Dr Marija-Magdalena Petrinovic appointed as Champion for translational neuroscience

We are thrilled to announce that Dr Marija-Magdalena Petrinovic has been appointed as our new Translational Neuroscience Champion as part of our NIHR Maudsley BRC Research Champions.

Dr Petrinovic is currently a Lecturer in Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London.

NIHR Maudsley BRC Director, Professor Matthew Hotopf, said: "We are delighted to bring Marija-Magdalena on board as our new Translational Neuroscience Champion. Her strong background in drug discovery, gained through both academia and industry, make her a fantastic candidate, as does her current research into the mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders.

We look forward to working with her to find ways of translating our neuroscience research into effective treatments as quickly as possible, so we can have the greatest possible impact on people's lives." 

Our Research Champions are an initiative which began in early 2018. Each champion promotes innovation and advancement in their area of BRC strategic priority, giving their teams the vision, resources and skills needed to effectively advance their work. In return for this responsibility, our champions will develop their leadership and management skills, and will have the opportunity to create positive change in the field they are passionate about. 

Our translational neuroscience work focuses on taking cutting-edge research through to clinical settings to quickly translate laboratory advancement into direct benefits for people with mental health problems. Dr Petrinovic will be supporting this integration of basic and clinical neuroscience, and the development of systems and processes to accelerate translation.

Dr Petrinovic told us “Neuroscience has seen some incredible leaps in the last few decades but translating these discoveries into therapies remains a critical challenge. We must focus on the question of how we can move from an understanding of disease mechanisms towards their translation into new therapeutics, which in reality means how to translate science into better healthcare.

In this new role, my aim is to gain deeper understanding of the roadblocks and identify new avenues and innovative approaches for translation. The combination of my academic and industrial experience has equipped me with a good understanding of ‘both sides of science’, their specific needs and requirements – a feature necessary for successful planning and execution of projects spanning the ‘bench-to-bedside divide’.”

Alongside Dr Petrinovic, our current NIHR Maudsley BRC Research Champions are:

  • Diversity and inclusion – Dr Sally Marlow (interim)
  • Industry partnerships and strategic alliances - Dr Paul Stokes
  • Mental-physical health interface - Dr Valeria Mondelli
  • Research impact and engagement - Dr Sally Marlow

Tags: Staff News -

By NIHR Maudsley BRC at 20 Dec 2019, 10:08 AM


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