News & Events

Professor Bernhard Baune, Cato Chair & Head of Department of Psychiatry and Co-Head, Mental Health Theme, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health has resigned effective 28 February 2018.

Jan Mariani recognised with Melbourne Medical School Reward and Recognition Award

A new brain scanning technique reveals how changes in white and grey matter seen in schizophrenia are linked, and how the brain compensates for these changes, at least in the illness’s early stages.

Professor Bernhard Baune has accepted an honorary appointment at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health and will co-head the Mental Health Theme with Professor Andrew Lawrence. Read more

The Department of Psychiatry Awards event was held on the 4 December 2018. It was a pleasure to have the newly appointed Head of Melbourne Medical School, Professor John Prins, attend to present some awards. The awards which included Master of Psychiatry Teaching Awards and the John Adey Award and the John Cade Memorial Medal Award for 2017.  The Bruce Singh Award was presented by Professor Bruce Singh.

Dr Harry Hill wins Royal College of Psychiatrists (UK) Faculty of Rehabilitation and Social Psychiatry’s 2018 Douglas Bennett prize.

Department of Psychiatry Travelling Scholarships are now open until December 2018.Further information is found at the following links.Graham Burrows Travelling ScholarshipThe Nikolaos and Dimitra Pantelis Travelling Scholarship

The Department of Psychiatry was pleased to award the inaugural recipient of the Nikolaos and Dimitra Pantelis Travelling Scholarship earlier this year to Dr Ye Tian.

Congratulations to Dr Tamsyn Van Rheenen of the Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre in the Department of Psychiatry, on being awarded a prestigious Club Melbourne Fellowship.

The annual Alice Barber Public Lecture is co-sponsored by the Department of Psychiatry and the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences who organise the lecture in alternating years. the title of his presentation was "Putting People first - a personalised approach to Mental Health".

"Psychiatry in the Digital Age" 16 August 2018The Annual Psychiatry Research Department of Psychiatry Symposium was held on 16th August 2018. The symposium was organised by the Department's Research sub-committee led by Associate Professor Ben Harrison together with Ms Jan Mariani. The Symposium was opened by Professor Bernhard Baune, Cato Chair and Head of Department of Psychiatry.This year’s theme was Psychiatry in the Digital Age.  The keynote speaker Scientia Professor Helen Christensen, Director and Chief Scientist of the Black Dog Institute guided the audience through her research in digital interventions for suicide prevention. Other speakers included Dr Peter Koval and Ms Fiona Foley.  Early career researchers presented their cutting edge research in mental health.Award prizes for the best posters were Marjolein Bareness, Carolina Barbosa and Dhamidhu Eratne and the oral presentation winner was Carra Aven Simpson.

Learn how an early interest in mental health led Tamsyn Van Rheenen to study bipolar disorder with a view to identifying new treatments.

Shenzhen Kangning Hospital has a long-term partnership with Department of Psychiatry under the Three Famous Project, which encompasses research, training and clinical supervision across a range of areas in mental health and psychiatry.   Department of Psychiatry Professor and FMDHS China Program member, Chee Ng delivered training to nearly 200 mental health professionals in Shenzhen, China from 11-15 June 2018.

The MMS departments at the Royal Melbourne Hospital (Parkville Precinct) held their Student Award Presentations on Friday, May 25

Professor Bernhard Baune (PhD, MD, MPH, FRANZCP) has been appointed as our new Cato Chair and Head of the Department of Psychiatry and will take up his position from 13 August 2018.

From a cup of tea behind the lines, to sophisticated psychological therapies, we are still working to improve treatments for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder By Catriona May, University of Melbourne

Emeritus Professor David Ames AO who has specialised in old age psychiatry since 1985 presented "Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease – a psychiatrist’s view" at the Annual Department of Psychiatry Beattie Smith Lecture on Tuesday, 8 May 2018 .His talk reviewed some of the progress that has been made in our understanding of dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease over the past three decades, with specific reference to work undertaken by staff of the University of Melbourne.

The PhD Mental Health Program is a joint initiative of the University's Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, Centre for Mental Health, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of Psychiatry and will offer a unified training experience to PhD students addressing mental health from diverse disciplinary perspectives - psychiatry, psychology, epidemiology and community mental health, history, psychiatric nursing, among others.Students registered with the program will remain enrolled in their current faculties but will take part in a suite of activities that include joint seminars, colloquium series, peer learning and mentoring opportunities. For further information Visit the website link

Professor David Coghill from the University of Melbourne and Dr Alice Morgan from the Royal Children’s Hospital were invited by Shenzhen Kangning Hospital to provide a three-day training workshop in Shenzhen on Treating Depression in Adolescents using Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.

The Department of Psychiatry Awards event was held on the 7 December 2017. Professor Malcolm Hopwood presented the awards which included included Master of Psychiatry Teaching Awards, John Adey Award and the John Cade Memorial Medal Award.  The Bruce Singh Award was presented by Professor Bruce Singh.

Professor Chris Pantelis, from the Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, was invited to make a keynote speech in China International Neuropsychiatry Imaging Research Forum held in Shenzhen on 8 November 2017. Over 70 neuropsychiatry imaging professionals across China attended this forum.

Applications for Travelling Fellowship and Scholarship to be taken in 2018 have closed.

Dr Tamsyn Van Rheenen, from the Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry was highly commended for mental health research.Early Career Research Fellow,  Dr Tamsyn Van Rheenen (pictured with Professors Susan Rossell and Christos Pantelis) was highly commended in the 2017 Research Australia Health and Medical Research Award for her work investigating cognition in people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

The John and Betty Lynch Fellowship Lecture Program is made possible through the generosity of Ms Betty C Lynch OAM and her late husband, Mr John Lynch. The Fellowship is an international collaboration with renowned scholars in the areas of bipolar disorder and other related serious mental illnesses, with a focus on sharing their knowledge with Australian academia and the community on current research and treatment options.Professor Allan Young was invited to present  "Lithium: from toxic placebo to magic ion?" on  Tuesday, 24 October 2017.

An initiative of Phoenix Australia the Centenary of Anzac Centre was launched on Friday 15th September, the Centenary of Anzac Centre was launched at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance by the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, the Hon Dan Tehan MP.

The School is delighted to announce a new interdisciplinary PhD Program in Mental Health, which will have its first intake in 2018.

The Department of Psychiatry welcomes Dr Xiaojian Jia, Dr Xiaoyin Ke and Dr Zhiwen Zeng from Shenzhen Kangning Hospital. Professor Chris Pantelis, Professor Nicola Lautenschlager and Ms Lina Pepe, on behalf of the Department, hosted a welcome session on Friday 1st of September 2017.

The Department farewells Professor Ian Everall who has held the Cato Chair in Psychiatry and Head of the Department of Psychiatry since November 2009.

In celebrating tripartite psychiatric research and education collaboration between Peking University, the University of Melbourne and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and highlighting Mental Health in Ageing, the Department of Psychiatry held the Annual Psychiatry Research Symposium in Melbourne on 10th August 2017. The symposium was organised by the Department's Research sub-committee led by Associate Professor Ben Harrison together with Ms Yue Li and Ms Jan Mariani.The Symposium was opened by Professor Shitij Kapur, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. Professor Qimin Zhan, Vice President, Peking University and Professor Yun Kwok Wing, Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry, the Chinese University of Hong Kong attended the symposium.Leading principal investigators from the University of Melbourne, the Peking University, Beijing and the Chinese University of Hong Kong showcased their latest psychiatric research and studies, which no doubt will have long lasting benefits for people with mental illness, families and communities. Keynote speaker Professor Ashley Bush from The Florey - Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health guided the audience through his ground breaking research in Alzheimer’s disease.   Early career researchers presented their cutting edge research in mental health.  Award prizes for the best poster presentation went to Ms Kate Bray and the oral presentation winner was Ms Hayley Drake.

An Australian-first research program will help improve treatment for military personnel and veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Congratulations to Dr Chad Bousman for his Lancet Psychiatry paper, Commercial pharmacogenetic-based decision-support tools in psychiatry, being selected as one of NEJM Journal Watch Psychiatry’s Top 10 Stories of 2016.

The Department of Psychiatry Awards event was held on the 8 December 2016. Professor Shitij Kapur, Dean of MDHS together with Professor Ian Everall presented the awards.

Inspired by his aunt's illness, Professor Christos Pantelis has pursued a career in schizophrenia research in the hope of discovering better treatment for sufferers.

Mental ill-health affects all Australians across their life span – whether it’s a personal experience of anxiety and depression or playing a support role to a family member or friend.

The Department of Psychiatry and Wenzhou Medical University Affiliated Kangning Hospital have signed a memorandum of understanding to establish an International Collaborating Centre focusing on research, training and academic fellow exchange of depression and related disorders.