Dr. Escobar-Viera is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Program for Internet Delivered Interventions on LGBTQ+ Mental Health (PRIDE iM) at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He completed his medical education and psychiatry residence at the Universidad Nacional de Asunción, in his home country of Paraguay, where he also practiced general psychiatry for ten years and served as medical director of the only public psychiatric hospital in that country. He earned his MPH and PhD in health services research from the University of Florida.

Dr. Escobar-Viera’s research seeks to: (1) understand the role of social media usage and experiences on mental health among queer youth and emerging adults, and (2) developing and testing digital mental health interventions to reduce the risk of depression among queer youth. He is recipient of a NIMHD funded “Pathway to Independence Award” (K99/R00) to examine longitudinal associations between social media behaviors and interactions and depression among queer young adults. He is also PI of a Pilot Award funded by the NIMH-funded ETUDES Center (P50) to develop and test the acceptability of chatbot-based intervention for reducing loneliness and depression risk among rural queer youth.