Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research - Wacol (QCMHR)

West Moreton Hospital and Health Service

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QCMHR is Queensland’s premier mental health research facility. Its function is to reduce the level of disability associated with mental illness through research which leads to more effective mental health services and interventions, the identification and reduction of risk factors, and the development of researchers in the field of mental health. The Centre has a balanced research portfolio that addresses many different categories of observation – from genetics and molecular neuroscience, to treatment and recovery, to population-based research, policy and planning. QCMHR is based within West Moreton Hospital and Health Service, but it also has close links with the Queensland Brain Institute, the School of Public Health and the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Queensland, the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, and Brisbane Diamantina Health Partners.

Website https://www.qcmhr.uq.edu.au/

Key science sectors

• Health and medical
• Life sciences
• Social sciences

Strengths and capabilities

• Conducting mental health clinical trials
• Mental health policy advice and service evaluation
• Collaborative research in early psychosis
• Epidemiology of mental and substance use disorders
• Vocational rehabilitation for people with mental illness
• Non genetic risk factors of mental illness
• Animal models in mental health research
• Identifying susceptibility genes for schizophrenia
• Understanding brain development in severe mental illnesses
• Training and mentoring mental health researchers

Facilities and major equipment

• Developmental neurobiology laboratory
• Human genetics laboratory
• Biological sample storage units

Number of research staff

Up to 20 research staff

Address

Level 3, Dawson House, The Park - Centre for Mental Health, Wacol, 4076

Lead researcher

• Professor Bryan Mowry—Conducted studies, with national and international collaborators, to identify susceptibility genes for schizophrenia

Other centres in Queensland

• Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research - Neurobiology
• Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research - Psychiatric Genomics

Organisation type

• Research Hospital
• Queensland Government - Agency
• University Research Centre