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
-
Using Gut Microbes to Reduce Blood Pressure
Professor Francine Marques is an National Health and Medical Research Council Emerging Leader, Viertel Charitable Foundation, and National Heart Foundation Fellow.
She leads the Hypertension Research Laboratory at Monash University and has published more than 120 peer-reviewed papers in journals such as Nature Reviews Cardiology, Nature Medicine, Nature Cardiovascular Research, and Circulation.
-
Podiatric Research In Children, the workforce and the LGBTQIA+ community
Professor Williams holds the role of Deputy Head of School, School of Primary and Allied Health Care, and course coordinator of the Doctor of Podiatric Medicine degree. She is a podiatrist, and has held professional roles in community health, acute and subacute services in child health care teams, research leadership and professional governance.
-
Environmental exposure to function of lung epithelial stem cell biology
Dr Clare Weeden has recently commenced as a Laboratory Head at WEHI in 2025, supported by the CSL Centenary Fellowship.
Dr Weeden specialises in lung epithelial cell biology in the context of homeostasis, inflammation, and lung cancer, particularly in people who don’t smoke. Her work endeavours to understand how past environmental exposures shape the responses of lung cells and the molecular mechanisms underlying this cellular recall, with the aim to develop novel early detection strategies for lung disease.
