Centre Clinicians & Scientists

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Gillian Baird MBBChir MRCP FRCP FRCPCH

Senior Lecturer in Developmental Paediatrics

Gillian Baird studied anthropology and medicine at Cambridge University and Guy’s Hospital. She has been a consultant developmental paediatrician at the Newcomen Centre at Guys for the past 25 years and has played a major role in service development and research in autism during this period. She is principle investigator on one of the UK’s largest and most important epidemiological studies of autism. Having recruited this exceptional cohort of cases, she is conducting a series of important studies that test current causal theories. In addition to her research and clinical role Gillian Baird has played a key role in developing services for children with developmental disorders and learning disabilities. She is one of the advisors for the UK government’s review of health services for children with learning disabilities.       

Gareth Barker BSc PhD

Professor of Magnetic Resonance Physics

Gareth studied physics at Nottingham University, where he also completed his doctoral thesis. He then went to the Department of Radiology at the University of Florida, before taking up a Senior Lecturer post at the Institute of Neurology. During this time he worked on imaging the brain abnormalities in individuals with epilepsy and developed new sequences and software for acquiring brain imaging data. He took up his chair at the Institute of Psychiatry in 2002 and has joined the growing group of investigators at the Centre for Neuroimaging Science. He has special expertise in structural MRI scanning and the development of methods for evaluating the integrity of white matter tracts using diffusion tensor imaging. At the Neuroimaging centre he will be helping to establish a normative MRI database on brain development in children aged 6-18 years of age.

Sarah Bernard MBBS MRCPsych

Consultant in Child and Adolescent Learning Disability

Sarah Bernard has been a consultant in the psychiatry of child and adolescent learning disability for almost 10 years. The service she works in offers assessment and treatment to children aged 0 - 19 years with global developmental delay (learning disability). It is a national service and the children seen have complex neurodevelopmental disorders and behavioural/mental health problems including autism, ADHD, psychotic disorders and severe self-injury. Sarah has an interest in epilepsy and epilepsy surgery, rare syndromes and promoting parenting ability in parents that have learning disabilities. She is an examiner for The Royal College of Psychiatrists, a member of The National Network of Consultants in Child and Adolescent Learning Disabilities and involved with a number of voluntary organisations.

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore BA PhD

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore studied Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford and then went on to complete a PhD in Neuroscience. She has published many journal articles on cognitive neuroscience and has recently completed a book length study on the brain, learning and education. In addition to this, she is a member of the British Psychological Society and is also on the committee of the British Psychological Society research board.

Patrick Bolton BSc MA PhD MBBS FRCPsych

Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Patrick Bolton studied psychology and medicine at London University and Guy’s Hospital. He trained in psychiatry at St George’s Hospital, London, and in child psychiatry at the MRC Child Psychiatry Unit at the Institute of Psychiatry and Maudsley Hospital. After completing his training, he was appointed Lecturer and Honorary Consultant at the Institute of Psychiatry and, subsequently, Senior Lecturer at Cambridge University. In 2003, he was appointed Professor of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry and Honorary Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital, where he leads the National Specialist Clinical Service for children with autism spectrum and related disorders. His research has focussed on identifying the causes of autism and related disorders of social function and communication. His research is supported by awards from the MRC, Wellcome Trust, NAAR, Tuberous Sclerosis Association and other research charities.

Mick Brammer BSc PhD

Professor of Brain Image Analysis

Mick Brammer studied biochemistry and neurochemistry and worked on intracellular signaling and neuropharmacology at the Institute of Psychiatry before starting work on structural, and subsequently functional, neuroimaging. Mick was one of the team that established fMRI at the Institute of Psychiatry, which was the first group to do work in this area outside the USA and the fifth group to start in the world. He was appointed Reader in Neuroimaging and Professor of Neuroimaging in 2000. He is also Catedratico (Professor) at the Institute of Advanced Transdisciplinary Studies, Belo Horizonte, Brazil and Co-founder of the Brain Image Analysis Unit at the Institute of Psychiatry. This unit provides expertise in software development and assistance in analysis to many research teams at the Institute of Psychiatry and elsewhere. Mick’s current interests include wavelet analysis, time series analysis, analysis of structural and functional MRI data, and the development of novel image analysis approaches to investigate mental illness. He has worked on the functional neural correlates of autism," the social brain" and fMRI studies of theory of mind related tasks with colleagues from psychiatry and cognitive neuroscience