Maria Ferrara, MD

Dr. Ferrara's clinical and research interests are focused on improving the care of individuals with psychotic disorders. As staff psychiatrist for the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse in Modena, she led the development of an assertive outreach based coordinated service for first episode psychosis in the province of Modena. She helped create implementation protocols, organized educational activities for area mental health professionals and primary care physicians, as well as public awareness events targeting youth, families and community members. She has, since 2012, served as the principal psychiatrist for new onset psychosis services at a community mental health center. In 2017, Dr. Ferrara has joined the research team at the STEP Program where she will help coordinate the implementation and analysis of the NIH-funded STEP-ED project that includes a campaign (MindMap) to reduce the duration of untreated psychosis in a 10 town region surrounding the STEP clinic. Dr. Ferrara’s other research interests include HIV Psychiatry, metabolic side effects of antipsychotic medications, physical health monitoring in severe mental illness, and biomarkers for treatment response in psychosis.