Our people
Sparking breakthroughs in Neuroscience, Mental Health & Addiction research
Executive Committee
Professor Michael Farrell
Neuroscience, Mental Health & Addiction Theme Lead
Director, National Drug & Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW Medicine & Health
Professor Michael Farrell is a distinguished clinician, researcher, and policy leader in the field of substance use and misuse. He is the Chair and Director at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), UNSW, Sydney, a world-leading centre for substance misuse research. His work in Addiction Psychiatry has had significant impact at local, national, and international levels, focusing on harm reduction interventions which improve access and enhance treatment outcomes for members of marginalised and vulnerable populations.
Dr Sophie Pageon-Tamburic
Research Development Manager, Neuroscience, Mental Health & Addiction Theme, UNSW Medicine & Health
Dr Sophie Pageon-Tamburic is the Research Development Manager for the Neuroscience, Mental Health & Addiction Theme at UNSW Medicine & Health, where she oversees the operations and drives strategic activities for the Theme. With a background in cell and molecular biology and expertise in grants management, Dr Pageon-Tamburic brings extensive experience in the medicine and health research landscape. In this role, she drives key initiatives to develop early and mid-career researchers, manages partnerships across and beyond the University, and advances the Theme’s strategic objectives.
Professor Bernard Balleine
Decision Neuroscience Lab, School of Psychology, UNSW Science
Professor Bernard Balleine received his BA with first class honours and the University Medal from the University of Sydney in 1988 and his PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK in 1993. He was elected to a Research Fellowship at Jesus College Cambridge in 1992 and appointed to a professorial position at UCLA in 1995. He was elected a Fellow of the American Psychological Association in 2004 and, in 2005, was appointed Director of Research in the Brain Research Institute at UCLA. He was made an Australian Laureate Fellow in 2009 and moved to the University of Sydney in that year. In 2015 he was made a Senior Principal Research Fellow of the NHMRC. In 2016 he moved his laboratory to UNSW Sydney and was appointed Scientia (Distinguished) Professor. In 2020 he was made an NHMRC Senior Investigator and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW and, in 2021, of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.
Professor Henry Brodaty AO
Scientia Professor of Ageing and Mental Health
Co-Director, Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA), Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, UNSW Medicine & Health
Professor Henry Brodaty is a researcher, clinician, policy advisor and strong advocate for people with dementia and their carers. At University of New South Wales Sydney, Professor Brodaty is Scientia Professor of Ageing and Mental Health, and Co-Director of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing. He has published extensively, is a senior psychogeriatrician at Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, and serves on multiple committees for the New South Wales and Australian governments and WHO.
Professor Jackie Curtis AM
Executive Director, Mindgardens Neuroscience Network
Professor, Discipline of Psychiatry & Mental Health, School of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine & Health
Conjoint Professor Jackie Curtis is the inaugural Executive Director of Mindgardens Neuroscience Network, which brings together the strengths of founding Members UNSW Sydney, Black Dog Institute, NeuRA and the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District (SESLHD) to develop integrated research and clinical responses to mental health, drug and alcohol and neurological disorders. Conjoint Professor Curtis is a psychiatrist and is the Clinical Lead of Youth Mental Health at SESLHD. Her research and clinical work over several decades has focused on early psychosis and youth mental health, including improving the cardiometabolic health of people living with serious mental disorders such as schizophrenia, with the aim of reducing health inequalities and increasing life expectancy.
Professor Kimberlie Dean
Head, Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health
Chair of Forensic Mental Health, School of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine & Health
Professor Kimberlie Dean is the Inaugural Chair in Forensic Mental Health at UNSW and holds a joint appointment with the Justice Health & Forensic Mental Health Network (JH&FMHN).  She also holds a Clinical Academic appointment as a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist and is Academic Program Director for the Master of Forensic Mental Health. She is Head of the Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health at UNSW. Professor Dean trained at the Institute of Psychiatry and Maudsley Hospital in London, completing clinical training in Forensic Psychiatry and a PhD in Epidemiological Psychiatry.  Her research interests include understanding links between mental illness and offending behaviour including violence and testing interventions in mentally disorder offender samples.  She is currently involved in a range of research projects involving survey methodology, data linkage and intervention evaluation.
Professor Valsamma Eapen
Chair of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Discipline of Psychiatry & Mental Health, School of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine & Health
Head, Academic Unit of Child Psychiatry (AUCS) and Clinical Academic, SWSLHD
Professor Valsa Eapen is Professor and Chair of Child Psychiatry, UNSW Sydney and Clinical Academic at South-Western Sydney Health District. She is a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Senior Leadership Fellow focussing on research into neurodevelopmental disorders and leads the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in child and family health. Valsa is also Chair, Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry; Co-Chair, Section on Developing countries and Oceania Zonal representative, World Psychiatric Association; and Treasurer and President Elect, International Neuropsychiatric Association. Valsa has over 450 publications and is part of research grants totalling more than A$40Million.
Associate Professor Jan Fullerton
Principal Research Scientist, NeuRA
Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Sciences, UNSW Medicine & Health
A/Professor Jan Fullerton is a Principal Research Scientist at Neuroscience Research Australia, and Associate Professor in School of Biomedical Sciences at UNSW. She completed a PhD in human genetics at University of Melbourne in 2001, followed by five years at The Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics (University of Oxford, UK) conducting research in psychiatric genomics. She moved to NeuRA in 2006 where she has led the Bipolar Disorder research group since 2013. Fullerton’s research interest is the characterization of biological factors which increase risk to mental illness and has published 130 papers. Fullerton is involved with various international consortia including the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, ENIGMA and the Global Bipolar Cohort.
Dr Vicki Hayes
SELSHD Drug & Alcohol Service
Dr. Vicki Hayes is an Addiction Medicine Specialist and Public Health Physician with South Eastern Sydney Local Health District Drug and Alcohol Services. With 22 years of experience in the Drug and Alcohol sector in both Australia and the UK, she currently serves as the clinical lead for the Opioid Treatment Program and the SESLHD Forensic Drug and Alcohol Service. Her research spans various topics, with a recent focus on the application of long-acting depot buprenorphine products in different clinical settings in Australia.
Professor Georgina Hold
Professor of Gut Microbiology, St George and Sutherland Clinical Campus, School of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine & Health
Acting Director of Research, SESLHD
Professor Georgina Hold is research focuses on understanding the impact of gastrointestinal microbes on human health and disease, with a particular focus on inflammatory bowel disease. Her work aims to enhance our comprehension of the role gut microbes play in various diseases, paving the way for the development of therapeutic strategies to maintain and restore health. Professor Hold's lab is internationally renowned for its expertise in microbiome analysis and host-microbial interactions.
Professor Gary Housley
Chair of Physiology
Director, Translational Neuroscience Facility, School of Biomedical Sciences, UNSW Medicine & Health
Professor Gary Housley is the Director of the Translational Neuroscience Facility in the School of Biomedical Sciences at UNSW Faculty of Medicine & Health. His research program spans molecular, cellular, and systems physiology within the nervous system, with a particular emphasis on neuroprotection in the CNS, auditory and vision systems. His studies on neural development and synaptic plasticity in the auditory system have provided valuable insights into gene targets for neural repair and supported translation to a first-in-human gene therapy to improve hearing for cochlear implant patients. Professor Housley also conducts research on secondary brain injury expansion in stroke, trauma and epilepsy underpin development of drug- and gene-based neuroprotection therapeutics with Industry.
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Professor Matthew Kiernan AM
Chief Executive Office & Institute Director, Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA)
Scientia Professor of Neuroscience, UNSW Medicine & Health
Professor Matthew Kiernan is the Chief Executive Officer and Institute Director, Neuroscience Research Australia. He holds appointments as the Scientia Professor of Neuroscience at the University of New South Wales, Sydney and Senior Staff Specialist in Neurology at South Eastern Sydney Local Health District. Professor Kiernan is past President of the Australian & New Zealand Association of Neurologists, having helped shape neuroscientific research and the training of neurologists across Australia and New Zealand. Professor Kiernan is Chair of the World Federation of Neurology Specialty Group in Neurodegenerative Disease, Chair of the World Congress of Neurology, President of the Brain Foundation and Editor Emeritus of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry (BMJ Publishers, United Kingdom), having served as Editor-in-Chief from 2010-2022.
Professor Simon Killcross
Head, School of Psychology, UNSW Science
Professor Simon Killcross is the Head of the School of Psychology at UNSW Sydney. He is a leading expert in the brain mechanisms underlying learning and cognition with a particular research interest in the neural substrates of executive function, especially in relation to animal models of schizophrenia. His research utilises well-defined behavioural procedures from associative learning theory, as well as novel behavioural paradigms, to systematically investigate the roles of different brain systems in the executive control of cognition and behaviour.
Professor Nigel Lovell
Head, Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, UNSW Engineering
Co-Director, Tyree Institute of Health Engineering
Scientia Professor Nigel Lovell is the Head of the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering and Co-Director of the Tyree Institute of Health Engineering at UNSW Sydney. His research work has covered areas of expertise ranging from neural engineering, medical informatics, biological signal processing, and visual prosthesis design. Much of his work has been in the design of appropriate technologies to restore sensory loss and to manage chronic disease and frailty. He has commercialised a range of telehealth. In 2017-18 he was the President of IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, the world’s largest biomedical engineering society.
Associate Professor Iain Perkes
Senior Lecturer, Discipline of Psychiatry & Mental Health, School of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine & Health
A/Professor Iain Perkes is a Senior Lecturer in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at UNSW, Sydney. He is also Clinical Director of Mental Health at Sydney Children’s Hospital where he established the Kids Mental Health Research group. Iain has worked in combined research and clinical positions since obtaining RANZCP Fellowship in 2017, with funding from NHMRC and the Tourette’s Association of America. His research experience is accompanied by extensive clinical experience. He leads the Sydney Children's Hospital OCD BOUNCE clinic, part of an Australian research collective. Iain has published widely and is an Associate Editor for the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.
Associate Professor Shameran Slewa-Younan
Associate Professor, Translational Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University
A/Professor Shameran Slewa-Younan is an Associate Professor in Mental Health at the School of Medicine, Western Sydney University and holds a role at the Centre for Mental Health, University of Melbourne as an Honorary Senior Research Fellow. Shameran has a National and International profile as a leading academic on the mental health and wellbeing of refugee and other CaLD groups, with significant teaching, research and translational outputs and impact. She was also a board member of South Western Sydney Local Health District, NSW Health 2015 to 2022. In 2018, her academic work was recognised by the Australian Psychological Society (APS) through the ‘Division of General Psychological Practice Significant Contribution Award’. Shameran also holds a role as a cross-cultural bilingual psychologist with NSW Transcultural Mental Health Service.
Professor Philip Ward
Professor, Discipline of Psychiatry & Mental Health
Director, Schizophrenia Research Unit, Liverpool Hospital
Professor Philip Ward is a Professor in the Discipline of Psychiatry & Mental Health and Director of the Schizophrenia Research Unit, Liverpool Hospital. He specialises in the use of functional and structural brain imaging to investigate schizophrenia and first episode psychosis, including risk factors such as cannabis use. His research uses MRI, ERPs and neuropsychological testing to study auditory sensory memory function in young people at increased risk for the development of psychosis. Professor Ward’s research interests include brain plasticity in neuropsychiatry, efficacy of computerised cognitive remediation training in schizophrenia, and lifestyle interventions to improve physical and mental health outcomes in first episode psychosis and established severe mental illness.