XClose

Children and Young People's Mental Health

Home
Menu

Meet the committee

Meet our committee of Early Career Researchers (ECRs) in Children and Young People's Mental Health (CYPMH)

Pezzoli Patrizia, CYPMH ECR committee chair
Dr Patrizia Pezzoli (committee chair)
Lecturer, University College London, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences
Email: p.pezzoli@ucl.ac.uk
Twitter: @PatriziaPezzoli

 

I studied Neuropsychology and Neuroscience in Italy (BSc University of Turin, MSc University of Padua). I then worked in the private sector for four years before starting a PhD in Psychology (Åbo Akademi University, Finland). My doctoral research mainly examined the aetiological influences on childhood maltreatment and mental health. I also completed a postdoctoral fellowship (University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, Canada), where my research focused on the neurocognitive deficits associated with antisocial behaviour. During this time I also got involved with local ECR networks in Neuroscience and Mental Health as a trainee representative. 

I joined UCL in October 2021 to support the implementation of the CYPMH Strategy, which includes supporting ECRs in this area. I also co-convene on the Genes and Behaviour course, and I conduct research on the aetiological influences and mechanisms leading to negative mental health and interpersonal outcomes. 

The broader goal of my research is to elucidate the risk factors that may increase risk of experiencing and/or perpetrating interpersonal violence, and to inform preventative interventions.


Jeanne_Wolstencroft_ECR
Dr Jeanne Wolstencroft
Research Fellow, UCL’s Great Ormond Street Institute of Child health
Email: j.wolstencroft@ucl.ac.uk
Twitter: @JeanneWols

 

After studying for a BSc in Neuroscience, I worked for an online start-up the arts sector. I returned to academia to complete an MSc in Psychology, after which I joined the Great Ormond Street UCL Institute of Child Health to complete my PhD and work on the national IMAGINE ID study (Intellectual Disability and Mental Health: Assessing the Genomic Impact on Neurodevelopment). 

My PhD piloted the online delivery of a social skills training programme for girls with a rare genetic disorder called Turner Syndrome. I’m currently developing a video-based autism screening tool for children aged 7 to 12 years olds for parents and an online observation schedule for clinicians.

I have two main research interests; one is focused on understanding the impact of co-occurring mental health difficulties in children and young people with neurodevelopmental disorders and/or rare genetic disorders. The other is how best to use technology to improve the identification of autism in children, and digital approaches to psycho-social intervention.


Wikus Barkhuizen, CYPMH ECR committee
Dr Wikus Barkhuizen
Research Fellow, University College London, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences
Email: w.barkhuizen@ucl.ac.uk
Twitter: @WikusBarkhuizen

 

Prior to joining academia, I was a practitioner, assistant psychologist and manager in the voluntary sector and the NHS, working in substance misuse treatment services in London. During this time, I completed my BSc in Psychology at Birkbeck. I obtained my MSc from King’s College London in Early Intervention in Psychosis. My PhD, at the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development at Birkbeck, was on adolescent psychotic experiences such as paranoia, how these experiences overlap with mental health conditions, and its association with tobacco use.

I joined UCL as a postdoctoral researcher in January 2020. In this post, my main research projects focussed on the aetiology and the intergenerational transmission of childhood ADHD. I obtained a Sir Henry Wellcome postdoctoral fellowship in 2022. During this fellowship, I will be investigating whether shared biological pathways and causal relationships may explain associations between health-related behaviours and mental health outcomes in children and young people. 

I am interested in advancing our understanding of the early development of adverse mental health in the general population to ultimately improve prevention and early intervention efforts. I mainly use genetically informed designs in my research.


Ramya Srinivasan, CYPMH ECR committee
Dr Ramya Srinivasan
Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Fellow and Honorary Clinical Fellow, University College London, Division of Psychiatry and East London NHS Foundation Trust
Email: ramya.srinivasan.12@ucl.ac.uk

 

After studying Neuroscience and Medicine at Cambridge and Oxford, I undertook my foundation training and was fortunate to undertake a placement in Psychiatry which confirmed my interest in working in mental health. I undertook my core training in North London and during this time developed a strong interest in the developmental aspects of mental health problems so chose to specialise in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. I undertook my specialist training on the Great Ormond Street and Royal London Hospital training scheme as an Academic Clinical Fellow due to my growing interest in research and subsequently chose to develop these skills by undertaking a PhD. My PhD focusses on the relationships between childhood irritability and adolescent depression, and my clinical work is currently based in an adolescent inpatient unit. 

I have a broad range of interests including adolescent mental health, neurodevelopmental disorders and how childhood mental health is related to adult mental health. I am also interested in translational research and interventions.