Neuroscience and neuropsychiatry

• Neuropsychiatry of movement disorders, cognitive impairment and dementia
• Structural-functional correlative magnetic resonance neuroimaging in neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disease: endophenotype characterisation
• Subcortical neuroimaging biomarkers for neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disease
• Manual and automated segmentation of neuroanatomic structures in brain magnetic resonance images: computational neuroanatomy
• MRI processing, data analysis and computer visualisation
• Cognitive neuroscience and neuroanatomy of neurodegenerative disease
• Translational neuroimaging measures for clinical practice

Mental health, policy, administration, services and epidemiology

• Mental health services: private and public sector
• Medicare service data for psychiatrists and allied mental health practitioners
• Mental health policy, leadership and administration
• Population mental health & epidemiology
• Health economics

Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine Medical Education & Vocational Development

• Medical student teaching and assessment in Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine
• Strategic research and comprehensive research training in Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine
• Psychiatrist career and continuing professional development
• Medico-political professional organisation leadership, structure and function

Associate Professor Jeffrey Looi is a clinical academic neuropsychiatrist, leading an international research network on cognitive neuroscience and structural neuroimaging biomarkers in neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disease. As an active clinician, he conducts clinical practice, mental health service/policy and population mental health research. He qualified MBBS (1992), and has been awarded two research higher doctorates, MD (2011) from the ANU and DMedSc (2018) from the University of Melbourne, the highest level of research degree awarded by these Universities. He is board certified as a consultant physician in psychiatry (FRANZCP, 1999) and has qualifications in medical administration (AFRACMA, 2006). A Foundation Faculty member since 2003, he is Associate Professor and has been Discipline Lead/Head since August 2016, Academic Unit of Psychiatry & Addiction Medicine, ANU School of Medicine & Psychology. He was appointed as a Clinical Associate Professor at the Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, University of Melbourne 2015-2019 and a Visiting Guest Researcher, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden 2006-2016. He works in clinical practice two days per week.

Professor Looi has received multiple international research and leadership awards, including: a Fulbright Scholarship at the Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, UCLA Medical School (2005); Australian Davos Connection Future Summit Leadership award (2006); and a Young Psychiatrist Award from the Pacific Rim College of Psychiatrists (2012). He has been a senior medico-political representative with the Australian Medical Association and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists for nearly two decades; and is an author/co-author on more than 315 peer-reviewed papers and 100+ other publications (Google Scholar h-index:34, i10-index:91 citations: 5387).

In January 2024, he commenced as Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed medical scientific journal, Australasian Psychiatry, published by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, through Sage.

The international research network he leads is AUSSIE, the Australian United States Scandinavian/Spanish Imaging Exchange. This network focuses on mentoring medical researchers in collaborative clinical neuropsychiatry and neuroscience research. A number of collaborators have received local, national and international awards for their research excellence.

In 2020-2021, Professor Looi co-founded with Professors Stephen Allison, Tarun Bastiampillai, and Stephen Kisely, the Consortium of Australian-Academic Psychiatrists for Independent Policy and Research Analysis (CAPIPRA), a virtual mental health research and policy network he coordinates at the ANU Medical School, Canberra, Australia. The Consortium has published over 100 collaborative papers since inception, influencing public and private sector mental healthcare policy and practice.

Clinical Research

• Mental Health Services/Policy and Population Mental Health: governance, service delivery and resource allocation in mental health services, private mental health services, telehealth for mental health, population suicide rates and aetiological factors including economics, continuing professional development, leadership and psychiatric/medical expertise (T. Bastiampillai, S. Allison, S.R. Kisely, William Pring, Rebecca E. Reay, P.A. Maguire, J.C.L. Looi)

Neuroimaging Analysis Network

• Australian United States Scandinavian/Spanish Imaging Exchange (AUSSIE)

• Collaborators: University of Melbourne; Karolinska Institute Huddinge, Stockholm; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Lund University & Skane University Hospital, Lund; University of Southern California; University of Wollongong; University of Western Australia; University of Notre Dame, Fremantle; University of New South Wales; Complutense University Madrid & Hospital Clinico San Carlos Madrid.

Design, Methodology, Analysis & Project Management

• Design and project management of international clinical neuroimaging research projects
• Manual and automated segmentation of brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) datasets
• MRI processing, data analysis and computer visualisation
• Correlation of clinical, neuropsychological and behavioural measurements with structural MRI data
• Translational neuroimaging measures for clinical practice
• Analysis of Medicare Benefits Schedule service provision for mental healthcare
• Psychiatric epidemiology research

Structural-functional correlative neuroimaging analysis of:

• mild cognitive impairment and dementias (frontotemporal lobar degeneration, age-related vascular disease, Alzheimer's disease),
• movement disorders (Parkinson's and Huntington's disease, progressive supranuclear palsy),
• & other neuropsychiatric disorders

 

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Graduate Scholars (MChD program, ANU)

MChD Project 2022-2023

• Two positions filled - Veera Bordia, Vanessa Goh
• No position remains available

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Undergraduate Honours Students

Neuroscience Honours/Masters

• Opportunities available
  

Supervised Postgraduate Scholars

PhD

• Opportunities available
  

• Exploring the use of telehealth for outpatient psychiatric care in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic (PhD, Dr Luke Woon, MD, Doctor of Psychiatry, Psychiatrist & Lecturer in Psychiatry, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia - Australian National University Medical School)
  

Masters Degree

• Opportunities available 

Co-supervised Postgraduate Scholars

• Opportunities available

 

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Other research supervision/start-up collaborators

Early Career Collaborators

• Multimodal analysis of cortico-striatal-thalamic loops in bvFTD [Dr David Jakabek, BSc, MPsych (Clinical), MBBS, University of Wollongong, FRACP Trainee - with Lund University, Sweden and University of Notre Dame, Fremantle, WA]

 

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Recent Alumni from Research Supervision

Professor Looi was awarded the Dean's Commendation for Excellence in Education for Research Supervision in 2021, from the ANU College of Health and Medicine.

Graduate Scholars (MChD program, ANU)

MChD Project 2020-2021 (co-supervised by Dr Paul Maguire)

• May Erlinger - Subcortical neuroimaging of Parkinsons and Parkinsons Plus disease
• Conor Lawrence - Systematic narrative review

MChD Project 2019-2020 (co-supervised by Dr Zain Hindawi)

• Maddison Brian - Systematic narrative review
• Ned Cotter - Systematic narrative review
• Anneka Jolly - Systematic narrative review
• Sheraz Majoka - Systematic narrative review

MChD Project 2018-2019

• Nicola Marshall - Systematic narrative review of treatment in Parkinson's disease (Co-supervised by Dr Zain Hindawi) - Received research project award for Systematic Reviews
• Aiden Brumby - Thalamic morphology and correlates in Parkinson's disease and related disorders

MChD Project 2017-2018

• Striatal Morphology in Parkinsonian Disorders: subcortical morphology and correlation with neuropsychiatric manifestations, (Daniel Cordas & Michael Hunter with Hospital Clinico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain)

MChD Postgraduate Medical Research Project Students

• Measurement of intercaudate distance on MRI as a potential clinical biomarker in Parkinson's disease (MChD [ANU], Mr Conan Hall)
• Structural-functional correlative neuroimaging of treatment-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy prior to hippocampal resection: hippocampal and related morphology (MChD [ANU],  Dr Jae-Gon Yoo, BPharm [Hons] - with Lund University, Monash University & University of Melbourne - former Canberra Hospital PPF Vacation Scholar -Awarded Best Presentation MBBS Project Night 2014 - now Radiology Registrar, Adelaide)

Undergraduate Honours Students (2016)

• Striatal morphology in mild cognitive impairment: corrrelation with clinicopathological features (PhB Honours, Class I [RSB, ANU], Mr Vlad Marinov with RSB, ANU and Lund University, Sweden, currently Medical (MChD) student)

• Striatal morphology in vascular dementia and subjective cognitive impairment: case-control study and corrrelatiive analysis (BSc(Adv) RSB, ANU], Mr Morgan See with RSB and CRAHW, ANU and Karolinska Institute, Sweden)

Masters Graduates

• Striatal morphology in neurodegenerative disease and schizophrenia (Master of Neuroscience - Advanced, JCSMR, ANU - Ms Catherine Yiru Guo - with University of Melbourne - graduation July 2020)

• Investigation of 3 Dimensional shape analysis of the thalamus in the IMAGE-HD cohort - 2017 Master of Neuroscience Advanced [JCSMR, ANU] (Ms Lisa Furlong, BPsyc[Hons] - now PhD student, Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, University of Melbourne)

• Longitudinal volumetry and shape analysis of the striatum in a cohort with leukoaraiosis - a pilot study - 2014 (MPhil [ANU] - A/Prof Matthew Macfarlane, BHB, MBChB, FRANZCP, Clinical Associate Professor, University of Wollongong Graduate School of Medicine - with the EU, Karolinska Institute & University of Melbourne - RANZCP Early Psychiatrist Career Award 2014)

• Striatal morphology and clinical correlates in Parkinson's disease -2014 (Master of Neuroscience-Research [JCSMR, ANU]  - Mr Conor Owens-Walton, BA, BSc [Psychol, Internat. Relations] - with Lund University & University of Melbourne - Research Scholarship 2014)

PhD

• PhD cum laude: Un estudio de neuroimagen en Trastornos de la Conducta Alimentaria: análisis del procesamiento emocional en relación con los antecedentes traumáticos (A neuroimaging study of eating disorders: analysis of emotional processing in relation to traumatic events) - 2014 (co-director for Complutense University Madrid, PhD - Dr Rosa Molina-Ruiz, MD, Consultant Psychiatrist & Clinical Academic)

• Motor electrophysiology and striatal morphology in Huntington disease (co-supervisor for ANU, PhD - 2016 - Dr Lauren Turner BSc (Psychol) [Hons], MChD, ANU [currently]; Formerly Registered Psychologist & Currently Medical Practitioner - Radiology Registrar, Adelaide)

• Novel neuroimaging biomarkers in Parkinson’s Disease: subcortical morphology and correlation with neuropsychiatric manifestations, {PhD [ANU] Dr Conor Owens-Walton, BA, BSc [Psychol, Internat. Relations], MNeurosci(Research) with Lund University, Sweden} Research award conferred April 2020; Now Postdoctoral Researcher, Imaging Genetics Center, University of Southern California, CA, USA.
• ANU story about Conor: https://medicalschool.anu.edu.au/study/student-stories/course-inspired-career-brain-research

• Structural-functional correlative neuroimaging of Huntington's disease - multimodal morphology (MChD/PhD [ANU], Dr Fiona Wilkes, BSc (Psychol) [Hons] & MChD[2014] - with Monash University & University of Melbourne - RANZCP New Investigator Grant Awardee 2013; Academic Registrar in Psychiatry, Canberra Health Services) - Conferred July 2021.

•  Psychological and cognitive outcomes of delirium in intensive care units (co-supervisor for UNSW, PhD - Ms Daniella Bulic, BSc [Hons], BaSW, MEc - Conferred June 2021.

Psychiatry Specialist Trainee Scholarly Project (RANZCP & ANU Medical School)

• Uptake of Medicare Benefits Schedule Telehealth Item Numbers by Privately-Billing Psychiatrists during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Victoria, Australia.
   (Dr Evani Hewa Koneputugodage, Psychiatry Specialist Trainee, Canberra Health Services - Project Passed, February 2022)

• Striatal morphology in elderly persons with bipolar disorder.
   (Dr Bjorn Cartledge, BMBS, FRANZCP, now Staff Specialist Psychiatrist, Adelaide, SA - Project Passed, June 2023)

• The changing psychiatry workforce in Australia: still lacking in rural and remote regions  (Dr Catherine Hayter, MChD, Psychiatry Specialist Trainee, Canberra Health ServicesACT - Project Passed, January 2024)

Certificate of Old Age Psychiatry, RANZCP

• Sub-specialist advanced training qualification in Old Age Psychiatry & completion of systematic narrative review scholarly project, (Dr Zain Hindawi,  BSc (Otago), MBBS (Syd), FRANZCP, Cert. Old Age Psychiatry)

• Sub-specialist advanced training qualification in Old Age Psychiatry & completion of narrative review dissertation (published), (Dr May Matias, MBBS (UWA), FRANZCP, Cert. Old Age Psychiatry, Cert. Psychotherapy)

• Sub-specialist advanced training qualification in Old Age Psychiatry(Dr Matthew Brazel, MBBS, FRANZCP, Cert. Old Age Psychiatry)

• Sub-specialist advanced training qualification in Old Age Psychiatry(Dr Bjorn Cartledge, BMBS, FRANZCP, now Staff Specialist Psychiatrist, Adelaide, SA, Cert. Old Age Psychiatry)

Selected MBBS Research Projects (20+ students supervised since 2004)

• Caudate nucleus volumes in stroke and vascular dementia (Drs Vanessa Tatham and Ellen Millard - MBBS Research Project)
• Validation of manual segmentation protocol for the putamen for MRI (Dr Huong Nguyen - MBBS Research Project)
• Caudate nucleus volumes in eating disorders (Ms Lujing Liu - MBBS Research Project)
• Structural-functional correlative neuroimaging of temporal lobe epilepsy - hippocampal morphology (MBBS Research Project, Mr Jae-Gon Yoo)
• Structural-functional correlative neuroimaging in a neurodegenerative disease cohort - caudate nucleus morphology (MBBS Research Project, Mr Sam Norman)
• Structural-functional correlative neuroimaging of progressive supranuclear palsy - thalamic morphology (MChD Research Project, Mr Mitchell Hunter-Dickson - with Lund University & University of Melbourne)

Vacation Scholars

• Bicaudate and other subcortical measurement profiles on MRI as clinical translational diagnostic aids in neurodegenerative disease - (Mr Conor Owens-Walton - Canberra Hospital PPF Vacation Scholarship)
• Structural-functional correlative neuroimaging of PSP - striatal morphology (Ms Suhaila Kamrani & Ms Carla Borg-Caruana - Canberra Hospital PPF Vacation Scholarship)
• Striatal volumes in Niemann-Pick C Disease (Mr Vivek Baskaran - Canberra Hospital Private Practice Fund Vacation Scholarship)
• Cerebellar vermis volumes in progressive supranuclear palsy (Ms Sandy Ye-Gi Kim - Canberra Hospital Private Practice Fund Vacation Scholarship)
• Reliability of Hippocampal Segmentation in MRI for Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (Mr Jae-Gon Yoo - Canberra Hospital Private Practice Fund Vacation Scholarship)