The University of Bath has recruited leading psychiatric geneticist Professor Laura Huckins from Yale University as Chair of Population Health, as part of a £54 million UKRI Global Talent Fund to bring top researchers to the UK.
Bath is one of just 12 universities selected for the scheme, which supports recruitment into priority areas driving economic growth, including life sciences.
The cohort was announced at a reception at Number 10 Downing Street on Wednesday 10 June attended by Professor Huckins along with Vice-Chancellor and President of the University, Professor Phil Taylor.
Professor Taylor said: “Through the generous support of the UKRI Global Talent Fund, the University of Bath has been able to attract some of the world's best academic minds to the UK and I am delighted that Professor Laura Huckins is joining us from Yale.
“Laura's research has the potential to transform how we understand and treat conditions such as PTSD and eating disorders and reinforces our ambition to lead in mental health research that makes an impact on society."
World-leading expert in mental health genetics
Laura Huckins, currently Associate Professor at Yale University School of Medicine, is returning to the UK after over a decade in the US.
Her research primarily focuses on psychiatric disorders, with an emphasis on eating disorders (ED) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and aims to provide answers and treatments for vulnerable populations living with these diseases.
Professor Huckins is a world-leading expert in the study of the genetics behind ED, PTSD and chronic pain and serves as co-chair of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium Eating Disorders working group (PGC-ED), the largest global collaboration to establish genetic studies of EDs.
Her research combines genetic data and human brain studies to predict how individuals respond to their environment, helping identify who is most at risk of developing conditions such as PTSD or EDs.
She and her group will be based in the University’s Department of Life Sciences in the autumn.
How genetics influences responses to stress
Professor Huckins said: “We know that everyone reacts differently to stress, for example: even when exposed to a very traumatic event, not everyone will develop PTSD.
“We believe genetics plays an important role in this, alongside environmental, societal and personal health factors - such as BMI, pregnancy, puberty, menopause - which all contribute to how we respond to stress differently.
“The University of Bath is the perfect place in which to investigate the interplay between these factors, with access to large, powerful new datasets providing fantastic resources for our research. “The multi-disciplinary environment, and in particular the already outstanding research in pharmacology and drug development, provides opportunities for collaboration with group leaders whose perspectives I am excited to hear and incorporate into my own work. “Moreover, I hope that integration with an outstanding hospital network will provide opportunities to connect with clinical colleagues, and to centre the input of patients, and those with lived experiences, into my work.” Professor Duncan Craig, Dean of the Faculty of Science, said: “We are tremendously excited by the prospect of Laura joining us. Not only is she an exceptional scientist but her presence will also strategically bring together strands of genetics, population health and patient-facing care that are already priority areas within the University.
“We look forward very much to welcoming her to our community and are supremely confident that she will fit perfectly into our culture of innovation, collaboration and collegiality.”