DrThomas Reilly

I am a consultant psychiatrist researching the influence of hormones on mental disorders.

It is widely recognised that times of hormonal fluctuation (such as the menstrual cycle, the postpartum period and the perimenopause) can increase the risk of mental illness. However, the biological mechanisms underlying this risk remain poorly understood and hormonal approaches play virtually no role in standard psychiatric care. I hope that a better understanding of how hormones affect mental disorders will ultimately lead to improved treatments.

I trained in psychiatry at the Maudsley and worked with Professor Michael Craig at the National Female Hormone Clinic, a specialist service for mental health problems linked to hormonal transitions, including premenstrual dysphoric disorder.

I moved to Imperial to take up an AHSC Post-Doctoral, Post-CCT Research Fellowship which will focus on the perimenopause in women with bipolar disorder. My clinical work is based at St Charles Hospital, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust.

I write about psychiatric research on Substack: https://rationalpsychiatry.substack.com/