Paola Dazzan is Professor of Neurobiology of Psychosis and Vice Dean for International Affairs at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London (United Kingdom). She is a practising clinician and Consultant Perinatal Psychiatrist in the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.
She trained as a psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital, and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. She completed her PhD at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London. She is the Lead for the Psychosis Theme of the KCL NIHR Biomedical Research Centre.
She is internationally known for her work on the relationship between brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data and other biological measures such as neurodevelopmental indices, stress and inflammatory markers, and reproductive hormones, and the onset and outcome of psychoses and severe mental health problems. She studies these phenomena in adolescents and in young individuals in the early stages of psychosis, and was the first one to conduct neuroimaging studies in women at risk of postpartum psychosis.
Her work has been extensively published in high impact papers, with more than 300 publications and recognition as 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 Highly Cited Researcher Awardee by Clarivate Analytics. She has received several prestigious International Awards, including the 2014 Academic of the Year Award from the Royal College of Psychiatrists and 3 NARSAD Investigator Awards. Most recently she received a Senior Investigator Award from the UK National Institute of Health Research.
She has a strong interest in addressing gender inequality and promoting diversity
in the academic environment.