiatry

Dr. Andrew Gerlach is a nuclear engineer by training, now applying his computational expertise to multimodal neuroimaging integration. His focus is on exploring the underlying neurobiology and treatment response of late-life depression and anxiety. In his free time, he enjoys just about anything that will take him and his family into wild spaces, especially rock climbing.

Professional Links: NCBI, Google Scholar, Research Gate, LinkedIn, ORCID

Dr. Thomas Kraynak, Postdoctoral Scholar in Epidemiology

Dr. Thomas Kraynak is a Postdoctoral Scholar supported by the Population Neuroscience of Alzheimer’s Disease and Age-related Dementia Training Grant in the Department of Epidemiology. He earned a PhD in Biological and Health Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh. His research focuses on brain-body pathways that link psychological stress and stress-related peripheral physiology with physical health and brain health. In his free time, Thomas enjoys listening to classical music.

Professional Links: NCBI, Google Scholar, Research Gate, ORCID

Dana Williams, Research Program Administrator and ARGO Lab Manager

Dana earned her undergraduate degree in Psychology from Duquesne University and a MS in Applied Developmental Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh. She has been working in research since 2004.

Sally Lagattuta, Administrative Liasion

Sally is a graduate of the Robert Morris College with a B.S. in Marketing and has worked in research for the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh since 1991. At ARGO, she works behind the scenes as an administrative liaison processing grant applications and managing grant budgets as well as assisting Dr. Andreescu. When not at work Sally is busy with her husband, 3 daughters and two dogs.

Jim Moorehead, Database Manager

Jim is a graduate of Penn State Behrend with a B.S. in Management Information Systems. He has over 15 years of experience with database management working for several different research labs in that time. He currently works on database development, data management, and IT help for the ARGO lab. In his down time he enjoys spending time with his family, golf, and video games.

Professional Links: Linkedin

Deb Goodnow, Program Manager

Deb obtained a Bachelor of Science in psychology from Radford University during which time she participated in several research projects. After working inpatient at Western Psychiatric Hospital for over 2 years, she joined the ARGO lab in 2019. At ARGO she coordinates studies and enjoys meeting with participants. When not at work, Deb spends her time riding horses, participating in outdoor activities, and traveling domestically and internationally.

Current Studies: Rembrandt, Ferguson Project, TINA, NEMO + DORY

Professional Links: LinkedIn

Mary Young, Research Project Coordinator

Mary obtained a Bachelor of Science in psychology from the University of Pittsburgh during which time she aided in research projects and served on a Cancer Awareness/Support Club. After working inpatient at Western Psychiatric Hospital for over 4 years, she joined the ARGO lab in 2019. At ARGO she coordinates studies and enjoys meeting with participants. When not at work, Mary spends her time with her family (and their dog) going on small hikes together, painting, writing, and being in the garden.

Current Studies: FINA, FLOYD, PALS, NEMO

Natasha Brinkley, Research Coordinator

Natasha obtained a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Kent State University, during which time she assisted in research studies. She worked inpatient psychiatry at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron, Ohio for 2 years, before moving back to Pittsburgh, where she worked at Western Psychiatric Hospital for the Center for Interventional Psychiatry. While at the Center for Interventional Psychiatry, she specialized in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) treatment. She also has experience working at an outpatient mental health clinic and as a Crisis Clinician at Resolve Crisis Center.  She joined the ARGO lab in 2023. At ARGO, she coordinates studies and enjoys meeting with participants. When not at work, Natasha spends time with family, enjoying the time with her two children.
Current Studies: PREDICT TMS

Professional Links: LinkedIn

Leo Davis, Research Specialist

Leo is a graduate of Penn State University with a B.S. in Psychology. Before working for ARGO, he worked at the Penn State Language and Aging Lab as an undergraduate Research Assistant. Currently, Leo works as a Research Specialist for the ARGO lab, recruiting participants, completing clinical assessments, and accompanying participants during MRI scans. Outside of work, you can find Leo playing video games with his family, as well as reading, drawing, and listening to music.

Hunter Ventura, Research Specialist

Hunter graduated from Duquesne University with a B.A. in Psychology. Before working for ARGO, he worked as an EEG technologist for a little over 3 years doing testing to help diagnose seizure disorders. Now he works as a Research Specialist for the ARGO lab, doing recruitment, phone screenings, clinical assessments and working with participants in general. Outside of work, Hunter enjoys being outdoors and hiking, traveling, trying new restaurants, and spending time with friends and family. 

Sydney Tan, TETRA Systems Programmer/Analyst Lead

Sydney is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a B.S. in Psychology and has worked in a number of research labs since 2014. At ARGO, she works behind the scenes as a programmer on the TETRA team, creating websites (including this one!) and building the MRI processing pipelines to analyze scans. When not at her computer, she enjoys playing and building video games, making New York-style bagels from scratch, and running the occasional 5K.

Current Studies: Rembrandt, FLOYD, FINA

Professional Links: LinkedIn

Mallory Kushner, TETRA Systems Programmer/Analyst I

Mallory initially studied art for a year right after graduation, but as time went by, she found that she wanted to make a different impact professionally. She changed her major and earned her Bachelors of Science in Biomedical Science, then three years later, after working in direct patient care at UPMC, she began to work towards her Associates in Software Development at CCAC. While getting her degree, she spent two years in the UPMC OR as a Clinical Engineer, working towards being a person who could contribute to making new technology in the medical community. In her free time, she is learning pixel art to release her first small game staring a polymorphic, alien cat.

Current Studies: TeenScreen, FitBOLD, BRAINY

Payton Chi, TETRA Systems Programmer/Analyst I

Payton graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 2022, where he studied Computational Neuroscience. There, he learned programming skills, as well as statistical methods on how to understand and analyze data. In his free time, Payton enjoys rock climbing and working out. 

Current Studies: ADEPT, DRIVE, RESIST

Professional Links: LinkedIn, GitHub