Personal Statement
Valerie Voon is an internationally renowned neuropsychiatrist. Her research identifies modifiable biomarkers underlying self-control and repetitive behaviours relevant to daily decision-making and disorders of addictions and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Her interventional psychiatry group is inherently translational, focusing on optimising surgical and non-invasive neuromodulation for neuropsychiatric disorders and more recently exploring the role of psychedelics as a therapeutic modality. Her group uses multiple modalities including cognitive neuroscience, computational modelling, neuroimaging, intracranial physiology, neuromodulation and pharmacological challenges.
Valerie is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge and a Distinguished Professor at the Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence at Fudan University in Shanghai, China. She runs research groups across both countries.
After her medical training and psychiatry residency in Canada, she completed a movement disorders research fellowship at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health and a PhD in neuroscience through University College London. She has been at the University of Cambridge since 2010 and completed personal fellowships with the Wellcome Trust and Medical Research Council.
She has over 200 peer-reviewed papers in high-impact journals (Neuron, Lancet Neurology, Molecular Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, Brain). She has been awarded more than £5 million in funding from various funders including MRC, WT, NIH, NIHR, and NSFC. Her work has a high impact with almost 30,000 citations (H-index 80). She has been involved in various media outreach including documentaries. She was the previous president of the British Neuropsychiatry Association.
Useful Links
Google Scholar Profile
Valerie on Twitter
Publications
Neuromodulation: deep brain stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation, intracranial recordings
Manssuer L, Qiong D, Zhang Y, Gong H, Liu W, Yang R, Zhang C, Zhao Y, Pan Y, Zhan S, Li D, Sun B, Voon V. Risk and aversion coding in human habenula high gamma activity. Brain 2022 PMID: 36445730
Sonkusare S, Qiong D, Zhao Y, Liu W, Yang R, Mandali A, Manssuer L, Zhang C, Cao C, Sun B, Zhan S, Voon V. Frequency dependent emotion differentiation and directional coupling in the amygdala, orbitofrontal and medial prefrontal cortex network with intracranial recordings. Mol Psychiatry 2022 PMID: 36460724
Cui H, Zhang Y, Zhao Y, Manssuer L, Zhao Y, Zhang C, Liu W, Li D, Sun B, Voon V. Mechanisms underlying capsulotomy for refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder: neural correlates of negative affect processing overlaps with deep brain stimulation targets. Mol Psychiatry 2023 PMID: 36878966
Mandali A, Manssuer L, Zhao Y, Ding Q, Zhang C, Wang L, Pan Y, Li D, Sun B, Voon V. Acute time-locked alpha frequency subthalamic stimulation reduced negative emotional bias in Parkinson’s disease. Biol Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuro Neuroimaging 2021;6:568-578 (Subject of commentary and highlight)PMID: 33622656
Mayberg HS, Lozano AM, Voon V, Kennedy SH, McNeely HE, Hamani C, Schwalb JM, Seminowicz D. Deep brain stimulation for treatment-resistant depression. Neuron 2005;45:651-60 PMID: 15748841
Kohl S, Hannah R, Rocchi L, Nord CL, Rothwell J, Voon V. Cortical paired associative stimulation influences response inhibition: cortico-cortical and cortico-subcortical networks. Biol Psychiatry, 2019;85:355-363 (Editors choice; hot topics presentation ACNP) PMID: 29724490
Nord CL, Popa T, Smith E, Hannah R, Donamayor N, Weidacker K, Bays PM, Rothwell J, Voon V. The effect of frontoparietal paired associative stimulation on decision making and working memory. Cortex, 2019; 117:266-276 PMID: 31009813
Manssuer L, Qiong D, Liu W, Yang R, Wang L, Zhang CC, Zhao J, Sun B, Zhan S, Voon V. Integrated amygdala, orbitofrontal and hippocampal contributions to reward and loss coding revealed by human intracranial EEG. J Neurosci 2022;42:2756-2771 PMID: 35149513
Sonkusare S, Qiong D, Zhang YY, Wang L, Gong H, Mandali A, Manssuer L, Zhao Y, Pan Y, Zhang CC, Li D, Sun B, Voon V. Power signatures of habenular neuronal activity in rest and task of depressive patients correlate with their severity. Transl Psychiatry 2022;12:72 PMID: 35194027
Visser-Vandewalle V, Andrade P, Mosley PE, Greenberg BD, Schuurman R, McLaughlin NC, Voon V, Krack P, Foote KD, Mayberg HS, Figee M, Kopell BH, Polosan M, Joyce EM, Chabardes S, Matthews K, Baldermann JC, Tyagi H, Holtzheimer PE, Bervoets C, Hamani C, Karachi C, Denys D, Zrinzo L, Blomstedt P, Naesström M, Abosch A, Rasmussen S, Coenen VA, Schlaepfer TE, Dougherty DD, Domenech P, Silburn P, Giordano J, Lozano AM, Sheth SA, Coyne T, Kuhn J, Mallet L, Nuttin B, Hariz M, Okun MS. Deep brain stimulation for obsessive-compulsive disorder: a crisis of access. Nat Med 2022;28:1529-1532 PMID: 35840727
Voon V, Droux F, Morris L, Chabardes S, Bougerol T, David O, Krack P, Polosan M. Decisional impulsivity and the associative-limbic subthalamic nucleus in obsessive-compulsive disorder: functional connectivity and subthalamic stimulation. Brain 2017;140:442-456 PMID: 28040671
Voon V, Krack P, Lang AE et al., A multicentre study on suicide outcomes following subthalamic stimulation for Parkinson’s disease. Brain 2008;131:2720-8. PMID: 18941146
Cognitive neuroscience, computational modelling, neuroimaging
Voon V, Brezing C, Gallea C, Fernandez H, Pessiglione M, Dolan RJ, Hallett M. Mechanisms underlying gain bias in a disorder of compulsive choice Neuron 2010;65:135-142. PMID: 20152119
Zhao Y, Skandali N, Bethlehem R, Voon V. Mesial prefrontal cortex and alcohol misuse: dissociating cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships in UK Biobank. Biol Psychiatry 2022 92:907-916 (subject of commentary) PMID: 35589437
Weidacker K, Kim SG, Nord CL, Rua C, Rodgers CT, Voon V. Avoiding monetary loss: a human habenula functional MRI ultra-high field study. Cortex 2021;142:62-73 PMID: 34186462
Voon V, Grodin E, Mandali A, Morris L, Doñamayor N, Weidacker K, Kwako L, Goldman D, Koob GF, Momenan R. Addictions Neuroimaging Assessment (ANIA): towards an integrated framework for alcohol use disorder. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020;113:492-506 PMID: 32298710
Voon V, Joutsa J, Majuri J, Baek K, Nord CL, Arponen E, Forsback S, Kaasinen V. The neurochemical substrates of goal directed and habit control. Transl Psychiatry 2020;10:84 PMID: 32127520
Mandali A, Weidacker K, Kim SG, Voon V. The ease and sureness of a decision: evidence accumulation of conflict and uncertainty. Brain, 2019; 142:1471-1482 PMID: 30726914
Voon V, Reiter A, Sebold M, Groman S. Model-based control in dimensional psychiatry. Biol Psychiatry 2017;82:391-400 PMID: 28599832
Worbe Y, Palminteri S, Savulich G, Daw ND, Fernandez-Egea E, Robbins TW, Voon V. Valence dependent influence of serotonin depletion on model-based choice strategy. Mol Psychiatry, 2016;21:624-9 PMID: 25869808
Morris LS, Kundu P, Baek K, Irvine MA, Mechelmans DJ, Woods J, Harrison NA, Robbins TW, Bullmore ET, Voon V. Jumping the gun: mapping neural correlates of waiting impulsivity and relevance across alcohol misuse. Biol Psychiatry. 2016;79:499-507 PMID: 26185010
Voon V, Derbyshire K, Ruck C, Irvine MA, Worbe Y, Enander J, Schrebier LR, Gillan C, Fineberg NA, Sahakian BJ, Robbins TW, Harrison NA, Wood J, Daw ND, Dayan P, Grant JE, Bullmore ET. Disorders of compulsivity: a common bias towards learning habits. Mol Psychiatry. 2015;20:345-52 PMID: 24840709
Voon V, Irvine M, Derbyshire K, Worbe Y, Lange I, Abbott S, Morein-Zamir S, Dudley R, Caprioli D, Harrison NA, Wood J, Dalley JW, Bullmore ET, Grant JE, Robbins TW. Measuring ‘waiting’ impulsivity in substance addictions and binge eating disorder in a novel analogue of the rodent serial reaction time task. Biol Psychiatry. 2014;75:148-55. PMID: 23790224
Worbe Y, Irvine M, Lange I, Kundu P, Howell NA, Harrison NA, Bullmore ET, Robbins TW, Voon V. Neuronal correlates of risk-seeking attitudes to anticipated losses in binge drinkers. Biol Psychiatry 2014;76:717-24 PMID: 24387822
Behavioural addictions
Voon V, Napier C, Sgambatoro-Faure V, Frank MJ, Grace AA, Obeso J, Rodriguez-Cruz M, Bezard E, Fernagut P-O. Impulse control disorders and dyskinesias in Parkinson’s disease: an update. Lancet Neurology 2016 2017;16:238-250 PMID: 28229895
Voon V, Gao J, Brezing C, Gallea C, Ekanayake V, Symmonds M, Dolan RJ, Hallett M. Dopamine agonists and risk: impulse control disorders in Parkinson’s disease. Brain 2011;134:1438-46 PMID: 21596771
Voon V, Sohr M, Lang AE, Potenza MN, Siderowf AD, Weintraub D, Whetteckey J, Wunderlich D, Stacy MA. Impulse control disorders in Parkinsons disease: a case control study of 564 subjects. Ann Neurol 2011;69:986-96. PMID: 21416496
Weintraub D, Koester J, Potenza MN, Siderowf AD, Stacy MA, Voon V, Whetteckey J, Wunderlich D, Lang AE. Dopaminergic therapy and impulse control disorders in Parkinson’s disease: a cross-sectional study of 3090 patients. Arch Neurol. 2011;67:589-95. PMID: 20457959
Banca P, Morris LS, Mitchell S, Harrison NA, Potenza MN, Voon V. Novelty, conditioning and attentional bias to sexual rewards. J Psychiatric Res. 2016;72:91-101 PMID: 26606725
Voon V, Mole TB, Banca P, Porter L, Morris L, Mitchell S, Lapa TR, Karr J, Harrison NA, Potenza MN, Irvine M. Neural correlates of sexual cue reactivity in individuals with and without compulsive sexual behaviours. PLoS One 2014;9:e102419 PMID: 25013940
Functional neurological disorders
Voon V, Brezing C, Gallea C, Roelofs K, LaFrance W, Hallett M. Emotional stimuli and motor conversion disorder. Brain 2010; 133:1526-36 (subject of commentary) PMID: 20371508
Voon V, Hattori N, Gallea C et al., The involuntary nature of conversion disorder. Neurology 2010:74;223-228. (subject of editorial and podcast January 19, 2010) PMID: 20083798
Baek K, Donamayor N, Morris LS, Strelchuk D, Mikeheenko Y, Yeoh SY, Phillips W, Zandi M, Jenaway A, Walsh C, Voon V. Impaired awareness of motor intention in functional neurological disorder: implications for voluntary and functional movement. Psychol Med. 2017;28:791-804 PMID: 28183377