Professor Colleen Loo

Colleen Loo, MBBS (Hons), FRANZCP, MD (research doctorate), is a clinical psychiatrist and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of New South Wales and the Black Dog Institute, Sydney; Australia. She is an internationally recognised clinical expert and researcher in the field of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) and ketamine, and led the first Australian RCTs of these interventions in depression. She has published over 300 peer reviewed papers and has received grant funding from the Australian NHMRC, MRFF, US-based NARSAD and Stanley Foundations, UK NHS/MRC, Singapore NMC and the Ramsay Hospital Research Foundation.

She has been an invited plenary and symposium speaker at conferences in Australia, US, UK, Europe and Asia. She is active in ECT, Neurostimulation and novel treatments research, practice and policy, and is an expert adviser to Australian government health departments and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP), also advising on policy and practice internationally. She is the first person outside North America to become President of the International Society for ECT and Neurostimulation (ISEN). She has served on the Editorial Boards of the two leading international brain stimulation journals: Journal of ECT, Brain Stimulation. She has established clinics of novel treatments for depression (TMS, ketamine, tDCS) at the Black Dog Institute and Ramsay Clinic Northside, Sydney. She has established professional training courses for psychiatrists and mental health clinicians in ECT, TMS, tDCS and ketamine (see also Black Dog Institute website). 

Research Interests:
Our team at UNSW, based at the Black Dog Institute (Randwick), has expertise in transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), ECT, ketamine, psychedelics. Current research streams are: 1) Clinical trials of novel treatments for depression (ECT, ketamine, psychedelics) and anorexia (TMS, tDCS, psychedelics) 2) Experiments improving novel brain stimulation approaches for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders 3) Cognitive neuroscience, using novel brain stimulation and other treatments to improve cognition 4) Combining TMS, tDCS and ECT with EEG, MRI and other neuroimaging techniques 5) real world treatment data from the Clinical Alliance and Research in ECT and Related Treatments ("CARE") network 6) computational modelling of brain stimulation effects. The above research involves collaborations with the Ramsay Northside Clinic, The George Institute, UNSW Biomedical Engineering, national and international collaborators in the Clinical Alliance and Research for ECT and related treatments (CARE) network.

Broad Research Areas:
Psychiatry, Neuroscience, Clinical Research

Qualifications:
MB BS (Hons 1); MD (Research Doctorate, UNSW); FRANZCP

Society Memberships & Professional Activities:
Fellow, Royal Australian and NZ College of Psychiatrists; Member, Section for ECT and Neurostimulation, RANZCP; Member, Advisory Board, Australian and NZ Journal of Psychiatry; Board of Directors, International Society for ECT and Neurostimulation; Member, NSW Health ECT Standards Working Party

Specific Research Keywords:
transcranial magnetic stimulation, electroconvulsive therapy, Transcranial direct current stimulation, ketamine, psychedelics, Depression, Brain Sciences