Research worker/PhD student on the BIPP study (Brain, Immunity and Psychopathology following Very Preterm Birth study).

I have a public Health (MBBS) and Global Mental Health (MSc) background. I am currently interested in identifying predictive neurodevelopment markers of mental health outcomes and trajectories using neuroimaging and cognition-behaviour data.

My PhD is entitled “The relationship between cognition and anxiety symptomatology in very preterm children”. 13 million infants are born prematurely every year and about 25% are at risk of developing mental health problems. These problems continue into adult life and encompass a variety of diagnoses. It is therefore a public health priority to address the long-term consequences of prematurity. Research suggests that anxiety associated with prematurity could be explained by differences in neurodevelopment, the life-long process by which the brain grows to change. However, it is unknown how specific patterns of brain maturation make premature children more likely to experience anxiety or if the clinical complications associated with premature birth change the way premature children respond to stress. It is possible that prematurity and/or an altered response interacting with a vulnerability in the brain gives rise to anxiety risk. Thus, my PhD aims to discover the links between anxiety and neurodevelopmental outcomes in very preterm children who have been studied from birth to childhood. My work will explore the risk factors for anxiety in preterm school-aged children, with an emphasis on linking neurodevelopmental mechanisms with behaviour and its associated cognitive processes, which will have important implications for children at high risk of developing psychopathology and their families, mental health professionals and society at large.