Amir Ebneabbasi

I’ve always been fascinated by why people are different—from individual temperament all the way to well-defined psychiatric disorders. I hold a bachelor’s and master’s degree both in Clinical Psychology, primarily grounded in psychoanalytic practice. Along the way, philosophy of science courses pushed (and honestly warned) me to focus on approaches that are more methodologically robust and replicable. As a side project (that slowly turned into more than a hobby), I started using fMRI to study network-level brain dysfunctions in psychiatric disorders. While I really enjoyed neuroimaging, I eventually came to the conclusion that brain changes are often not the root causes of disease. Instead, they may reflect upstream factors like genetics and environmental exposures that leave their fingerprints on the brain. My PhD in Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge aims to uncover how genetics shape the trajectory of brain development and its changes over the lifespan. I pursue this ambitious goal with leading colleagues in the Clinical Neuroscience Department (Tim Rittman, James Rowe), the Psychology Department (Varun Warrier, Richard Bethlehem), and Harvard Medical School (Rachel Bennett). If this resonates with you, feel free to reach out—I’m always happy to discuss potential collaborations.