Sarah Medland

Honorary Professor Sarah Medland is a distinguished Psychiatric and Statistical Geneticist at the University of Queensland's School of Psychology. She also serves as the Coordinator of the Mental Health Research Program and Group Leader (Psychiatric Genetics) at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute. Professor Medland chairs the genetics working group of the ENIGMA neuroimaging consortium and is an active member of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium.

Professor Medland earned her PhD in Psychology from the University of Queensland in 2006, receiving the Dean's Award for Outstanding Research Higher Degree Thesis. She completed her BA Hons in Psychology (with Psychology Double Major and English Minor) at the University of Queensland in 2000.

Professor Medland's research bridges Genetics, Psychology, Neuro-Imaging, Health Economics and applied Statistics, with a focus on understanding the genetic and environmental contributions to human behaviour and disease. Her work spans psychiatric genetics, statistical genetics, neuroimaging, and mental health genetics. She has published extensively with 5 book chapters, 419 journal articles, 64 conference papers, and 1 thesis to her name. Her recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on genetic contributions to brain structure and function, psychiatric disorders, and neurodevelopmental conditions, frequently employing genome-wide association studies, neuroimaging techniques, and advanced statistical methods.

• Order of Australia Medal (OAM)
• Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences (FASSA)
• Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (FAHMS)
• Dean's Award for Outstanding Research Higher Degree Thesis

Professor Medland leads the Psychiatric Genetics group at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, where she coordinates the Mental Health Research Program. Her research program involves large-scale genetic studies, neuroimaging analyses, and collaborations with international consortia including ENIGMA and the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. She has supervised numerous students and early-career researchers in the fields of psychiatric genetics and neuroimaging.