Professor Alex Fornito
Head of the Brain Mapping and Modelling Research Program
Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University
VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA
Bench Side Story continues with a Professor and Head of the Brain Mapping and Modelling Research Program at the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, at Monash University in Melbourne, Victoria, AUSTRALIA.
Professor Alex Fornito completed his Clinical Masters (Neuropsychology) and PhD in 2007 in the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology at The University of Melbourne before undertaking Post-Doctoral training in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge, UK, under the auspices of an NHMRC Training Fellowship. He is currently a Sylvia and Charles Viertel Foundation Senior Research Fellow, co-Director of the Brain, Mind and Society Research Hub and Head of the Brain Mapping and Modelling Research Program at the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health.
Professor Fornito’s research concentrates on developing new imaging techniques for mapping human brain connectivity and applying these methods to shed light on brain function in health and disease. A major emphasis of his work concerns understanding foundational principles of brain organization and their genetic basis; characterizing brain connectivity disturbances in psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia; and mapping how brain networks dynamically reconfigure in response to changing task demands.
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Mental health research on first responders in regional, rural and remote Australia
Dr Rikki Jones has been awarded to date a total of over $430,000 in research funding. She is currently leading four large national research teams focusing on rural health and sustainable rural health workforce (include mental health of first responders, sexual violence in rural Australia, virtual simulated nursing placements, and nursing students experience with online learning, connection and transitioning to practice).
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DNA repair on the Fanconi anaemia pathway
Associate Professor Wayne Crismani is an internationally recognised expert in DNA repair, with a particular focus on Fanconi anaemia (FA)—a cancer-predisposition and bone marrow failure syndrome marked by extreme sensitivity to DNA damage. Based at St Vincent’s Institute in Melbourne, he leads a research program dedicated to understanding the genetic, cellular, and reproductive consequences of FA. He is currently supported by a Victorian Cancer Agency Mid-Career Fellowship and funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council.
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Nutraceutical and pharmacological intervention in neurological disorders
Dr Virginie Lam is a neuroscientist and cerebrovascular biologist with over 15 years of research experience, including more than seven years post-PhD. She co-leads the Neurovascular and Metabolic Diseases Laboratory at the Curtin Medical Research Institute and holds an affiliate appointment at the Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science. Her research focuses on the interface between neurovascular health, cognitive function, and therapeutic translation in neurodegenerative disorders.
