Dr Andy Thompson

Andy Thompson is a Consultant Psychiatrist at Orygen Youth Health and an honorary Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne. He joined Orygen Youth Health Research Centre in 2007 from the University of Bristol in the U.K. where he worked on a large birth cohort examining factors associated with the development of psychotic symptoms in young adolescents. He completed his MD on implementing practice change in mental health services and continues this line of research in projects implementing evidence based practice at Orygen Youth Health, such as improving the monitoring of metabolic problems and in those receiving antipsychotic medications. He works clinically at the PACE (Personal Assessment and Crisis Evaluation) clinic, which provides treatment to individuals thought to be at a particular high risk of developing a psychotic disorder. Within this clinic Dr Thompson’s research interests include risk factors for developing a psychotic illness in this population including the role of social cognition and previous trauma. He is a chief investigator on the NEURAPRO study, an international multisite randomised controlled trial investigating the effectiveness of omega 3 fatty acid to prevent or delay the development of psychosis in the ultra high risk population.