Rate My Professor Cathy Fernandes

Professor Cathy Fernandes is Professor of Preclinical Models of Neurodevelopmental Disorders in the Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London. She earned her PhD from the University of London in 1996 on factors influencing the development of diazepam dependence in the rat, a BSc in Pharmacology with Toxicology from King’s College London in 1992, a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice from King’s College London in 2011, and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. A behavioural geneticist and pharmacologist with over 30 years’ experience in rodent behaviour, she trained as a psychopharmacologist at Guy’s Hospital, studying models of anxiety, exploratory activity, cognition, and drug dependence mechanisms. Her career trajectory includes research at Royal Free & University College Medical School in 2000 on molecular mechanisms of antidepressant action, joining the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience in 2001 for functional genomics of mouse behaviour, a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship in 2006 at the Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience in Utrecht on gene-environment interactions in depression models, and a Research Councils UK Fellowship in 2007 in the Department of Psychosis Studies investigating adolescent cannabis use as a schizophrenia risk factor. She rejoined the SGDP Centre as a lecturer, advancing to Senior Lecturer in 2014, Reader in 2018, and Professor in 2021. She heads the Preclinical Models of Neurodevelopmental Disorders group, is a founding member of the MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, and has developed microarrays for gene expression and a mouse behavioural testing unit.

Professor Fernandes’ research examines genetic and environmental contributions to neurodevelopmental disorders including schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism, alongside psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression. She employs rodent models like prenatal stress from maternal obesity, early life maternal separation, unpredictable chronic mild stress, and cannabis exposure to assess social, emotional, and cognitive behaviours in genetically manipulated mice. Key publications include ‘Are behavioural and inflammatory profiles different according to type of stressor, developmental stage, and sex in rodent models of depression? A Systematic Review’ (Molecular Psychiatry, 2025), ‘Sex-Specific Behavioural Deficits in Adulthood following Acute Activation of the GABAA Receptor in the Neonatal Mouse’ (Developmental Neuroscience, 2024), ‘The intellectual disability risk gene Kdm5b regulates long term memory consolidation in the hippocampus’ (Journal of Neuroscience, 2024), and ‘Bridging the translational gap: what can synaptopathies tell us about autism?’ (Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, 2023). She served as Past President of the International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society, was School of Mental Health & Psychological Sciences Education Lead, and leads the MSc in Genes, Environment & Development in Psychology & Psychiatry, with extensive teaching experience and public engagement activities.