Faculty Profile
Golda S. Ginsburg, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry
Dr. Ginsburg has been developing and evaluating interventions for youth who struggle with a range of psychiatric disorders for over 25 years. A primary focus of her research is on the best approach to treat and prevent anxiety disorders—one of the most prevalent psychiatric disorders in youth.
Treating Anxiety Disorders
Dr. Ginsburg was a leader of the landmark NIMH-funded multi-site comparative trial examining the relative efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, their combination, and pill placebo for pediatric anxiety disorders. She was also the principal investigator (PI) of the multi-site follow up study examining the long-term outcomes of youth treated in this study – the study results were recently published.
Preventing the Onset of Anxiety Disorders
Dr. Ginsburg has focused her efforts on preventing the onset of anxiety disorders and has developed and tested an anxiety preventive intervention for offspring of anxious parents; she is now funded by NIMH to examine the long-term follow up of these youth as well.
Getting the Word Out
Dr. Ginsburg’s work focuses on the dissemination of evidenced-based treatments for pediatric anxiety (as most youth with anxiety do not receive treatment). For instance, with funding from NIMH and the U.S. Department of Education, she developed a CBT intervention for school clinicians and conducted a large RCT trial to evaluate its effectiveness. In addition, she recently developed a school-nurse intervention to improve their ability to identify and reduce anxiety in youth and previously completed a study developing a brief anxiety reduction intervention delivered by pediatricians in primary care settings.
CAMP
Dr. Ginsburg’s lab at UConn, the Child and Adolescent Anxiety and Mood Program (CAMP), is currently conducting a clinical trial in community mental health clinics comparing three different talk therapies for adolescents who struggle with anxiety and/or depression—a project with the University of Miami. She and colleagues at CAMP are also developing and testing a program for elementary school teachers to enhance their capacity to identify and assist students who struggle with anxiety.
She has been the PI or Co-PI on over 10 federally and/or privately funded clinical trials, including the large NIMH-funded landmark multi-site clinical trials for depression (Treatment of Adolescent Depression Study; TADS) and Tourette’s (Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics; CBIT). Additionally, Dr. Ginsburg completed a NIMH-funded K24 project examining biomarkers of pediatric anxiety.