Dr. Sophia Frangou appointed UBC President's Excellence Chair in Brain Health

October 01, 2019

Dr. Sophia Frangou has commenced her appointment as the UBC President's Excellence Chair in Brain Health, joining the university as a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry.

An internationally-prominent clinician scientist, Dr. Frangou's research focuses on uncovering pathophysiological processes underlying psychosis, with emphasis on schizophrenia and bipolar disorder using clinical, genetic, cognitive, and neuroimaging techniques. In 2002, Dr. Frangou published a comprehensive review of the significant and persistent cognitive impairment observed in bipolar disorder, a work which has been acknowledged as heralding a major shift in how the field viewed cognitive deficits and their clinical ramifications. More recently, in investigating the neural pathways associated with disease expression, risk and resilience in bipolar disorder, Dr. Frangou introduced the concept of resilient adaptation, providing a new avenue for future studies into the biological mechanisms for resilience and prevention of disease expression in bipolar disorder. Her current research investigates the pathological mechanism underpinning psychosis, and the mechanisms translating genetic risk to clinical phenotypes, in order to improve treatment through the specification of causative biological pathways.

Dr. Frangou holds a medical degree from the University of Athens Medical School, as well as a Master's Degree in Neuroscience and a PhD in Psychiatry, both from the University of London. She previously trained as a psychiatry resident at Maudsley and Bethlem Royal Hospitals in London, and in 2005, obtained her Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training in Psychiatry and entry onto the Specialist Register maintained by the General Medical Council in the United Kingdom. Dr. Frangou has been a Professor of Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York since 2013, and prior to this, she held the post of Reader (equivalent to Professor) at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College, London, from 2002 to 2013.

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