Rate My Professor Kirsten Cheyne

Dr. Kirsten Cheyne holds the position of Research Fellow in the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit (DMHDRU) at the Department of Psychology, University of Otago. She completed her BSc (Hons) and PhD at the University of Otago. Cheyne's career in academia is rooted in neuroscience research, having spent the last 14 years within the psychology department exploring brain regions associated with spatial navigation and decision making. Her connection to the Dunedin Study originated during her undergraduate years, and she presently contributes to the Phase 45 sensory assessment efforts, focusing on vision and hearing across the lifecourse.

Cheyne's research specializations include sensory neuroscience, retinal health as early biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, trajectories of hearing from childhood to adulthood, and the effects of persistent cannabis use on ocular health in midlife. Her scholarly output features numerous peer-reviewed publications. Among her most cited works is "Behavioural deficits associated with maternal immune activation in the rat model of schizophrenia" (2011, Behavioural Brain Research, 102 citations). Recent contributions include "Persistent Cannabis Use and Ocular Health in Midlife" (2025, American Journal of Preventive Medicine), where she led conceptualization, methodology, analysis, investigation, data curation, and writing; "Associations between retinal nerve fiber layer and ganglion cell layer in middle age and cognition from childhood to adulthood" (2022, JAMA Ophthalmology); "Hippocampal sequencing mechanisms are disrupted in a maternal immune activation model of schizophrenia risk" (2021, Journal of Neuroscience); "Characterising the ocular surface and tear film in a population-based birth cohort of 45-year old New Zealand men and women" (2020, The Ocular Surface); and "Measures of retinal health successfully capture risk for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias at midlife" (2025). With over 250 citations documented on ResearchGate, her work advances knowledge of sensory-cognitive linkages over the lifespan. Additionally, Cheyne was part of the Psychology Pastoral Care Team awarded the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Award (Team) at the 2023 University of Otago Staff Awards for innovative wellbeing programs supporting diverse students.