Helen Fisher

Dr Helen L. Fisher is a Reader in Developmental Psychopathology and Chartered Research Psychologist based at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience and the ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health at King’s College London, UK. She has a strong interdisciplinary background in psychology, social psychiatry, epidemiology, genetics, and epigenetics. Dr Fisher spent the first part of her career evaluating Early Intervention Services for young people with psychosis and then focused on the role of childhood maltreatment in the development and course of psychotic disorders.

Her current multidisciplinary programme of research focuses on the role of social, psychological, biological, and wider environmental factors in the development, course, and prevention of psychosis and depression in children and adolescents. She jointly leads projects exploring epigenetic signatures of exposure to psychosocial stressors in adolescence; biopsychosocial markers of resilience following exposure to childhood maltreatment; the role of air pollution in the development of adolescent mental health problems; and improving detection of adolescents at high risk for depression across four continents. She is also a co-investigator for the UKRI Violence, Abuse & Mental Health Network and the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, as well as jointly leading the Young People's Mental Health Programme for the ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health. Additionally, she is passionate about collaborating with artists to find creative ways to engage the public in discussions about psychosis and reduce the stigma associated with these experiences and has recently been involved in four theatre productions, a sold-out immersive psychosis exhibition, and a mental health themed audio-tour of the National Gallery in London.