Rate My Professor Natalie Shoham

Dr. Natalie Shoham serves as Senior Clinical Lecturer in the Unit for Psychological Medicine within the Centre for Psychiatry and Mental Health at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London. She holds an honorary consultant psychiatrist position at East London NHS Foundation Trust. Prior to her current role, she completed her PhD at University College London, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), focusing on the association between visual impairment and psychosis. Her academic background includes training in psychiatry, and her research leverages large-scale datasets such as UK Biobank, employing methodologies like Mendelian randomisation to investigate causal pathways in serious mental illnesses. Shoham's work centers on psychosis and serious mental illness, exploring links between sensory impairments—particularly visual acuity deficits—and psychotic disorders, schizophrenia, and related outcomes. She also examines physical health monitoring for individuals with severe mental health conditions and strategies to reduce health inequalities among affected populations.

Shoham has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications in prestigious journals, contributing to the epidemiological understanding of mental health. Key works include 'Association between visual impairment and psychosis: A longitudinal study and nested case-control study of adults' (Schizophrenia Research, 2023), 'Investigating the association between schizophrenia and distance visual acuity: Mendelian randomisation study' (BJPsych Open, 2023), 'Association between childhood visual acuity and late adolescent psychotic experiences: a prospective birth cohort study' (Schizophrenia Bulletin, 2022), 'Temporal trends in psychotic symptoms: repeated cross-sectional surveys of the population in England 2000–14' (Schizophrenia Research, 2021), and 'Associations between psychosis and visual acuity impairment: A systematic review and meta-analysis' (Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 2021). Additional publications cover topics such as sensory impairment and suicidal ideation, common mental disorders in sensory-impaired populations, and prevalence of anxiety in hearing-impaired individuals. She contributes editorially as a trainee editor and board member for BJPsych Open. With over 260 citations, her research influences clinical practice and policy in mental health, particularly regarding sensory-psychosis intersections and physical health interventions for psychiatric patients. She also delivers teaching on serious mental illness through modules at QMUL.