Ziada Ayorech

Ziada Ayorech is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Psychiatric Genetics at the PROMENTA Research Center (University of Oslo). She specializes in understanding how mental health problems manifest in families through genomic methods and pedigree data, particularly focusing on mood disorders and maternal depression.

• PhD in Behavioral Genetics, King's College London
• MSc in Mental Health Studies, King's College London
• BSc in Behavioral Neuroscience, Concordia University

Her research integrates genetic epidemiology, social disparity analysis, and developmental psychopathology to investigate:

• Gene-environment interactions in educational achievement
• Epigenetic aging and mental health disparities
• Intergenerational transmission of psychiatric risk
• Indirect genetic effects in family dynamics

She received the 2024 Lecturer of the Year award and leads an interactive monthly genetics seminar at UiO since 2021. Her work extends to public science communication via @drziadaayorech and onboarding resources for PhD candidates.