Dr Nora S Vyas BSc (Hons) PhD CPsychol
Visiting Research Associate
Chartered Psychologist
Senior Research Fellow, BSMHFT
Visiting Lecturer and Module Leader, City University London
Honorary Lecturer and Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Department of Imaging, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London
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| contact this person | |
| address | Institute of Psychiatry |
| location | 7th floor Main Wing |
| departments | MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre Psychosis |
biography
Nora Vyas earned her PhD in Psychiatry/Psychiatric Genetics and Cognitive Neuroscience at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London (University of London, UK). She was supervised by Prof Sophia Frangou and Prof David Collier. Her PhD focused on investigating the functional impact of genetic variation of specific susceptibility genes on cognitive functioning in early onset schizophrenia (EOS; onset before the age of 18) and their biological relatives. As a postdoctoral researcher, she is working on projects which integrate cognition, genetics and neuroimaging techniques to gain better insights into the pathophysiology of early onset schizophrenia and individuals at-risk mental state.
Dr Vyas has been awarded the 2008 Young Researcher Award by the Third International Conference on Schizophrenia, 2009 Young Scientist Award by the Ninth World Congress on Biological Psychiatry, and 2010-11 Fulbright Distinguished Scholar Award by the Fulbright Commission.
Dr Vyas has been awarded several fellowships to present components of her research on early onset schizophrenia at conferences in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Portugal, France, Denmark, India, USA and the UK.
Dr Vyas is Senior Research Fellow at BSMHFT (Prof SP Singh and Prof M Birchwood), Visiting Lecturer, Module Leader and Tutor at City University London, and Honorary Lecturer and Post-doctoral Research Fellow at Imperial College London.
Following from her PhD at the IOP, she has maintained her research links with academics at the Department of Psychiatry (Prof RM Murray, Dr JF Powell), MRC SGDP Research Centre (Dr KJ Aitchison) and Department of Psychology (Prof V Kumari). She is also working in collaboration with researchers at the University of Warwick, Imperial College London (MRC/ Nuclear Medicine Department), NIMH, Emory University School of Medicine, and Zucker Hillside Hospital (NY).
activities and interests
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Early-onset schizophrenia, schizophrenia, neuropsychology, endophenotypes, molecular genetics, and neuroimaging, specifically diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging.
AWARDS
Young Researcher Award (2008)
Award in recognition of the Best Original Research work done by young mental health professionals on Schizophrenia. She presented her work on the influence of KIBRA (a novel brain protein) on cognition in a sample of adolescent-onset schizophrenia. Third International Conference on Schizophrenia.
Young Scientist Award (2009)
Award in recognition of the Best Abstract on the impact of serotonin receptor 2A on cognition in early onset schizophrenia. Ninth World Congress on Biological Psychiatry.
Fulbright Distinguished Scholar Award (2010-11)
UK-US Fulbright Commission King’s Ezine
teaching activities
Abnormal and Clinical Psychology
Externally, Dr Vyas is Lecturer, Module Leader and Tutor for Abnormal and Clinical Psychology (3rd year, Undergraduate Programme) at City University London.
Dr Vyas has been invited to give lectures on the intercalated BSc degree in psychology and the Intercalated BSc in Neuroscience and Neuropsychology module at the Institute of Psychiatry, KCL.
| Role | Course |
|---|---|
| Psychology » BSc (Intercalated) | |
| Neuroscience and Neuropsychology pathway » BSc (Intercalated) in Neuroscience |
publications
Peer Reviewed Original Articles
Vyas NS, Hadjulis M, Vourdas A, Byrne P, Frangou S (2007). The Maudsley Early Onset Schizophrenia Study: Predictors of psychosocial outcome at 4-year follow-up. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 16 (7), 465-470.
Kyriakopoulos M, Vyas NS, Barker GJ, Chitnis XA, Frangou S (2008). A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study of White Matter in Early-Onset Schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry, 63 (5), 519-523.
Kyriakopoulos M, Perez-Iglesias R, Woolley JB, Kanaan RAA, Vyas NS, Barker GJ, Frangou S, McGuire PK (2009). Effect of age at onset of schizophrenia on white matter abnormalities. British Journal of Psychiatry, 195 (4), 346-353.
Vyas NS, Patel NH, Nijran KS, Al-Nahhas A, Puri BK (2010). Can PET/CT Imaging Advance Our Understanding of the Neurobiology of Schizophrenia? Nuclear Medicine Communications, 31 (2), 91-93.
Patel NH, Vyas NS, Puri BK, Nijran KS, Al-Nahhas A. Positron Emission Tomography in Schizophrenia: A New Perspective [In Press, Journal of Nuclear Medicine].
Vyas NS, Patel NH, Nijran KS, Al-Nahhas A, Puri BK. PET Imaging in schizophrenia [In Press, British Journal of Psychiatry]
Vyas NS, Shamsi SA, Malhotra AK et al. Treatment and Management of Cognitive Deficits in Schizophrenia [Review]
Singh SP, Vyas NS, Birchwood M. Early Intervention Services: Bridging the Gap [Review]
Vyas NS, Patel NH, Puri BK. Pathophysiology of early onset schizophrenia [Review, Under Consideration]
Vyas NS, Patel NH, Nijran KS, Al-Nahhas A, Puri BK. [Invited, Critical Review]
Vyas NS, et al. Cognitive functioning in schizophrenia [Under Review]
Published Abstracts
Vyas NS, Burke L, Vourdas A, Powell JF, Frangou S, Collier DA (2009). The effect of COMT Val158Met polymorphism on cognition in early onset schizophrenia: a family based study. Schizophrenia Bulletin, Vol 35, Supplement 1, p. 108-109.
Vyas NS, Burke L, Vourdas A, Vassos E, Frangou S, Collier DA (2009). KIBRA allelic variation is associated with memory processes in early onset schizophrenia. European Psychiatry, Vol 24, Supplement 1, p. 1216.
Vyas NS and Frangou S (2009). Neurocognitive Vulnerability Indicators in Psychosis. European Psychiatry, Vol 24, Supplement 1, p. 1217.
Kyriakopoulos M, Perez-Iglesias R, Woolley JB, Kanaan RAA, Vyas NS, Barker GJ, Frangou S, McGuire PK (2008). Age of Onset Modifies Location of White Matter Abnormalities in Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, Vol 98, Supplement 1, p. 128.
Vyas NS, Vourdas A, Byrne P, Frangou S (2006). The Maudsley Early Onset Schizophrenia Study: Predictors of Psychosocial Outcome at a 4-year follow-up. Schizophrenia Research, Vol 86, Supplement 1, p. 159-160.
Christodoulou T, Vyas NS, Haldane M, Vourdas A, Burke L, Frangou S (2006). The genetic risk to BD or SZ is mediated by ventral or dorsal PFC dysfunction respectively. Schizophrenia Research, Vol 81, Supplement 1, p. 42.
last updated: Wednesday, February 03, 2010