Alexandre Y Dombrovski

Alexandre Y Dombrovski, MD, is the Pittsburgh Foundation Endowed Professor in Brain and Mind Research and Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry. He directs the Decision Neuroscience and Psychopathology Lab and is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation.

Education & Training:

• MD – Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy
• Residency in Psychiatry – Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC
• Fellowship in Geriatric Psychiatry – Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC

Research Interests:

Dr. Dombrovski’s research integrates cognitive neuroscience, computational modeling, and clinical psychiatry to understand decision-making in psychopathology. His team employs behavioral experiments, reinforcement-learning paradigms, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electro- and magneto-encephalography, and peripheral physiology to dissect how individuals—particularly older adults—make life-or-death decisions. A major line of work focuses on elucidating the neural and computational mechanisms that lead from suicidal ideation to suicidal action in late-life depression and borderline personality disorder. Additional interests encompass anxiety disorders, placebo mechanisms in antidepressant treatment, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Recent Publication Trends:

Over the past five years Dr. Dombrovski has published extensively in high-impact journals such as PNAS, JAMA Psychiatry, Science Advances, Nature Communications, and Cognition. Recurring themes include the exploration-exploitation trade-off, reinforcement-learning signals in cortico-limbic circuits, hippocampal encoding of value, and the role of the default-mode and salience networks in social decision-making and suicide risk. Studies increasingly integrate computational models with multimodal neuroimaging to predict suicidal behavior, providing translational insights for geriatric psychiatry.

Scientific Awards & Honors:

• Outstanding Mentor Award, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh
• Elected Member, American Society for Clinical Investigation
• Board Member, Global Initiative on Psychiatry-USA

Grants & Mentorship:

Dr. Dombrovski currently serves as Principal Investigator on three concurrent NIMH R01 awards: (1) reward-learning deficits in late-life suicide, (2) psychobiology of suicidal behavior in borderline personality disorder, and (3) neurocomputational studies of mood instability. He mentors trainees through the NIMH-funded Advanced Research Institute in Geriatric Psychiatry, the Training for Transformative Discovery in Psychiatry T32 post-doctoral program, and the Bioengineering in Psychiatry T32 pre-doctoral program. His exceptional mentorship has been recognized with departmental and institutional awards.

Laboratory & Team:

As Director of the Decision Neuroscience and Psychopathology Lab, Dr. Dombrovski leads a multidisciplinary team of graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and research staff who investigate decision-making under risk across the adult lifespan. The lab collaborates closely with investigators in engineering, psychology, and geriatrics to translate computational insights into clinical tools for suicide prevention.