Dr Judith R Harrison
Wellcome Trust GW4 Clinical Academic Training Fellow, Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences
- harrisonjr1@cardiff.ac.uk
- 2.40, Hadyn Ellis Building, Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ
Overview
Judith is a higher trainee in Old Age Psychiatry. She studied Medicine at the University of Dundee and began psychiatry training on the Maudsley Hospital rotation. She was funded by the Cardiff MRC Clinical Academic Mentorship scheme and the Welsh Clinical Academic Training scheme before joining the Wellcome GW4-CAT.
As part of the GW4-CAT she is undertaking a PhD on genetics and magnetic resonance imaging in Alzheimer’s Disease. Her other interests include the assessment and management of neurodegenerative disorders, improving physical health outcomes for people with mental illness and public involvement in research (see Engagement).
She serves as a Handling Editor for the British Journal of Psychiatry (https://publons.com/researcher/1393977/judith-harrison/) and on the Early Career Advisory Panel of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP; https://www.ecnp.eu/early-career-scientists/ECAP).
She tweets in a personal capacity as @drjudeharrison.
Biography
Judith studied Medicine at the University of Dundee and completed Academic Foundation Training in South Thames (St George's Hospital, Tooting; Royal Surrey Hospital, Guildford). She began psychiatry training on the Maudsley Hospital rotation. She was funded by the Cardiff MRC Clinical Academic Mentorship scheme before obtaining a Welsh Clinical Academic Training PhD fellowship and a Wellcome Trust GW4 Clinical Academic Training Fellowship.
Publications
2021
- Harrison, J. 2021. Exploring brain structure and blood metabolic profiles using Alzheimer's pathway specific polygenic risk scores. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.
2020
- Harrison, J. R.et al. 2020. From polygenic scores to precision medicine in Alzheimer’s Disease: A systematic review. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease 74(4), pp. 1271-1283. (10.3233/JAD-191233)
- Harrison, J. R.et al. 2020. Imaging Alzheimer's genetic risk using Diffusion MRI: a systematic review. NeuroImage: Clinical 27, article number: 102359. (10.1016/j.nicl.2020.102359)
2019
- Ellis, N.et al. 2019. Venous thromboembolism risk in psychiatric in-patients: a multicentre cross-sectional study. BJPsych Bulletin 43(6), pp. 255-259. (10.1192/bjb.2019.25)
- Mirza-Davies, A. and Harrison, J. 2019. Extending the frontiers of neuroimaging: an introduction to Diffusion Tensor Imaging Tractography. The British Student Doctor Journal 3(2), pp. 34-39. (10.18573/bsdj.80)
- Harrison, J. R.et al. 2019. #BJPsych and social media – likes, followers and leading?. British Journal of Psychiatry 214(5), pp. 245. (10.1192/bjp.2019.6)
2018
- Foley, S. F.et al. 2018. Fractional anisotropy of the uncinate fasciculus and cingulum in bipolar disorder type I, type II, their unaffected siblings and healthy controls. British Journal of Psychiatry 213(3), pp. 548-554. (10.1192/bjp.2018.101)
- Mistry, S.et al. 2018. The use of polygenic risk scores to identify phenotypes associated with genetic risk of schizophrenia: systematic review. Schizophrenia Research 197, pp. 2-8. (10.1016/j.schres.2017.10.037)
- Mistry, S.et al. 2018. The use of polygenic risk scores to identify phenotypes associated with genetic risk of bipolar disorder and depression: A systematic review. Journal of Affective Disorders 234, pp. 148-155. (10.1016/j.jad.2018.02.005)
2017
- Keynejad, R. C.et al. 2017. Docbate: a National Medical Student Debate. Academic Psychiatry 41(6), pp. 839-841. (10.1007/s40596-017-0697-1)
- Harrison, J. R. 2017. Improving inpatient care for older adults: implementing dementia commissioning for quality and innovation (CQUIN). BMJ Quality Improvement Reports 6(1), pp. u212202.w4875. (10.1136/bmjquality.u212202.w4875)
2016
- Harrison, J. and Owen, M. J. 2016. Alzheimer's disease: the amyloid hypothesis on trial. British Journal of Psychiatry 208(1), pp. 1-3. (10.1192/bjp.bp.115.167569)
Teaching
Teaching Roles
2016-present Communication Skills Tutor Cardiff University
2016-present OSCE Examiner Cardiff University
2014–present Academic Mentor Cardiff University
2015-18 Brain Disorders Summer School Teacher Cardiff University
As part of the GW4-CAT, Judith is undertaking a PhD on genetics and magnetic resonance imaging in Alzheimer’s Disease, entitled 'Exploring Biological Pathways in Alzheimer’s Disease Using Polygenic Scores, MRI and Blood Biomarkers'.
Studies have identified lots of small genetic changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease. They relate to disease processes like immunity, inflammation cholesterol metabolism.
I aim to:
– Examine small changes in groups of genes related to disease processes. I will do this by creating ‘genetic scores’ for different processes.
– Explore associations between the ‘genetic scores’ and changes on brain scans, blood tests for inflammatory markers and cholesterol, and memory function.
I will use information from large groups of people which has already been collected from other large studies: an in-house cohort, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, and UK Biobank.
These include different age groups, so I can potentially identify the earliest events in the disease. My project will have the ability to detect differences because the total number of participants is so big. The findings of this study could help us to identify those who might benefit from particular treatments in clinical trials. This will help to focus efforts to find new therapies for Alzheimer’s disease.
Supervision
She has experience of supervising undergraduate medical students undertaking Student Selected Components (SSCs) and summer research projects. She also co-supervises Intercalated degree projects.
Engagement
Judith is project lead for 'NeuroSwipe', funded by the Wellcome Trust ISSF3 Public Engagement Proof-of-concept Award. NeuroSwipe is a citizen-science project based on my research which involves an exciting collaboration between CUBRIC, the National Software Academy and the charity Diverse Cymru.
The project is aims to tackle to challenges: first, the limited reach of face-to-face public engagement activities; and second, the challenges of neuroimaging quality assurance in large population cohorts.
With the help of students at the National Software Academy, we have developed a web platform that allows people to get involved in quality control checking the output of structural neuroimaging analyses. Citizen scientists are asked to swipe right if they think an image is adequate and left if they think it's not.
We held a citizen science co-production workshop where we invited representatives from different community groups to help us test and develop the website to ensure it is accessible to as wide an audience as possible. Students from the National Software Academy have completed a revised version of the website which we will pilot more widely.
