Professor Barbara J Sahakian
Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology
Personal statement
Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian, FMedSci,
Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology
Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine,
Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge CB2 2QQ
Tel: 44-1223 331209/Fax: 44-1223 336968 Email:jenny.hall@cambsmh.nhs.uk
Barbara J Sahakian is Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology at the Department
of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine. She
has an international reputation in the fields of cognitive psychopharmacology,
neuroethics, neuropsychology, neuropsychiatry and neuroimaging. She is
co-inventor of the CANTAB computerised neuropsychological tests, which
are in use world-wide. She is probably best known for her research work
on cognition and depression, cognitive enhancement using pharmacological
treatments, neuroethics and early detection of Alzheimer's disease. Indeed,
she has over 200 publications covering these topics in scientific journals,
including Science, Nature Neuroscience, The Lancet, British Medical Journal,
Archives of General Psychiatry, American Journal of Psychiatry, Biological
Psychiatry, the Journal of Neuroscience, Brain, Psychopharmacology and
Psychological Medicine. Her current programme of research, funded by the
Wellcome Trust and Medical Research Council, investigates the neurochemical
modulation of impulsive and compulsive behaviour in neuropsychiatric disorders,
such as unipolar and bipolar depression and attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder. This topic was the focus of her recent paper published in Science,
(vol 311, Feb. 2006, 861-863).
Professor Sahakian was one of the first researchers to suggest that attentional
dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease could be ameliorated using pharmacotherapy,
such as cholinesterase inhibitors. In addition, she was early to highlight
the cognitive changes in unipolar and bipolar depression, as well as their
significance for functional outcome. In 2003, she was selected to lecture
on this topic for the Teaching Day at the annual meeting of the American
College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP). Most recently, she has introduced
the importance of the concept of cognitive reserve to the field of neuropsychiatry
(Psychological Medicine, 2006, 36, 1053-1064).
In recognition of her contribution to cognitive neuroscience, she was
elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2004 and in 2005
she was awarded the Donders Chair in Psychopharmacology at Utrecht University
(The Netherlands).
From November 2005 she began a four-year appointment to the Committee
of Women in Neuroscience for the Society for Neuroscience (SFN, USA).
In 2006 she began her appointment on the Medical Research Council Neurosciences
and Mental Health Board. Also this year, she was appointed to the Executive
Committee of the newly formed Neuroethics Society and is on the Editorial
Board of the American Journal of Bioethics - Neuroscience
Professor Sahakian has also trained over 15 PhD students in the field
of cognitive neuroscience, many now with international reputations in
their own right (e.g. Adrian M Owen, Rebecca Elliott, Andrew D. Lawrence,
Adam Aron) and several prize winners (e.g. Jennifer Coull, Mitul Mehta,
Danielle Turner). Since 2004 she has been writing and training PhD students
in the field of neuroethics. One of her students, Danielle Turner, who
completed her PhD on the psychopharmacology of cognitive enhancement in
2005, received an award from the British Psychological Society and was
recently selected as one of the top five young UK researchers. Her PhD
student, Karen Ersche, who received her degree this year, has just been
appointed Betty Behrens Research Fellow at Clare Hall, Cambridge.
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