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We spoke to Professor Allan Young about his journey into neuropsychopharmacology and his hopes for brain sciences.

The Department of Brain Sciences at Imperial has welcomed as our new Head of Department. Allan joined Imperial from King’s College London earlier this year as Chair of Academic Psychiatry and Head of Division. In his role at King’s College London, he was Chair of Mood Disorders and Director of the Centre for Affective Disorders.

He has held academic appointments at Oxford University; Newcastle University (latterly holding the Chair of General Psychiatry at Newcastle), University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, where he held the Leading Edge Endowment Fund Endowed Chair in Research in the Department of Psychiatry and was also the Director of the Institute of Mental Health.

His research focuses on the cause and treatments for severe psychiatric illnesses and in particular, mood disorders.

Tell us a little bit about your background before you came to Imperial and what excites you most about joining the community?

I’m delighted to have re-joined Imperial earlier this year. After spending twelve years at King’s College London, it’s a pleasure to return to Imperial, where I had previously been based. This felt like the right moment to return, and I’m very glad to be back. I’m especially pleased to be part of the Department of Brain Sciences, which I believe has outstanding strengths and enormous potential for the future. We’re living in an interesting period for brain sciences, with advances deepening our understanding of the brain and expanding the translational and therapeutic possibilities.

Our three divisions, neuroscience, neurology and psychiatry are closely connected and the flow between them is remarkable. Whether a technique be a methodological approach or originates as basic neuroscience before moving into neurology and then psychiatry, the potential for synergy between the fields is immense, particularly for driving forward translational research.

When I reflect on Imperial as a world-class educational institution, it’s important to recognise the entire department and its areas. At Imperial, we are fortunate to have tremendous strengths within our own faculty but also across other faculties. It’s a great privilege to work alongside outstanding colleagues, whether academic, research, technical or administrative, and I look forward to helping us continue to realise our full potential.

Tell us more about your journey in psychiatry and why mood disorders are your particular focus of research. What inspired you to pursue this route?

As a medical student, I treated my clinical placements as a kind of test drive for different specialities. I liked surgery, but I have difficulty tying my shoelaces and would probably make a very poor surgeon! So, although I did well academically in surgery, I decided to spare the world. My next choice was the brain, and with more opportunities in psychiatry, I chose this path. My first real interest was in dementia, and initially I wanted to become an old age neuropsychiatrist. Unfortunately, I never got round to that.

My first research focused on schizophrenia, and for my master’s I conducted one of the early MRI studies in the 1980s. It was so long ago that as a junior resident, I had my own half day on the MRI scanner without any fees. After publishing this work, I took up a fellowship in the psychopharmacology of mood disorders which led me to neuropsychopharmacology and have been in mood disorders ever since. I've kept up my interest in the dementias and in schizophrenia, and because mood disorders tend to overlap with other areas, my research has naturally extended into other fields. For example, my research in the last five years has been in late life mood disorders (after the age of 50) and particularly late onset depression which has an increased risk of progressing to dementia. I’m also interested in lithium which is a very hot topic in terms of being a potential treatment for dementia. What I find the most rewarding about the study of mood disorders is it allows you to be a specialist but also a generalist too.

You've had many accolades, is there an achievement that you were the proudest of in your career?

I hope that the achievement I am most proud of is yet to come. To be frank what gives me the greatest satisfaction is helping train others who become clinical or non-clinical scientists in the field. I enjoying having a role in helping train and give opportunities to others, but also it gives me great satisfaction seeing people who I've supervised achieve professorial appointments and publish research.

In terms of personal achievements, what makes the largest impact is the development of new therapies, and I’ve been involved in this with various organisations. However, what matters most is ensuring that whatever the therapy is, be it drug therapy or psychotherapies, we consider the benefits as well as the potential harms for patients.

As you step into your role of Head of Department of Brain Sciences what are your hopes and goals?

It's a great privilege to take on the role of Head of Department and I'm grateful for the appointment. I have always thought of people in senior leadership positions being tenants in a role. During my tenure as Head of Brain Sciences I want to continue to build on our success academically while making sure people enjoy working in the department. We are fortunate to have tremendously gifted colleagues throughout the department, and this includes our administrative and PTO staff. It is vital we recognise and support the hard work that enables everyone to live up to their potential. Imperial is one of the world’s leading universities, and Brain Sciences is one of the leading departments of its kind. I want to build on that excellence, not only in research but also for our educational programmes.

What culture would you like to foster and grow in the Department?

Having lived in different countries, both as a child and as an adult, and being part of a diverse family with members from the global south, I have an appreciation for the importance of culture. Culture shapes us profoundly, so it's important we try and make our department culture as positive and inclusive as possible. We've already made advances with embracing diversity and fostering inclusion, but this is an ongoing journey, and there is always more we can do.

I also believe each of us brings our own lived experience to the table and these perspectives are invaluable in terms of understanding how we fulfil our own professional goals.

Do you have any final thoughts on your new role?

I was struck by surveys highlighting the impact of the COVID pandemic on young people. Given that we're a university and have ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ and postgraduates who are in that generation, we know they will have been profoundly affected. We also face lots of challenges in the world over the next few years and locally in terms of public funding. With the introduction of artificial intelligence, there will also be uncertainty and significant changes in workplace practices. Through all this, it’s essential to remember that Imperial is an institution which is valuable. Our core mission is excellence in academic endeavours. If we promote this in a way which is fosters good culture, to high levels of integrity, we can traverse these challenges over the coming years together to ensure the department continues to thrive.