Biography

Professor Amanda Baker is a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Senior Research Fellow. She is a senior clinical psychologist who has practised in the United Kingdom and Australia. Her research focuses on the challenging area of psychological treatment of comorbidity (co-existing mental health and tobacco, alcohol and other drug problems). Since 2000, she has been a Chief Investigator on 16 NHMRC grants (total $10,093,086), with 9 as CIA. These projects have typically involved multi-site randomized controlled trials of psychological interventions among people with severe mental disorders and substance use problems. Her total research income since appointment to the University of Newcastle in 1995 is $18,064,559.

Professor Baker’s research has been supported by NHMRC fellowships continuously since 2003: firstly by a Career Development Award (2003-2007), then by the five-year Senior Research Fellowship (2008-2012) followed by a second five-year Senior Research Fellowship in conjunction with the Trans Tasman Award (2013-2017). (Total NHMRC CDA/SRF funding: $1,731,838; bringing total NHMRC funding to $11,824,924).

She is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including the 2011 Hunter Medical Research Institute Senior Researcher Award for Research Excellence, the 2010 Senior Scientist Award: Australasian Professional Society for Alcohol and Other Drugs, and the 2009 Excellence in Research, National Drug and Alcohol Awards: Alcohol and Drug Council of Australia.

Professor Baker has over 150 publications. These include 109 articles in peer reviewed journals (37 first author), including 9 papers (6 first author) in the leading journal in the alcohol and other drug field, and recent publications in the American and British Journals of Psychiatry. She is the chief editor of two books: National Drug Strategy Monograph 32: “Models of intervention and care for psychostimulant users, 2nd edition” (Commonwealth of Australia, 2004) and “Clinical Handbook of Co-existing Mental Health and Drug and Alcohol Problems”, co-edited by Professor Richard Velleman, (Routledge, 2007). She has co-authored 5 national amphetamine treatment clinician guidelines and 8 treatment manuals for comorbidity.

In 2006, Prof Baker was appointed Convenor, Services and Intervention Division, Research Management Committee of the newly formed University of Newcastle Priority Research Centre for Brain and Mental Health, and in March 2008 was promoted to Deputy Director of the Priority Research Centre (relinquished in March 2010). In July 2010 she was appointed Deputy Head of School – Research (School of Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Health, University of Newcastle), embedding her mentoring programme, ‘Strategies Targeting Academic Researchers’ (STARs).

When she took up her position at the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia, in 1995, Professor Baker successfully initiated and developed a Graduate Certificate, Master and Masters (Hons) of Health Science (Drug and Alcohol Studies), initially available on-campus and then via distance learning mode. She was awarded a National Teaching Grant in 1997, together with the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction, for the project titled “Clinical Skills Training: Effective Approaches to Alcohol and Other Drug Problems”. She is renowned for her generous research supervision and mentoring of early career researchers.

During the last few years she has made important contributions to the research and professional communities as a member of the NSW Health Department Centre for Drug and Alcohol Research Advisory Committee (2006-2009), the NHMRC Training Fellowship Population Health Review Panel (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011) and the NHMRC Project Grants Review Panel (2009, 2011) and as Vice-President (2010-2012) and President (2012-2014) of the Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.

Qualifications

• PhD, University of New South Wales
• Master of Psychology, University of Sydney
• Bachelor of Arts (Psychology), University of New South Wales

Research

Research keywords

• CBT
• Comorbidity
• Psychosis
• Substance Use
• clinical trials
• depression
• mental health
• psychological treatment

Research expertise

Randomised controlled trials evaluating psychological interventions for mental health problems, substance use problems and comorbid problems.

Languages

• English

Fields of Research

Centres and Groups

Centre

• Hunter Medical Research Institute
• PRC - Priority Research Centre for Translational Neuroscience and Mental Health (CTNMH)

Group

• Hunter Medical Research Institute - Brain and Mental Health

Memberships

Body relevant to professional practice.

• Member - Australian Professional Society for Alcohol and Other Drugs

Editorial Board.

• Member - Mental Health and Substance Use: Dual Diagnosis
• Editor - Drug and Alcohol Review

Appointments

Awards

Research Award.