Professor Ania Korszun, PhD, MD, FRCPsych

Profile

I have completed studies on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function in facial pain, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome and was Co-PI on large multi-centre genetic studies of depression.

Further work has focused on identifying the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms that link depression, stress and atherosclerosis.

More recently, I have been working in collaboration with colleagues from surgery and oncology on predictors of psychological wellbeing in cancer patients and, in particular, psychosocial factors associated with impact of cancer and quality of life in long-term cancer survivors.

The results of this work have provided a basis for developing interventions for improving the quality of life for cancer patients and I am a co-investigator on the NIHR SURECAN (Survivors Rehabilitation Evaluation after Cancer) project.

I work with maxillofacial and trauma surgery patients, investigating psychosocial factors in trauma outcome and developing interventions for young victims of violence to improve outcome and reduce subsequent involvement in violence, and developing digital technology to maintain support for young victims after leaving hospital.

I maintain a strong commitment to medical education.  I am the Academic Lead for Psychiatry Education, Systems Lead for Brain and Behaviour and Senior Academic Tutor in Medical Professionalism at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary and Chair of the Academic Faculty Forum for Undergraduate Education Leads. As well as working on developing e-learning resources to improve mental health education, I am conducting research on undergraduate teaching and assessment of medical professionalism.

I led a large multidisciplinary project focusing on overcoming stigmatizing attitudes to mental health. Currently, in collaboration with colleagues from other institutions, I am conducting a study on wellbeing and mental health in medical students to improve future support for medical students and doctors.

Please click here [PDF 87KB] to read my CV.

Research

• DTG Studentship - Laura Thompson

Publications

• Korszun A, Sarker SJ, Chowdhury K, Clark C, Greaves P, Johnson R, Kingston J, Levitt G, Matthews J, White P, Lister A, Gribben J. Psychosocial factors associated with impact of cancer in longterm haematological cancer survivors. Br J Haematol. 2013 Dec 23. doi: 10.1111/bjh.12698. [Epub ahead of print]
• Archer JA, Hutchison IL, Dorudi S, Stansfeld SA, Korszun A. Interrelationship of depression, stress and inflammation in cancer patients: a preliminary study. J Affect Disord. 2012 Dec 20;143(1-3):39-46. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2012.05.023. Epub 2012 Jul 30.
• Fisher HL, Cohen-Woods S, Hosang GM, Korszun A, Owen M, Craddock N, Craig IW, Farmer AE, McGuffin P, Uher R. Interaction between specific forms of childhood maltreatment and the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTT) in recurrent depressive disorder. J Affect Disord. 2013 Feb 15;145(1):136-41. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2012.05.032. Epub 2012 Jul 25
• Hosang GM, Korszun A, Jones L, Jones I, McGuffin P, Farmer AE. Life-event specificity: bipolar disorder compared with unipolar depression. Br J Psychiatry.2012 Dec;201(6):458-65. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.112.111047. Epub 2012 Nov 8
• Breen G, Webb BT, Butler AW, van den Oord EJ, Tozzi F, Craddock N, Gill M, Korszun A, Maier W, Middleton L, Mors O, Owen MJ, Cohen-Woods S, Perry J, Galwey NW, Upmanyu R, Craig I, Lewis CM, Ng M, Brewster S, Preisig M, Rietschel M, Jones L, Knight J, Rice J, Muglia P, Farmer AE, McGuffin P. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=21572164A genome-wide significant linkage for severe depression on chromosome 3: the depression network study. Am J Psychiatry. 2011 Aug;168(8):840-7. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2011.10091342. Epub 2011 May 15.

Expertise