Centre for Clinical and Experimental Psychopharmacology brings together several University of Southampton members of staff with similar research interests. It is led by Professor David Baldwin.
Professor David Baldwin became Head of the Mental Health Group in 2008 and was awarded a Personal Chair in 2010. He trained in medicine at Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, London and then in psychiatry at St Mary's Hospital Medical School and the Maudsley Hospital, London.
Professor Baldwin leads a group that aims to improve clinical outcomes in patients with mood and anxiety disorders. This involves investigating the role of neurobiological and psychological factors in causing and maintaining illness; through improving trial design when evaluating efficacy and tolerability of treatment interventions; by assessing the effectiveness and acceptability of treatment interventions in wider clinical practice; through identifying more accurately those patient groups at particular risk of poor outcomes; and by offering a specialist clinical service to patients with chronic and treatment-resistant conditions.
Dr Matt Garner is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Medicine and Research Director: Doctoral Programmes in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsych) and Educational Psychology (DEdPsych). research focuses on cognitive and neural mechanisms involved in emotion processing and emotional disorders with emphasis on the anxiety disorders. This work integrates methods from a range of perspectives including experimental cognitive psychology (e.g. computerized behavioural tasks, eye-tracking methods), psychophysiology (e.g. fear-potentiated eye-blink startle), cognitive neuroscience (event related brain potentials, functional imaging) and psychopharmacology (pharmacological challenge).
Dr Ruihua Hou works as a Senior Research Fellow in Psychiatry. Her main research interests are 1) psychoneuroimmunology in affective disorders, to explore interactions between the central nervous system and the immune system, and how these affect cognitive function and behaviour, with the goal of identifying potential therapeutic targets; 2) human psychopharmacology, with special interest in neural mechanism underlying regulation of arousal and sleep using pharmacological methodology; and 3) application of health psychology theory in functional somatic syndromes, such as chronic fatigue syndrome and postconcussion syndrome. Her current research is to 1) identify modifiable inflammatory processes or molecules; assess the effects of conventional medications on these processes; and develop behavioural and/or psychopharmacological intervention targets with the potential to alter neuroimmune mechanisms and improve clinical outcomes; and 2)develop early intervention programme for patients with functional somatic syndromes.
Dr Ben Ainsworth researches attentional and interpretative biases in patients with anxiety disorders, before and after pharmacological and psychological treatments, particularly mindfulness-based meditation interventions and pregabalin augmentation to pharmacological treatments. This work integrates methods from a range of perspectives including experimental cognitive psychology (e.g. computerized behavioural tasks, eye-tracking methods), psychophysiology (e.g. fear-potentiated eye-blink startle), cognitive neuroscience (event related brain potentials, functional imaging). In 2012 I received the MRC Centenary Award at the University of Southampton, allowing me to further my research interests.
Dr Susan Bamford is a Research Fellow Her research interests include: Approach/Avoidance responses to threat and reward. Attention. Emotion regulation. Psychopathology following a breakdown of the normal emotion-cognition interplay. ADHD. Behavioural neurology. Dr Bamford worked within the ERP domain to establish neural markers of Approach/Avoidance, and Emotional Dysregulation, with a specific interest in ADHD. In addition she worked on a project investigating whether White Noise might facilitate performance and cognition in children with a range of attention abilities.
Verity Pinkney is a Postgraduate research student actively involved in studies undertaken by Prof. Baldwin and Dr Garner.
Nupur Tiwari is currently undertaking Doctorate in Medicine course at University of Southampton under Prof. Baldwin's supervision. She has worked as a Psychiatrist in Hampshire Partnership Trust as a part of Wessex Psychiatry Training Scheme for nearly 4 years. Since then she has been working as a Specialty doctor in Community General Adult Psychiatry within Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust. Her research interests focus on investigation new approaches in treating anxiety disorders.