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Arianna Di Florio

Professor Arianna Di Florio

Professor, Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences

School of Medicine

Email
DiFlorioA@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 29206 88382
Campuses
Hadyn Ellis Building, Room 2.12, Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ

Overview

I am a researcher and clinical psychiatrist.

Psychiatric disorders associated with changes in female sex hormones, such as those associated with the menstrual cycle, childbirth and transition to menopause, are a major public health issue and represent a unique opportunity to study the complex interplay between gender, sex and mental states. In my role at Cardiff University, I have set up the Reproductive Mental Health Clinical and Research Programme to study how genetic and environmental markers can help identify women at risk of psychiatric disorders in relation to changes in sex hormones and improve the current approach to diagnosis, prevention and treatment. The programme includes the European Research Council funded project "Genetic Architecture Of Sex Steroid-related Psychiatric Disorders" (GASSP), the first molecular genetic study of the psychiatric sensitivity to sex hormone changes.

At the MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics at Cardiff University I lead the bipolar disorder genomics research group. Together with the Bipolar Disorder Research Network, the centre has collected the largest cohort of people with bipolar disorder in the world and has made important contributions to the understanding of the genetic susceptibility underpinning the disorder.

Publication

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2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

Articles

Thesis

Websites

Research

Research Grants and Fellowships

2021-2026 European Research Council Starting Grant, ”Genetic Architecture of Sex Steroid-related Psychiatric disorders”, (PI) 1,500,000 Euro

2021-2024 Medical Research Council, "Perimenopause and risk of psychiatric disorders: a longitudinal, population-based study”, (PI), 534,657.23 GBP

2021 Global Challenge Research Fund, Small Projects, ”A Cross Cultural study of Motherhood and Mental health”, (PI) 37,734 GBP

2020-2025 Health and Care Research Wales, ”The National Centre for Mental Health”, (co-I) 4,950,000 GBP

2019-2022 Wellcome Trust, ”Feasibility of a large-scale, international, clinical-genetic study of postpartum psychosis”, (PI) 89,126 GBP

2019-2021 Brain & Behavior Research Foundation NARSAD Young Investigator Award, ”Systematic investigation of the ge- netic susceptibility to sleep disturbance in bipolar disorder”, (PI) 70,000 USD

2018-2021 Medical Research Council Project Grant; ”Individualising the risk of re- currence for women with bipolar disorder in the perinatal period”, (co-I) 264,655 GBP

2014-2017 European Commission Marie Curie Actions International Outgoing Fellow- ships; ”Postpartum BiD - Improving prediction of the triggering of bipolar disorder episodes by childbirth”, (PI) 282,109 Euro

2015-2016 United States National Science Foundation - Division Of Mathematical Sciences; ”Interactive Ensemble clustering for mixed data with application to mood disorders”, (co-I) 99,998 USD

2010-2012 Health and Care Research Wales, Welsh Assembly Government Health Studentship Award; ”A prospective study of bipolar disorder in pregnancy and the postpartum”, (co-PI) 58,585 GBP

Biography

Current posts

2021- Professor of Psychiatry, Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neuroscience, Cardiff University, United Kingdom

2017- Consultant Psychiatrist, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, Cardiff

2016- Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States

Other Roles and Responsibilities

2019- Chair, International Postpartum Psychosis Consortium

2019- Clinical Lead and Outreach officer, Bipolar Disorder Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium

2019- Steering committee member, Bipolar Disorder Sequencing Consortium

2017- Clinical Lead for Undergraduate Psychiatry, Cardiff University Medical School

Previous posts

2017- CLINICAL SENIOR LECTURER, Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neuroscience, Cardiff University

2014-2016 MARIE SKŁODOWSKA-CURIE FELLOW, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States

2014 SPECIALIST IN PSYCHIATRY, Cardiff & Vale University Health Board

2013-2014 CLINICAL RESEARCH FELLOW, MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, Institute of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences

2010-2012 PHD STUDENT, Cardiff University

2009 VISITING CLINICAL RESEARCHER, MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics

2006-2010 RESIDENT IN PSYCHIATRY, Clinica Psichiatrica-Azienda Ospedaliera, Padova, Italy

2005 VISITING RESEARCH STUDENT, Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine Berlin-Buch, Neuronal Stem Cells group, Germany

Education

2013 Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neuroscience, Cardiff University, United Kingdom

2010 Specialist in Psychiatry, Clinica Psichiatrica- Azienda Ospedaliera USLL 16, Padua, Italy

2005 Doctor of Medicine, Clinica Psichiatrica- Azienda Ospedaliera USLL 16, Padua, Italy