Clara Moreau

Clara Moreau is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Addiction at the University of Montreal, where she leads the BRIGHT Lab (Brain Research using Imaging Genetics methods in Human Transdiagnostically). Her work bridges neuroscience, genetics, and psychiatry to address neurodevelopmental and psychiatric conditions.

• Ph.D. in Neuroscience (2020), University of Montreal
• M.Sc. in Cognitive Sciences (2014), Cogmaster (ENS/Paris Descartes)
• B.Sc. in Psychology (2012), Paris Descartes University

Her research focuses on neurodevelopmental diseases, particularly anorexia nervosa, where she investigates brain trajectories and relapse prediction through longitudinal studies at CHU Sainte-Justine Hospital. She co-leads the ENIGMA-Eating Disorders Initiative, a global neuroimaging project spanning 20 institutions, and directs the ENIGMA-rsfMRI working group to standardize functional MRI analysis.

Key contributions include identifying thalamo-sensorimotor hyperconnectivity across psychiatric diagnoses, developing multiverse analytical approaches for fMRI reproducibility, and exploring brain plasticity in prolonged malnutrition contexts. Her work combines neuroimaging genomics, polygenic risk scores, and transdiagnostic frameworks to redefine psychiatric classification beyond symptomatology.

Major funding: NIH R01 grant (1U01MH136221-01, 2025-2029) for studying eating disorders and clinical outcomes.

• 2025: Invited lecture at Douglas Mental Health Institute
• 2024: Keynote at ENIGMA Developmental Summit
• 2023: Seminar at TU Dresden
• 2022: Talk on genetic pleiotropy at Timone Institute