Iris E.C. Sommer

Professor Iris E.C. Sommer is a distinguished psychiatrist and neuroscientist at the University of Groningen's Faculty of Medical Sciences, where she leads research in the Clinical Cognitive Neuropsychiatry Research Program (CCNP) and the Biology-Related, Artificial, and Interventional Neuroscience (BRAIN) group. With over 444 research outputs and significant contributions to psychiatric science, she holds editorial positions at major journals including Schizophrenia Bulletin, Psychological Medicine, and Lancet Psychiatry.

Dr. Sommer's research primarily focuses on schizophrenia and psychosis spectrum disorders, with particular expertise in hallucinations, semantic processing abnormalities, and the gut-brain axis. Her work integrates neuroimaging, computational linguistics, and clinical psychiatry to develop novel biomarkers and treatment approaches. She has pioneered research on sex differences in brain structure and mental health, as well as the role of intestinal permeability in psychiatric disorders.

Her recent publications demonstrate a strong emphasis on longitudinal studies of psychosis, international collaborative research on mental health during the pandemic (COH-FIT study), pharmacogenetics of schizophrenia treatment, and algorithmic approaches to treatment guidelines. These works span multiple disciplines including neuroscience, psychiatry, linguistics, and gastroenterology, reflecting her interdisciplinary approach to mental health research.

Professor Sommer has received notable recognition including the NWO Science Communication Initiative Award 2024, Distinguished Lorentz Fellowship 2022/23, and Huibregtsenprijs 2022. She was also nominated for the Woman in the Media Award in 2024 for her public engagement efforts.

As an active supervisor and science communicator, she has examined PhD students and leads initiatives like Marvelous Mind to make neuroscience accessible to the public. She frequently presents at professional conferences and gives public talks on topics ranging from the gut-brain connection to women's mental health.

Her laboratory work centers around the Clinical Cognitive Neuropsychiatry Research Program, where her team investigates the neural mechanisms underlying psychotic symptoms using multimodal approaches including neuroimaging, linguistic analysis, and clinical assessments. She also collaborates extensively with international researchers through projects like the COH-FIT consortium.