shout-out

From "The Upward Spiral" by Alex Korb:

In fact, activity in anterior cingulate can predict who will get better on antidepressant medication and who won’t (shout-out to my dissertation).

I understand shout-out means expressing gratitude to someone. But isn't it a bit strange to thank yourself ?

Thanks for response.

It is unusual but this is intended to be amusing.

This seems to be something that he learned while doing his dissertation so he gives credit his dissertation for his knowing this.