Meet the team.

Our Team

Professor Phil Cowen 
Lead Clinical Psychiatrist & Professor of Psychopharmacology 

My research focuses on the psychopharmacology of depression. I am interested in the biochemical changes that are associated with depression and how drugs work to alleviate the symptoms that depressed patients experience. 

Dr Beata Godlewska
Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist & OxIMP Study Lead Researcher

My research focuses on two main areas: the psychopharmacology of mood disorders - depression and bipolar disorder - and psychological mechanisms of antidepressant drug action. I am primarily involved in assessing participants at the screening stage, and providing medical review throughout the study.

Professor Catherine Harmer
​​Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience ​

I am the director of the Psychopharmacology and Emotional Research Lab (PERL) based at the University Department of Psychiatry in Oxford. The research of the group focuses on the psychological mechanisms of antidepressant drug action by exploring drug effects on human models of emotional processing.

Dr Fitri Fareez Ramli
​​DPhil in Psychiatry Student ​

I am a DPhil student under the supervision of Prof. Phil Cowen and Dr Beata Godlewska. My primary role is conducting the OxIMP study together with other researchers.

Ms Amy Sylvester
​​Research Assistant ​

I am a research assistant in the Clinical Psychopharmacology group in the Department of Psychiatry. I have a background in neuroscience and neuropsychology, and work with the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN) on several brain imaging projects. For the OxIMP project, I’ll be running some of the testing sessions when participants come in for the study.

Dr Luca Villa
​​Postdoctoral Researcher​

I’m a postdoc in the Pharmacology and Emotion Research Laboratory, led by Professor Catherine Harmer. My work focuses on the neural underpinnings of psychiatric illnesses, such as depression and bipolar disorder, and how their treatments affect the brain.

Ms Shona Waters
​​Researcher Assisstant​

I am a research assistant in the Clinical Psychopharmacology Group, interested in the development of evidence-based treatments for psychiatric disorders. I help run some of the OxIMP sessions and have helped with recruitment of the study.

Dr Marieke Martens
​​Post Doctoral Researcher​

The main focus of my role is providing support for existing and new projects within the NIHR Oxford Health BRC's Experimental Medicine theme, aimed at investigating the mechanisms of established and novel treatments for mood disorders

Dr Nisha Singh
​​Researcher Assisstant​

Neuropharmacologist with  experience in psychopharmacology, drug discovery and translational research. As part of an academic team, I have been instrumental in taking a drug from inception through to clinical evaluation in a phase II clinical trial.

Dr William Clarke
​​MRS Physicist​

I am a post-doctoral researcher working in both the physiological neuroimaging group and magnetic resonance physics groups at WIN. My work focusses on methods development of magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS).

Ms Alice Quinton
​​Research Assistant ​

I am a research assistant for the Clinical Psychopharmacology group, with an MSc in Clinical and Therapeutic Neuroscience and a broad interest in mental health research. I'm primarily involved in conducting cognitive testing for the OxIMP research visits.  ​