Staff Profile

Associate Professor Carmel Loughland is a member of the Priority Centre for Translational Neuroscience and Mental Health, and a academic within the Faculty of Medicine and Population Health, University of Newcastle. A/Professor Loughland is also a senior psychologist with several years practical experience as a registered psychologist (Registration No. PS0001366383) and is authorised to supervise intern and registered psychologists, and is also a registered Justice of the Peace (Registration No.129021).

A/Professor Loughland obtained her Ph.D from the University of Sydney in 2002. Her research focuses on visuo-cognition deficits, particularly face processing disturbances, in people with schizophrenia and other clinical disorders (i.e., affective disorder, borderline personality disorder, psychopathy). In 2002, she established an eye tracking laboratory purpose built for visual scanpath research at the McAuley Centre, Mater Hospital, Newcastle and has been successful in securing a number of research grants as chief investigator to pursue her projects (totalling $188,720). These included the prestigious US NARSAD Young Investigator Award, Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) Early Career Researcher Award, HMRI Project Grants as well as a NISAD Project Grant and three University of Newcastle Faculty of Health Equipment Grants. This research has resulted in a number of high quality publications. A/Professor Loughland has been invited to present her research findings at national and international scientific meetings, including keynote speaker and symposium chair invitations, and has been invited to present at several community mental health forums. She has held key roles in the organisation of national conferences.

In 1997,A/Professor Loughland established the Schizophrenia Research Institute’s Register (SRR) and is a founding member of the Hunter Medical Research Institute’s Volunteer Research Register (HMRI-VRR) established in 2003. These two resources engage the community in medical research by allowing volunteers to participate in research projects in their local area. Medical researchers are able to access these resources to recruit participants for their projects. To date, these two resources have supported over 400 research projects, and in the process reduced research costs and inform the public about medical research outcomes. Following on the success of the Register, A/Professor Loughland and collaborators obtained funding (The Percy Baxter Charitable Foundation; Australian Rotary Health Research Fund Research Grant) to establish the Hunter DNA Bank for Schizophrenia and Allied Disorder in 2003.

More recently, A/Professor Loughland and collaborators established the Australian Schizophrenia Research Bank (ASRB), which provides a national facility for genetic research into schizophrenia. NHMRC Enabling Grant (ID386500 - $1.75 M) and Pratt Foundation ($1.5M) funding was successfully obtained to establish the ASRB, which expands, enriches and links existing SRI programs of infrastructure to provide a national not-for-profit resource to support a wide spectrum of Australian and international schizophrenia research projects. A/Professor Loughland currently manages the ASRB and is responsible for overseeing recruitment, clinical assessment, neuropsychological measurement, MRI/DTI brain scanning and blood sample collection in people with schizophrenia and healthy controls. This unique resource has drawn significant national and international scientific attention and not only makes a valuable contribution to Australian medical research, but to the broader community through the provision of educational information.

A/Professor Loughland has appeared on several national television programs to discuss her research including ‘Sunrise’, ‘Foxtel News’ and current affairs programs such as ‘Today Extra’, and been interviewed several times on national and local radio.