About
Dr. Maria Ferrara is an Assistant Professor Adjunct of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. She specializes in improving care for individuals with psychotic disorders, particularly focusing on first-episode psychosis (FEP) and clinical high-risk (CHR) populations. Her roles include leading early intervention programs and coordinating NIH-funded projects to reduce the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP).
Education: MD from Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia (Italy, 2007), Psychiatry Residency at the same institution (2012), and a Visiting Scholar position at UCSD's HIV Neurobehavioral Research Program (2012).
Research Interests: HIV Psychiatry, antipsychotic medication side effects, mental health monitoring in severe mental illness, biomarkers for treatment response, and implementation science for FEP programs. She co-leads projects like MindMap, an early detection campaign in Connecticut, and has contributed to studies on sex differences in clozapine prescribing and the impact of the pandemic on DUP.
Awards: 2018 SIRS Travel Fellowship and 2008 Best Research Dissertation Thesis in Italy. Collaborates with researchers like Vinod Srihari and Albert Powers on interdisciplinary mental health initiatives.
Professional Contributions: Developed assertive outreach programs in Italy, led quality audits for adolescent FEP services, and advocates for improved transition pathways to adult psychiatric care. Active in training mental health professionals on early psychosis identification and management.