I am recognised both nationally and internationally as a leading expert in the diagnosis and management of mood disorders, and I continue to be invited to contribute to seminal papers on such topics. My research aims to advance patient care by clarifying diagnostic definitions and refining treatment options for depression, bipolar disorder, and other related conditions. As there are no definitive diagnostic tests for mood disorders, I seek to identify those symptoms and signs that allow the generation of definitive diagnoses to the extent that is achievable. I primarily take a phenomenological approach, emphasising the role of symptomatology and psychological variables, and conduct studies using advanced quantitative methods (such as machine learning) in both community and clinical settings.
I am an academic psychiatrist specialising in mood disorders, with a particular interest in the optimal ways to model and account for heterogeneity in both their diagnosis and treatment.
I am currently a Scientia Professor of Psychiatry at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). I have worked for over 50 years as a clinician and researcher, in which I have been the founder and executive director of the Black Dog Institute, Head of the School...view more
I am an academic psychiatrist specialising in mood disorders, with a particular interest in the optimal ways to model and account for heterogeneity in both their diagnosis and treatment.
I am currently a Scientia Professor of Psychiatry at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). I have worked for over 50 years as a clinician and researcher, in which I have been the founder and executive director of the Black Dog Institute, Head of the School of Psychiatry at UNSW, director of the Divisions of Psychiatry at Prince of Wales and Prince Henry Hospitals, editor-in-chief of the Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, and the recipient of multiple competitive grants from government and private organisations. Recently, I was awarded the prestigious James Cook model from the Royal Society of New South Wales and was the recipient of the 2020 Australian Mental Health Prize.
My recent research efforts have been devoted to elucidating precise definitions and the clinical differentiation of mood disorders and related conditions, thus leading to the development of properly tailored management options and customised intervention models. I have particularly applied these to the study of the clinical syndromes of burnout and melancholia (as distinct from depression), and bipolar disorder subtypes (as distinct from each other and from personality and psychotic disorders).
My Qualifications
FAHMS (Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences), 2017
AO (Officer of the Order of Australia), 2010
FASSA (Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia), 2007
DSc, University of New South Wales, 1997
PhD, University of New South Wales, 1983
FRANZCP (Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists), 1977
MD, University of New South Wales, 1977
MBBS, The University of Sydney, 1967
My Research Supervision
Supervision keywords
Areas of supervision
I supervise PhD, Masters, and ILP students conducting research into the diagnosis and/or management of depression, bipolar disorder, and other related conditions.
Currently supervising
Gabriella Tavella (PhD): Examining the nature of burnout and its differentiation from clinical depression
Michael Spoelma (PhD): Statistical learning approaches for the prediction of treatment outcomes in the bipolar disorders
My Teaching
I lecture and tutor within the psychiatry rotation of the Doctor of Medicine program on the topics of mood and personality disorders.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3424-5519