Maria Ferrara, MD
Assistant Professor Adjunct of PsychiatryCards
About
Titles
Assistant Professor Adjunct of Psychiatry
Biography
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.
Departments & Organizations
- Specialized Treatment for Early Psychosis (STEP) Program
Education & Training
- Resident
- Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Italy (2012)
- Visiting Scholar
- HIV Neurobehavioral Research Program (HNRP), UCSD, San Diego, CA (2012)
- MD
- Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Italy (2007)
Research
Publications
2024
Correlates of Impaired Timing Abilities in Schizophrenia
Croce E, Simonelli G, Ferrara M, Escelsior A, Folesani F, Bovio A, Muscettola A, Toffanin T, De Bellis G, Nanni M, Caruso R, Murri M, Grassi L. Correlates of Impaired Timing Abilities in Schizophrenia. The Journal Of Nervous And Mental Disease 2024, 212: 603-622. DOI: 10.1097/nmd.0000000000001810.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchSymptom severityTiming abilityDisorganized symptomsNeurobiological correlatesWorking memoryExecutive functionTiming impairmentsNeurobiological dataSchizophreniaCognitive impairmentNeural circuitsImpairmentSymptomsPreferred Reporting ItemsSystematic literature searchClinical heterogeneityCognitionAbilitySeverityReporting ItemsMemoryStudy designSystematic reviewPsycINFOAssociationThe anomalous effect of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on the duration of untreated psychosis
Nicholls-Mindlin J, Hazan H, Zhou B, Li F, Ferrara M, Levine N, Riley S, Karmani S, Mathis W, Keshavan M, Srihari V. The anomalous effect of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on the duration of untreated psychosis. BJPsych Open 2024, 10: e216. PMID: 39628123, DOI: 10.1192/bjo.2024.813.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchA tale of two constructs: combined assessment of demoralization and subjective incompetence
Murri M, Folesani F, Azzolina D, Muscettola A, Bobevski I, Triolo F, Farkas G, Braccia F, Gavesi M, Toffanin T, Ferrara M, Zerbinati L, Khan M, Gregori D, De Figueredo J, Kissane D, Caruso R, Grassi L, Nanni M. A tale of two constructs: combined assessment of demoralization and subjective incompetence. Psychology Health & Medicine 2024, 29: 1635-1651. PMID: 39302008, DOI: 10.1080/13548506.2024.2405749.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsSubjective incompetenceClinical dimensionsItem response theory analysisLatent trait scoresItem psychometric propertiesShort assessment instrumentDimension of demoralizationItem response theory modelsTrait scoresItem structurePsychometric propertiesDemoralization ScaleAssessment instrumentsDemoralizationIRT modelsTwenty itemsLong versionItemsDiscriminative propertiesClinical assessmentGeneral populationTheory analysisMultiple dimensionsHopelessnessEarly signsTimelinePTC: Development of a unified interface for pathways to care collection, visualization, and collaboration in first episode psychosis
Mathis W, Ferrara M, Cahill J, Karmani S, Tayfur S, Srihari V. TimelinePTC: Development of a unified interface for pathways to care collection, visualization, and collaboration in first episode psychosis. PLOS ONE 2024, 19: e0302116. PMID: 39028697, PMCID: PMC11259254, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302116.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsPathways to CareDuration of untreated psychosisManual transcription errorsDevelopment of targeted interventionsReduce duration of untreated psychosisHealthcare accessibility researchReal-time data entryImprove patient outcomesEpisode psychosisCare pathwaysPatient journeyHealthcare contextPatient outcomesPaper-basedConversion of collected dataFEP treatmentData collection processNew HavenData collection methodsData entryTranscription errorsUntreated psychosisOpen-source codebaseData collectionWeb-based toolFirst episode psychoses in people over-35 years old: uncovering potential actionable targets for early intervention services
Ferrara M, Domenicano I, Marchi A, Zaffarami G, Onofrio A, Benini L, Sorio C, Gentili E, Murri M, Toffanin T, Little J, Grassi L. First episode psychoses in people over-35 years old: uncovering potential actionable targets for early intervention services. Psychiatry Research 2024, 339: 116034. PMID: 38906051, DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2024.116034.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchLong-acting injectable antipsychoticsFirst-episode psychosisEarly intervention servicesPrescribing long-acting injectable antipsychoticsNon-affective first-episode psychosisIntervention servicesCommunity psychiatric servicesInjectable antipsychoticsPsychotic onsetEpisode psychosisAffective psychosisPsychiatric servicesPsychosisExclusion of patientsAccess treatmentClinical characteristicsRetrospective studyOlder patientsPatientsAntipsychoticsAntidepressantsAge groupsWomenGroupIndividualsThe Italian adaptation of the Mini‐SIPS, a tool for early detection of individuals at clinical high risk and first episode of psychosis: A preliminary study of implementation in an Italian FEP program
Ferrara M, Basaldella M, Vacca F, Woods S, Walsh B, Cannon T, Srihari V, Grassi L. The Italian adaptation of the Mini‐SIPS, a tool for early detection of individuals at clinical high risk and first episode of psychosis: A preliminary study of implementation in an Italian FEP program. Early Intervention In Psychiatry 2024 PMID: 38769052, DOI: 10.1111/eip.13548.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchClinical high riskFirst-episode psychosisDSM-5-Attenuated Psychosis SyndromeItalian adaptationPsychosis syndromeDSM-5FEP programsEarly stages of psychosisItalian versionFirst-episode psychosis servicesFull-blown psychosisStages of psychosisEpisode of psychosisClinical structured interviewEpisode psychosisEstablished psychosisTrained psychologistsPsychiatric historyPsychosisPsychosis servicesHigh riskStructured interviewsClinical settingEarly detection of individualsAssess validityAntipsychotic drugs in first-episode psychosis: a target trial emulation in the FEP-CAUSAL Collaboration
Szmulewicz A, Martínez-Alés G, Logan R, Ferrara M, Kelly C, Fredrikson D, Gago J, Conderino S, Díaz-Caneja C, Galvañ J, Thorpe L, Srihari V, Yatham L, Sarpal D, Shinn A, Arango C, Öngür D, Hernán M, Collaboration O. Antipsychotic drugs in first-episode psychosis: a target trial emulation in the FEP-CAUSAL Collaboration. American Journal Of Epidemiology 2024, 193: 1081-1087. PMID: 38576166, DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwae029.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchFirst-episode psychosisFirst-generation agentsAntipsychotic therapyAntipsychotic drugsPsychosis onsetPsychotic disordersEpisode psychosisAripiprazolePaliperidoneRisk of hospitalizationPsychosisTarget trialsRisperidoneOlanzapineFirst-line therapyTreatment discontinuationEUFESTObservational cohortAntipsychoticsQuetiapineRandomized trialsPrimary outcomeAbsolute riskRisk differenceClinical questionsMachine Learning For Mental Health: Focus on Affective and Nonaffective Psychosis
Ferrara M, Franchini G, Funaro M, Murri M, Toffanin T, Zerbinati L, Valier B, Ambrosio D, Marconi F, Cutroni M, Basaldella M, Seno S, Grassi L. Machine Learning For Mental Health: Focus on Affective and Nonaffective Psychosis. 2024, 239-258. DOI: 10.1201/9781003378068-11.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCorrection: On the proportion of patients who experience a prodrome prior to psychosis onset: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Benrimoh D, Dlugunovych V, Wright A, Phalen P, Funaro M, Ferrara M, Powers A, Woods S, Guloksuz S, Yung A, Srihari V, Shah J. Correction: On the proportion of patients who experience a prodrome prior to psychosis onset: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Molecular Psychiatry 2024, 29: 1567-1567. PMID: 38351175, DOI: 10.1038/s41380-024-02481-0.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchEffects of electroconvulsive therapy on cortical thickness in depression: a systematic review.
Toffanin T, Cattarinussi G, Ghiotto N, Lussignoli M, Pavan C, Pieri L, Schiff S, Finatti F, Romagnolo F, Folesani F, Nanni M, Caruso R, Zerbinati L, Belvederi Murri M, Ferrara M, Pigato G, Grassi L, Sambataro F. Effects of electroconvulsive therapy on cortical thickness in depression: a systematic review. Acta Neuropsychiatrica 2024, 1-15. PMID: 38343196, DOI: 10.1017/neu.2024.6.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchElectroconvulsive therapyCortical thicknessBipolar depressionStructural magnetic resonance imaging studiesEffects of electroconvulsive therapyEfficacy of electroconvulsive therapyTreatment-resistant depressionECT protocolsLongitudinal cortical thicknessClinical efficacy of electroconvulsive therapyElectroconvulsive therapy treatmentsMagnetic resonance imaging studiesClinical responseDepressed patientsBiomarkers of clinical responseNeural mechanismsBrain areasFrontal regionsDepressionSystematic reviewClinical efficacyFollow-upIncreased CTImaging studiesPatients