Submitted by acs95 on Thu, 20/03/2025 - 10:50
Name: Tomáš Formánek
Research group: epiCentre
Supervisor: Prof. Peter B. Jones
Advisor: Prof. Rudolf N. Cardinal
Title of your PhD: Investigating the Mental-Physical Health Interface Using National Register-based Data
Can you give us a short background into what your PhD/MPhil was about?
The causality between distinct pairs of mental disorders and physical illnesses as well as the outcomes resulting from the co-occurrence of these, remain to a large extent incompletely described and understood. In my PhD thesis, I have set out to answer a set of questions connected to both the aetiology and consequences of co-occurring mental disorders and physical illnesses, particularly using national register-based health data.
How would you sum up your main findings?
I present novel evidence that the extensive psychiatric morbidity in childhood-onset type 1 diabetes is unlikely to be fully explicable by common underlying biological mechanisms. Concerning the consequences of co-occurring mental disorders and physical illnesses, I have demonstrated higher risks of mortality and larger losses of life-years in both people with substance use disorders and severe mental disorders following the onset of a wide range of physical illnesses compared with counterparts who only had the respective physical illnesses. In people with severe mental disorders, I have showed that this excess mortality exceeds what could be attributed to solely having more physical illnesses in this patient group.
What made you want to do a PhD?
I had gained a couple of years of research experience before starting my PhD. During that time I had the opportunity to carefully think about what PhD project would I be really interested in. Then, when the stars finally aligned, I went for it!
What was your best day during your PhD?
I would like to highlight a couple of moments. First, it was very gratifying when I was finally able to technically implement the ideas for the first study of my PhD. From that moment I had confidence that I’ll be able to do so with the other ideas too. Second, I had spent a very long time discussing the results of one of my studies with collaborators; however, none of the interpretations seemed quite right. It was a beautiful moment when we finally cracked it. Lastly, I was invited to present at the World Health Organization Forum on Alcohol, Drugs and Addictive Behaviours, and it was reassuring to receive positive feedback on my work from a number of people I deeply respect.
What was your worst day during your PhD?
I do not recall a particularly bad day; however, I arrived in Cambridge in September 2020, shortly before the winter-spring COVID-19 pandemic wave. Not knowing anyone in the country coupled with being unable to –physically– connect with colleagues or even spend quality time outside of my house was psychologically demanding. Fortunately, I had fantastic housemates who made this period more than bearable.
Do you have any words of advice to future PhD/MPhil students in Psychiatry?
It is certainly helpful to have a solid research idea before the start of the degree; however, part of the entire journey is to let the ideas organically develop. One should not be too afraid to go in directions that they did not conceive initially.
What do you hope to do next?
My ambition is to continue developing my own line of research. I have already started a postdoctoral researcher position at Aarhus University in Denmark, which will allow me investigating other aspects of the mental-physical health interface. There is much that is still unknown!