Rate My Professor Marianne Van Den Bree

Professor Marianne van den Bree is a Professor of Psychological Medicine in the Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences within the School of Medicine at Cardiff University. She earned her BSc in Psychology and MSc in Experimental Psychology from Vrije Universiteit in the Netherlands, followed by a PhD in Human Genetics from the Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA. Her research specializations include the characterisation of genetic and environmental factors contributing to mental health disorders, the developmental relationships across the lifespan between mental health disorders and other health conditions, and the phenotypic manifestations in individuals with rare genomic variants, particularly copy number variants (CNVs). Professor van den Bree leads several major research initiatives, such as the Lifespan Multimorbidity Research Collaborative (LINC), the Cardiff Experiences of people with rare Genomic variants (ECHO) Research Programme, and serves as the Cardiff Lead Investigator for IMAGINE-ID and Principal Investigator for the Genes to Mental Health (G2MH) Network.

With extensive experience in international consortia on CNVs and mental health, she has coordinated half of the EU sites for the 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome International Birth Cohort and led work packages in projects like Pan-EU MINDDS. Professor van den Bree has supervised 14 PhD students as primary supervisor and contributes to teaching epidemiology and the biology of substance misuse for medical students. Her achievements have been recognized with awards including the RCUK Societal Impact Award, the Cardiff University Social Innovation Award (2015), and the KTP 40th Anniversary Awards (2015). Notable publications encompass "Psychiatric disorders from childhood to adulthood in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome: results from the International Consortium on Brain and Behavior in 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome" (2014), "Maternal smoking during pregnancy and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms in offspring" (2003), "Irritability in young people with copy number variants associated with neurodevelopmental disorders" (2024), and "Striatal dopaminergic alterations in individuals with copy number variants at the 22q11.2 locus" (2023). Her work has influenced mental health research through public lectures, media engagements, and collaborations enhancing societal understanding and services for rare genetic conditions.