NOVEL FORMS OF BRAIN STIMULATION & PSYCHEDELIC ASSISTED PSYCHOTHERAPY
With
Professor Paul Fitzgerald,
Director, School of Medicine and Psychology,
Australian National University, Canberra, Australia &
Principal Investigator, Paratus Clinical, Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Canberra, Australia | November 2025
Professor Paul Fitzgerald is the Head of the School of Medicine and Psychology at the Australian National University. He is an academic psychiatrist with a MBBS degree, Masters of Psychological Medicine and research PhD.
He has conducted an extensive range of experimental studies and clinical trials, focused on the development of novel treatment options for patients with mental health conditions such as depression, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, PTSD, autism and Alzheimer’s disease.
Professor Fitzgerald has a special interest in repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and other novel treatments using forms of non-invasive brain stimulation. He has had continual NHMRC grant support for 20 years and over $10 million in research support in the last 5 years. He has published several books, over 550 journal articles and been cited over 30,000 times.
He has established multiple clinical rTMS services, founded several device and clinical service companies and led a national application to MSAC in the Federal Department of Health which resulted, in 2021, in Medicare funding ($280 million in year 1) for rTMS therapy for patients with depression.
Professor Fitzgerald currently leads an innovative school at the ANU which combines both the ANU Medical Program and former Research School of Psychology focussed on education and research approaches integrating perspectives across mind, body and culture.
Source: Supplied
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4217-8096
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Relationship between mental illness and mental wellbeing
Since 2015, Dr Matthew Iasiello has been working on the development and dissemination of mental wellbeing interventions across the Australian community at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI). His PhD research was designed specifically to strengthen the translational work conducted by SAHMRI, and to solve problems that represented gaps in the literature that were arising when delivering mental wellbeing interventions into the community. The impact and relevance of Dr Iasiello’s work has been demonstrated with invited presentations at international academic conferences, and multiple media stories with significant online engagements.
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Ocular disease and early onset myopia
Dr Mountford has successfully established Western Australia’s first and only ocular genetic screening platform using zebrafish and utilises this model to help elucidate some of the complex gene-environment interactions responsible for the development of myopia.
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Targeting chemotherapy resistance in ovarian cancer patients
Dr Alex Cole, from the Centenary Institute’s Centre for Biomedical AI, is now leading the research focused on developing a new treatment to counteract a protein called follistatin (FST), known for making ovarian cancer cells resistant to chemotherapy.
By employing cutting-edge molecular biology and directed evolution techniques, the project aims to create nanobodies—small, precise molecules—that can block FST. If successful, these nanobodies could enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapy and improve ovarian cancer treatment rates.
