Entry Year

2015

Major Area of Study

Experimental Psychopathology

Mentor

Kristin Cadenhead, MD

E-mail

skelsven@ucsd.edu

Research Interests

Skylar’s research focuses on early detection, intervention, and prevention of psychosis and psychosis spectrum disorders. She works at the UCSD Cognitive Assessment and Risk Evaluation (CARE) Early Psychosis Treatment Center under the mentorship of Kristin Cadenhead, M.D.. Skylar’s research interests broadly include investigating the link between metabolic abnormalities, clinical symptoms, and functioning in individuals with prodromal and first episode psychosis. Converging research suggests that schizophrenia and psychosis spectrum disorders should be considered systemic diseases involving a complex network of metabolic abnormalities, inflammation, oxidative stress, and psychopathology. Using the systemic illness model of psychosis, Skylar is interested in exploring the efficacy of nutrition, exercise, and health behavior interventions in early psychosis. Further, Skylar is interested in exploring the efficacy of psychosocial treatment interventions, such as Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, in reducing metabolic abnormalities, minimizing the severity of clinical symptoms, and increasing functional capacity within early psychosis populations. Currently Skylar facilitates a Mindfulness Therapy group intervention for individuals with first episode psychosis and plans to broaden the study into a larger pilot project.

Representative Publications

  • Kelsven, S., Addington, J., Bearden, C. E., Cannon, T., Cornblatt, B., Mathalon, McGlashan, T., Perkins, D., Seidman, L.J., Walker, E., Woods, S., & Cadenhead, K.. Metabolic Abnormalities and Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Latinos at Clinical High Risk. Analyses in progress. (Thesis/Second Year Project)

  • Cadenhead, K., Minichino, A., Kelsven, S., Addington, J., Bearden, C. E., Cannon, T., Cornblatt, B., Mathalon, McGlashan, T., Perkins, D., Seidman, L.J., Walker, E., & Woods, S.. Cardiometabolic and Oxidative Stress Indices in a Cohort at Clinical High Risk (CHR) for Psychosis from the North American Prodromal Longitudinal Studies (NAPLS) Consortium Clinical Trial of Omega 3 Fatty Acid versus Placebo. Manuscript in preparation.

  • Pinkham, A. E., Kelsven, S., Kouros, C., Harvey, P. D., & Penn, D. L. (in press). The effect of age, race, and sex on social cognitive performance in individuals with schizophrenia. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease.

  • Shasteen, J. R., Pinkham, A. E., Kelsven, S., Ludwig, K., Payne, B. K., & Penn, D. L. (2016). Intact implicit processing of facial threat cues in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 170, 150-155.

  • Pinkham, A. E., Sasson, N. J., Kelsven, S., Simpson, C. E., Healey, K., & Kohler, C. (2014). An intact Threat Superiority Effect for nonsocial but not social stimuli in schizophrenia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 123, 168-77.

  • Simpson, C., Pinkham, A. E., Kelsven, S., & Sasson, N. J. (2013). Emotion recognition abilities across stimulus modalities in schizophrenia and the role of visual attention. Schizophrenia Research, 151, 102-106.

  • Morrison, K. E., Pinkham, A. E., Penn, D. L., Kelsven, S., Ludwig, K., & Sasson, N. J. (in press). Distinct profiles of social skill in adults with autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia. Autism Research.

  • Browne, J., Penn, D. L., Raykov, T., Pinkham, A. E., Kelsven, S., Buck, B., & Harvey, P. D. (2016). Social cognition in schizophrenia: Factor structure of emotion processing and theory of mind. Psychiatry Research, 242, 150-156.

  • Ludwig, K., Pinkham, A. E., Harvey, P. D., Kelsven, S., & Penn, D. L. (Under review in Schizophrenia Research). Social cognition psychometric evaluation (SCOPE) in people with early psychosis. Schizophrenia Research.

Lab Website

http://ucsdcareprogram.com/

https://health.ucsd.edu/specialties/psych/clinic-based/early-psychosis/Pages/default.aspx