Professor Samuele Cortese awarded highly prestigious NIHR Research Professorship
Samuele Cortese, a Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry within the School of Psychology at the University of Southampton and Honorary Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist for Solent NHS Trust, has been awarded the highly prestigious National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Research Professorship, the flagship award for the NIHR.
The NIHR Research Professorship was awarded to only six outstanding UK researchers this year to support effective translation of research into healthcare.
This 5-year award will enable Professor Cortese to lead a team of researchers on a project aimed at personalising the pharmacological treatment of children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), the most common neurodevelopmental condition. Currently, prescribers use a trial-and-error approach to find the best medication for each child with ADHD. This is time consuming and burdensome for already overstretched child and adolescent mental health services. Professor Cortese and his team will develop the first evidence-based interactive tool to tailor pharmacotherapy in child and adolescent mental health, based on patients' clinical characteristics and personal preferences.
Professor Cortese comments, “I am very honoured to be awarded the NIHR Research Professorship and very proud that the work that we are doing at Southampton is leading the way in informing high quality health and care provision for individuals with ADHD and other neurodevelopmental conditions. I am extremely grateful to Prof. Matthew Garner (Head of School of Psychology), Prof. Steve Darby (Associate Dean of Research, Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences), Dr. Sarah Williams (Director for Research and Improvement, Solent NHS Trust), Dr. Dan Baylis (Deputy CEO and Chief Medical Officer, Solent NHS trust) and Claire Robinson (Clinical Director, Solent NHS Trust), alongside all of my colleagues at the University of Southampton and Solent NHS Trust for their support. I am also very honoured to work with my outstanding mentors during the professorship, Prof. David Baldwin (University of Southampton), Prof. Andrea Cipriani (University of Oxford), Prof. Steve Faraone (SUNY Upstate, USA), and Prof. Georgia Salanti (University of Bern, Switzerland).”
Professor Tamar Pincus, Dean of the Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences added, “The NIHR Research Professorship is the flagship award for the NIHR with only a maximum of six awards offered each year. We are very proud that the outstanding international research carried out by Professor Cortese and his team into ADHD and Neurodevelopmental Disorders has been recognised in this award. We look forward to seeing the translation of this research into the first evidence-based interactive tool that will improve the outcomes for younger patients.”
Professor Cortese is an internationally renowned leader in the field of neurodevelopmental disorders. Currently, he is the Chair of the European ADHD Guidelines Group and an Adjunct Full Professor with the New York University (NYU). Prof. Cortese’s main research interests are around neurodevelopmental disorders, with a focus on ADHD. In his research, he uses advanced evidence synthesis methods to address clinically relevant questions.
He has published more than 350 peer-review papers, including first author papers in journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet Psychiatry, World Psychiatry and the American Journal of Psychiatry. He has also secured external funding as the principal or co-applicant for more than £13 M, being awarded grants from the European research Commission, National Institute of Healthcare and Research (NIHR) and Medical research Council (MRC).
In 2022, Prof. Cortese was included in the list of the world's most influential researchers of the past decade, demonstrated by the production of multiple highly-cited papers that ranked in the top 1% by citations in the field of psychiatry/psychology in Web of Science. In 2023, he ranked #1 worldwide in terms of expertise on ADHD and Neurodevelopmental Disorders according to Expertscape.
Find out more about the latest cohort of NIHR Research Professors.