Outstanding biological psychiatry research at Monash University

Dr Rachel Hill

In recognition of her outstanding research, School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health (SCS) researcher Dr Rachel Hill received the prestigious Aubrey Lewis Award and delivered the keynote lecture at this month’s Biological Psychiatry Australia conference in Adelaide.

Peer reviewed by a panel of eight executives, the Award is given to the most outstanding early-mid career researcher in the field of Biological Psychiatry.

Dr Hill is a senior research fellow and NHMRC career development fellow, and head of the Behavioural Neuroscience laboratory in the Department of Psychiatry at SCS.  She is a leader in the pre-clinical investigation of the molecular basis of schizophrenia.

“My research programs aims to find effective treatments that address all the symptoms of schizophrenia,” Dr Hill said.

“My team uses pre-clinical animal models to better understand the pathophysiology of mental disorders such as schizophrenia, so we can design and test novel therapeutic strategies.”

Dr Hill is currently progressing two compounds into phase 1B clinical trials: BDNF mimetic R13 and selective estrogen receptor modulator, bazedoxifene.

“Following 10 years of extensive behavioural, cellular and molecular research on the effects of BDNF and estrogen on learning and memory I have now transitioned these findings to clinical application to test the effects of these compounds on the cognitive impairments associated with schizophrenia,” Dr Hill said.

These trials will be conducted at Monash Medical Center, under the guidance of Head of Adult Psychiatry, Professor Suresh Sundram. 

Dr Hill said it is very encouraging to be acknowledged nationally by her peers with this award and, in particular, she had a number of junior female scientists comment positively on seeing a successful female researcher with young children.

“I am very happy to be a role model to my junior female colleagues and this recognition significantly elevates my standing in the field of Biological Psychiatry and has already opened several doors for both national and international collaboration,” she said.