Meet our team

Dr Dorina Cadar
Senior Lecturer in Cognitive Epidemiology and Dementia

Dorina's research interests and expertise are in the field of cognitive epidemiology and dementia, including immunology, biomarkers, socioeconomic inequalities, psychosocial factors, and other modifiable risk factors, such as lifestyle behaviours, social isolation, cognitive and social resilience. Her research interests cover human mental abilities, the effects of ageing and medical conditions on mental skills and cognitive decline, the impact of cognitive ability on people's lives, and dementia risk. She has extensive experience with longitudinal investigation of risk factors associated with cognitive ageing and dementia risk in national and international population studies.

D.Cadar@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Alessandro Colasanti
Reader in Psychiatry

Alessandro's research investigates the biological mechanisms underlying the pathophysiology of affective disorders, by using a translational approach that integrates multimodal neuroimaging modalities (PET and quantitative MRI) and pharmacological approaches in healthy human subjects and clinical populations.

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Professor Hugo Critchley
Chair of Psychiatry

Professor Hugo Critchley pursues a lifelong interest in normal and abnormal human behaviour from the perspective of mind-body interaction.  His work helps define the way in which states of bodily arousal are controlled by the brain and how thoughts, feelings and behaviours are shaped by physiological changes in the body.  Hugo’s team applies this understanding to gain new insights into psychological symptoms and mental health disorders, including psychosis and anxiety. 

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Dr Jessica Eccles
Reader in Brain-Body Medicine and MQ Arthritis Research UK Fellow

Jessica’s areas of expertise include brain-body interactions, particularly as they relate to connective tissue conditions, and mechanisms of chronic pain and fatigue.

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Dr Yoko Nagai
Senior Lecturer in Translational Neuroscience

Yoko’s research in biofeedback technologies and treatments focuses on neurological and psychiatric conditions and the role of autonomic function in epilepsy.

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Joel Patchitt
Research Assistant in Clinical Aspects of Consciousness Science

Joel’s main strengths include the analysis and development of Virtual Reality Immersive Environments and the collection and analysis of electroencephalographic data. He maintains interest in combining the capabilities of virtual environment tools and neuroimaging techniques within psychiatric populations to advance the frontier of research into cognition, consciousness and mental health.

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Dr Natasha Sigala 
Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience

Natasha’s work focuses on learning and memory. Her research areas include psychophysics and MRI in cognitive neuroscience.                                                                                                      

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Professor James Stone 
Professor of Psychiatry

James' main research interests at present are the role of glutamate and GABA in psychosis and depression, the early stage testing of novel treatments and the development of neuroimaging biomarkers to enable a stratified medicine approach for psychiatric conditions. 

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