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Queensland research trio make the highly cited list for work in mental health

Good things have come in threes this week for the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research (QCMHR), with a trio of the Centre’s top researchers making the annual Clarivate™ highly cited researchers list for 2020.

The list identifies researchers who are most frequently cited by their peers over the last decade with fewer than 6,200 researchers from across 21 research fields worldwide earning this distinction in 2020.

For the fields of Psychiatry and Psychology, QCMHR researchers, Professor John McGrath, Professor Harvey Whiteford, and Dr Alize Ferrari are three of only fourteen researchers from across Australia to make the highly cited list.

QCMHR Director and highly cited researcher, Professor John McGrath, said it was an honour to be a highly cited researcher for the third year running, and testament to the quality of research being conducted at QCMHR that three of their team had made the list.

“It is amazing to think we have three of the world’s most highly cited researchers right here in the one institution,” Professor McGrath said.

“This recognition of our contribution to mental health research affirms QCMHR’s place as Queensland’s premier mental health research facility where we are working across the research spectrum from genetics and neurobiology, in clinical trials, child and youth metal health, forensic mental health, and at the policy and translation end, to improve outcomes for people with mental illness, their carers, and families.”

As well established researchers in the field of mental health, Professors Whiteford and McGrath have made the highly cited list for three consecutive years – Professor McGrath for his work in discovering the causes of serious mental disorders, while Professor Whiteford has been acknowledged for his work in measuring the burden of mental and substance use disorders in the population, and how to improve the health system to efficiently and equitably reduce that burden.

Dr Alize Ferrari is new to the list, and at only 33 years of age, is one of the youngest female researchers to have made the highly cited list for her work in the field of Indigenous psychiatric epidemiology and burden of mental disorders.

It is not the first time Dr Ferrari’s research in psychiatric epidemiology has been recognised – she took out the Thomson Reuters Australian Women in Research citation award in 2016 alongside some of Australia’s most promising young researchers.

Professor McGrath is certain Dr Ferrari will be making an impact in the field for some time to come.

“Alize is an inspiring young researcher, whose main contribution has been in leading the mental disorders team within the Global Burden of Disease Study led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington – the work they undertake in providing annual mental disorder outputs is essential to improving health systems and eliminating disparities around the globe.”

Based at The Park Centre for Mental Health at Wacol, Brisbane, the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research is a unique partnership between West Moreton Hospital and Health Service, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, and The University of Queensland’s School of Public Health and Queensland Brain Institute.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

In the spirit of reconciliation, the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research (QCMHR) acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the lands in which QCMHR operates and their continuing connections to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present and stand together with all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.