Associate Professor Anthony Harris

On this page

Themes | Research interests | Grants | Keywords

Research interests

Dr Anthony Harris is a Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney, a senior staff specialist psychiatrist for the Prevention Early Intervention and Recovery Service in the Western Sydney Area Mental Health Service and the Director of the Clinical Disorders Unit at the Brain Dynamics Centre, Westmead Hospital.

After completing training as a psychiatrist in Sydney, Dr Harris worked as a consultant in the area of psychogeriatrics in the United Kingdom before completing research work at the Zentralinstitut für Seelische Gesundheit in Mannheim, Germany in the field of psychophysiology. On return to Australia he has worked in clinical and administrative positions in the Wentworth and Western Area Mental Health Services in Sydney before specialising in the field of early intervention in psychosis. His principle research interests centre on the psychophysiology, neuroimaging and treatment of psychosis and schizophrenia. This work, which he has principally carried out in the Brain Dynamics Centre at Westmead Hospital, has included establishing a large database in the psychophysiology of people with psychosis (first episode psychosis and chronic schizophrenia) and functional magnetic resonance imaging research into the perception of facial emotion in schizophrenia. He is currently involved in treatment trials of both medication and cognitive remediation of persistent cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. He has recently completed his doctorate in the area of quantified electroencephalography and electrodermal activity in schizophrenia. Other active areas of research have included the development of cognitive behavioural treatments for co-morbid substance abuse and severe mental illness.

He is presently on the Management Committee of the Schizophrenia Fellowship of New South Wales and a member of the Board of the Research Trust Fund of the Fellowship. Dr Harris was the representative of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) on the Research Committee for the "Evidence based best practice guidelines for Schizophrenia" a project initiated by the NSW Department of Health and is the chairperson of the NSW Early Psychosis Research and Evaluation Working Group. He is involved in a number of panels of the Neuroscience Institute for Schizophrenia and Allied Disorders (NISAD).

Current national competitive grants*

2009

Gene-brain pathways in emotional brain stability and instability
Williams L, Schofield P, Clark C, Harris A, Gatt J
ARC Linkage Projects ($670,000 over 2 years)

* Grants administered through the University of Sydney