Professor Christos Pantelis
Professor Christos Pantelis is the Scientific Director and
head of the Psychosis Studies Research Stream at the MNC
+61 3 8344 1870
Prof. Pantelis is an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow, Foundation Professor of Neuropsychiatry and Scientific Director of the Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre in the Dept. of Psychiatry, at University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health. He is an Hon. Professorial Fellow at Florey Institute for Neuroscience & Mental Health, heads the Adult Mental Health Rehabilitation Unit at Sunshine Hospital, and is an Hon. Adjunct Professor in the Centre for Neural Engineering (CfNE, University of Melbourne).
Prof Pantelis leads a team of clinical and research scientists and students undertaking neuroimaging and neuropsychological work in the psychoses, and other neuropsychiatric disorders since 1993 in Australia. Recent work focuses on early developmental disorders (incl. schizotypy, autism). He has won a number of awards, including a 2011 NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Grant (US), and the 2013 Robert-Sommer Award from the Justus Liebig University School of Medicine, Germany. He received the 2015 Danks Oration Medal at University of Melbourne. He was conferred a Doctor Honoris Causa from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 2015. He is a Visiting Professor at the University of Copenhagen during 2017-2019, and the 2017-2018 Visiting Research Professor at the Department of Psychiatry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He presented the 18th Paul Janssen lecture at Institute of Psychiatry, London in 2018. He was elected to Fellowship of the Royal College of Psychiatrist (UK) in 2018. He was named in the Thomson Reuters list of “The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds” each year since 2014, representing the top 1% of most highly cited scientists in his field. He is on the Editorial Boards of national and international journals, including Associate Editor for Psychological Medicine.
Current Projects
Prof Pantelis is currently running the following studies through the MNC:
If you would like to find out more about Prof Pantelis’s research, or are interested in Honours, Masters or PhD projects, please contact him at cpant@unimelb.edu.au.
Current Funding
(2016-2020) Neurobiological 'risk' and 'resilience' biomarkers of severe mental illness. Senior Principal Research Fellowship (ID: 1105825)
(2016-2019) Resilient brain networks in patients with schizophrenia and their unaffected siblings. NHMRC Project Grant (ID: 1103252)
(2011-2018) CRC for Mental Health. To identify biomarkers and novel therapies for psychosis.
CRC grant (ID: 20090064)
(2019 - 2024) Translating membrane proteins into therapeutics: from bedside to bench.
NHMRC Program Grant (ID: APP1150083)
Select Publications
Frontal-striatal cognitive deficits in patients with chronic schizophrenia. (1997) C Pantelis, TR Barnes, HE Nelson, S Tanner, L Weatherley, AM Owen, ... Brain, 120 (10), 1823-1843.
Neuroanatomical abnormalities before and after onset of psychosis: a cross-sectional and longitudinal MRI comparison, C Pantelis, D Velakoulis, ... McGuire, P. (2003) Lancet, 361 (9354), 281-288.
Structural brain imaging evidence for multiple pathological processes at different stages of brain development in schizophrenia. (2005) C Pantelis, M Yücel, SJ Wood, D Velakoulis, ... Schizophr bull, 31 (3), 672-696.
Hippocampal and amygdala volumes according to psychosis stage and diagnosis: A magnetic resonance imaging study of chronic schizophrenia, first-episode psychosis, and ultra–high-risk individuals. (2006) D Velakoulis, SJ Wood, MTH Wong, PD McGorry, ... C Pantelis Arch gen psychiatry 63 (2), 139-149.
Progressive gray matter reduction of the superior temporal gyrus during transition to psychosis. (2009) T Takahashi, SJ Wood, AR Yung, B Soulsby, PD McGorry, M Suzuki, ... C Pantelis. Archives of general psychiatry 66 (4), 366-376.
Delayed development of brain connectivity in adolescents with schizophrenia and their unaffected siblings. (2015) A Zalesky, C Pantelis, ..., JL Rapoport, N Gogtay. JAMA psychiatry, 72 (9), 900-908.
Accelerated gray and white matter deterioration with age in schizophrenia. (2016) VL Cropley, ..., C Pantelis*, A Zalesky*, Am J Psychiatry, 174 (3), 286-295.
PET imaging of putative microglial activation in individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis, recently diagnosed and chronically ill with schizophrenia. (2017) MA Di Biase, A Zalesky, ..., C. Pantelis*, V Cropley*, Transl psychiatry, 7 (8), e1225.
Role of positive parenting in the association between neighborhood social disadvantage and brain development across adolescence. (2017) S Whittle, .., C Pantelis, .., JAMA psychiatry, 74 (8), 824-832.
Fragility and volatility of structural hubs in the human connectome. (2018) LL Gollo, JA Roberts, VL Cropley, MA Di Biase, C Pantelis, A Zalesky, M Breakspear. Nature neuroscience 21 (8), 1107.