Mental health research demands and deserves excellence to innovate and extend benefit as widely as possible. In our NIHR Maudsley BRC, we have an incredible and unmatched concentration of resources and expertise including our lived experience advisory groups, which drives discoveries and delivers not only to our local community but nation-wide. It is therefore a great privilege to be appointed Director of this Centre. I am excited to have the opportunity to harness the skills, knowledge and passion within our BRC to plan and deliver a transformative agenda to secure mental health across the lifespan; one firmly rooted in science with the lived experience voice at its core.
Professor Gráinne McAlonan
10 May 2024
Professor Gráinne McAlonan announced as new Director of NIHR Maudsley BRC
IoPPN Professor of Translational Neuroscience previously served as Interim Director of the centre from summer 2023.
Professor Gráinne McAlonan has been appointed as Director of the NIHR Maudsley BRC.
Gráinne is a clinical Professor of Translational Neuroscience at IoPPN, and in summer 2023, she served as Interim Director of the NIHR Maudsley BRC. She has been NIHR Maudsley BRC theme lead for Child Mental Health and Neurodevelopmental Disorders since December 2022, exemplifying a collaborative and whole person approach that integrates translational research and clinical efforts to deliver real impact to a neglected population of young people and adults across the lifespan
Professor McAlonan is a clinician in the National ADHD and Autism Service for Adults in the Maudsley Hospital and Research Lead for the Behavioural Developmental Psychiatry Clinical Academic Group, King’s Health Partners. Professor McAlonan is also a principal investigator within the pan-European Autism Innovative Medicine Studies-2-Trials (AIMS-2-Trials) the world’s largest grant for autism research.
Gráinne is a superb scientist and wonderful leader, who brings a rare combination of basic and clinical neuroscience applied to mental health. She is therefore ideally equipped to lead the BRC.
Professor Matthew Hotopf, IoPPN Executive Dean
Gráinne studied medicine at the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London and completed a PhD in behavioural neuroscience at the University of Cambridge. After clinical and research posts in the UK, she worked for over a decade in the University of Hong Kong before returning to the IoPPN.
Congratulations to Gráinne on her appointment as Director for the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre. Gráinne has already done fantastic work in her role as Deputy Director translating research into clinical practice. We know her passion and expertise will continue to bring us closer to our mission of advancing mental healthcare to improve lives.
David Bradley, CEO of South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
The NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) is part of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and hosted by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with King's College London.
I'm delighted Professor McAlonan has been appointed. I am excited about the continuing impact her leadership will have on patients and the communities we serve as we focus on integrating physical and mental health across everything we do.
Professor Richard Trembath, Executive Director of King’s Health Partners
In December 2022, the NIHR Maudsley BRC received a £41m award taking them to November 2027.
In this story
Professor of Translational Neuroscience
Executive Dean, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience
Senior Vice President (Health & Life Sciences) and Executive Director of King’s Health Partners