Professor Ian Hickie
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Professor Ian Hickie

AM MD FRANZCP FASSA FAHM FRSN
NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow and Prof of Psychiatry
Translational Research Collective and Co-Director, Health and Policy, Brain and Mind Centre
Professor Ian Hickie

Professor Ian Hickie, Co-Director, Health and Policy at The University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre is a global leader in mental health research and digital innovations in care. He was an inaugural NHMRC Australian Fellow (2007-2012), then Senior Principal Research Fellow (2013-2017 and 2018-22), and is now supported at the highest level of personal Investigator Grants (2023-2027). He was an inaugural Commissioner on Australia’s National Mental Health Commission (2012-18) overseeing enhanced accountability for mental health reform and suicide prevention. He is an internationally renowned researcher in clinical psychiatry, with particular reference to digital innovation, youth mental health care and adolescent-onset mood disorders, notably depression and bipolar disorder.

Disclosure of external interests

  • Co-Director, Health and Policy at Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney
  • Chief Scientific Advisor to, and an equity shareholder in, Innowell. Innowell has been formed by the University of Sydney and PwC to deliver the $30m Australian Government-funded ‘Project Synergy’. Project Synergy is a three year program for the transformation of mental health services through the use of innovative technologies
  • Commissioner in Australia’s new National Mental Health Commission(2012-18)
  • Member of the Medical Advisory Panel for Medibank Private (2014-17)
  • Board Member of Psychosis Australia Trust (ended 2021)
  • Leads an investigator-initiated study of the effects of agomelatine on circadian parameters (supported in part by Servier)
  • Board member of headspace: the national youth mental health foundation (ended 2012)
  • Professor Hickie has led projects for health professionals and the community supported by governmental, community agency and pharmaceutical industry partners (Wyeth, Eli Lily, Servier, Pfizer, AstraZeneca) for the identification and management of depression and anxiety.
  • Professor Hickie has received honoraria for presentations of his own work at educational seminars supported by a number of non-government organisations and the pharmaceutical industry (including Servier, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Eli Lilly).

Professor Hickie’s clinical psychiatry research focuses on using new technologies (e.g. structural and functional neuroimaging; immune markers; circadian measurements) to delineate novel causes of depressive disorders, including the role of genetic (stress-sensitivity; disturbed circadian systems) and environmental factors (e.g. alcohol/substance misuse; dysfunctional relationships; infective illness; disturbed sleep patterns). He is internationally recognised for novel work in post-infective neuropsychiatric disorders (persistent fatigue states), for characterising the relevance of sub-cortical vascular disease to depression in the elderly, for leading population-based approaches to changing attitudes to mental health, and his role in increasing investments in new services (particularly youth services and e-mental health structures). In partnership with Professor McGorry, he has developed a clinical staging framework for emerging and severe mental disorders in young people. He is a key member of international studies (family and longitudinal studies) examining the onset of emerging mood disorders in the wider population.

Professor Hickie leads a NHMRC CRE for optimising treatments for young people with emerging mood disorders. He is also a chief investigator in the NHMRC CRE for improving suicide prevention in Australia, led by Professor Helen Christensen. He leads a long-term prospective study of adolescent twins, which involves tracking real-time developmental trajectories of the onset of anxiety and mood, psychotic or substance misuse disorders through adolescence and young adulthood. This unique study, now at the 20-year reassessment mark, will determine the extent to which neurobiological and genetic markers can predict outcomes, to help inform the development of novel prevention or early intervention strategies.

Passionate about driving evidence-based innovations in mental health care, including new e-healthcare service systems, He is the Chief Scientific Advisor to, and an equity shareholder in, Innowell. Innowell has been formed by the University of Sydney and PwC to deliver the $30m Australian Government-funded ‘Project Synergy’. Project Synergy is a three year program for the transformation of mental health services through the use of innovative technologies

Youth Mental Health and Technology Research projects lead by Prof ian Hickie are available via the website below.

https://www.sydney.edu.au/brain-mind/our-research/youth-mental-health-and-technology.html

Neurosciences and Mental Health, Healthy Ageing, Lifespan
Project titleResearch student
Understanding the Trajectories of Mental Illness in Young People to Inform Personalised CareWilliam CAPON
Validation of clinical staging in young adults with mood and psychotic disorders and the feasibility of its digital applicationMin CHONG
Evaluating a participatory systems modelling program to flatten the curve of mental ill health in young peopleGrace Lee LEE
Exploring the impact of the Thrive by Five app on early childhood educators’ behaviour, knowledge and attitudes towards the socio-emotional development of children aged 0-5 years in diverse contexts.Elena PETROU
A description of Torwali, a Dardic language of Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan for the purposes of teaching students who are native speakers of this language.Mujahid Torwali TORWALI

Selected publications

Publications

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Selected Grants

2023

  • Using AI to personalise treatment decisions in youth mental health services, Hickie I, Department of Health (Federal)/MRFF 2022 National Critical Research Infrastructure Grant

2022

  • Right care, first time: delivering technology-enabled mental health care to young people at scale, Hickie I, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Investigator Grant
  • Australian Eating Disorders Research & Translation Centre, Maguire S, Touyz S, Hickie I, Marks P, Simpson S, Department of Health (Federal)/Mental Health Program - National Eating Disorder Research Centre

Related research articles

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