Professor Rachel Upthegrove MBBS, FRCPsych, PhD

Professor Rachel Upthegrove

School of Psychology
Professor of Psychiatry and Youth Mental Health
Consultant Psychiatrist Early Intervention in Psychosis

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 6241
Email
r.upthegrove@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
Address
School of Psychology
黑料吃瓜网
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Rachel is Professor of Psychiatry and Youth Mental Health at the 黑料吃瓜网, and Consultant Psychiatrist in the Birmingham Early Intervention Services. Her research Interest is within the field of major mental illness; particularly schizophrenia and co-morbid depression in early phases of illness. Recent projects have developed the investigation of inflammatory models of psychosis and machine learning in prognostic indicators in early phases of developing mental ill health.

Qualifications

  • PhD Birmingham 2011
  • MPhil Birmingham 2001
  • FRCPsych 2017
  • MRCPsych 1999
  • MBBS University of London, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine 1994

Biography

Rachel qualified from the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine and after house officer and general medical SHO posts began training Psychiatry in Birmingham in the beginning of service developments for assertive 黑料吃瓜网 care. Rachel completed general and specialist adult psychiatry training working part time, whilst developing active research interests in Schizophrenia and First Episode Psychosis.

Postgraduate supervision

  • Carl Krynicki
  • Markella Griogoriou
  • Paris Lalousis
  • Rowena Jones
  • Margaret Hardiman
  • Emily Fisher

Research

Neuroimmunology and Psychosis: Immune dysfunction, particularly low-grate inflammation could be causally linked to psychosis: our evidence suggests inflammation is present prior to psychosis onset and is unrelated to medication effects. Recent trials of anti-inflammatory agents in psychosis have yielded mixed results. Current research projects aim to identify the stage of illness and phenotypic profile of patients with psychosis that is related to aberrant immune function. Thus future trials of novel or repurposed agents may be conducted with a refined, targeted approach. 

Personalised Prognostic Tools for Early Psychosis Management. PRONIA EUFP7 funded PRONIA uses routine brain imaging and complementary data to optimise candidate biomarkers for the prediction and staging of psychoses and aim to generate a prognostic system that generalises well across different mental health services. We will also implement new multi-modal risk quantification tools to predict mental health-related disability in young help-seekers. The fusion of these tools with clinical knowledge will produce cybernetic prognostic services that accurately identify help-seekers at the highest risk of psychosis, poor functioning and suicide-related mortality. More information is available via the .

Depression in Schizophrenia: NIHR and EU funded research has developed the evidence base for the frequency, importance and prognostic implications of depression in First Episode Psychosis, including that of poor functional outcomes and increased risk of completed suicide. Recent meta-analysis led by this group confirm that antidepressants are effective for patients with schizophrenia and depression. Current projects will develop the evidence base for preventative interventions and whether stopping depression developing in the early phases of psychosis can improve a range of outcomes.

Research Groups and Centres:

Other activities

  • NIHR CRN Specialty Lead for the West Midlands
  • Council Member of the British Association for Psychopharmacology
  • Deputy Editor for the British Journal of Psychiatry

Publications

Highlight publications

PRONIA Consortium, Lalousis, PA, Schmaal, L, Wood, S, Reniers, R, Barnes, N, Chisholm, K, Griffiths, L, Stainton, A, Wen, J, Hwang, G, Davatzikos, C, Wenzel, J, Kambeitz-Ilankovic, L, Andreou, C, Bonivento, C, Dannlowski, U, Ferro, A, Liechtenstein, T, Riecher-R枚ssler, A, Romer, G, Rosen, M, Bertolino, A, Borgwardt, S, Brambilla, P, Kambeitz, J, Lencer, R, Pantelis, C, Ruhrmann, S, Salokangas, RKR, Schultze-Lutter, F, Schmidt, A, Meisenzahl, EM, Koutsouleris, N, Dwyer, D & Upthegrove, R 2022, '', Biological Psychiatry, vol. 92, no. 7, pp. 552-562.

Upthegrove, R, Marwaha, S & Birchwood, M 2017, '', Schizophrenia bulletin, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 240-244.

PIMS collaboration 2022, '', JAMA psychiatry, vol. 2022, no. 5, pp. 1-11.

Morales-Munoz, I, Palmer, E, Mallikarjun, P, Marwaha, S & Upthegrove, R 2021, '', Biological Psychiatry.

PRONIA Consortium 2020, '', Schizophrenia bulletin, vol. 2020, sbaa094.

Recent publications

Article

Corsi-Zuelli, F, Donohoe, G, Griffiths, S, Del-Ben, CM, Watson, AJ, Burke, T, Lalousis, PA, McKernan, D, Morris, D, Kelly, JP, McDonald, C, Patlola, SR, Pariante, CM, Barnes, N, Khandaker, GM, Suckling, J, Deakin, B, Upthegrove, R & Dauvermann, M 2025, '', Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science, vol. 5, no. 2, 100429.

Altaweel, N, Upthegrove, R & Marwaha, S 2025, '', Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 16, 1454673.

Wannan, CMJ, Nelson, B, Addington, J, Allott, K, Anticevic, A, Arango, C, Baker, JT, Bearden, CE, Billah, T, Bouix, S, Broome, MR, Buccilli, K, Cadenhead, KS, Calkins, ME, Cannon, TD, Cecci, G, Chen, EYH, Cho, KIK, Choi, J, Clark, SR, Coleman, MJ, Conus, P, Corcoran, CM, Cornblatt, BA, Diaz-Caneja, CM, Dwyer, D, Ebdrup, BH, Ellman, LM, Fusar-Poli, P, Galindo, L, Gaspar, PA, Gerber, C, Glenth酶j, LB, Glynn, R, Harms, MP, Horton, LE, Kahn, RS, Kambeitz, J, Kambeitz-Ilankovic, L, Kane, JM, Kapur, T, Keshavan, MS, Kim, SW, Koutsouleris, N, Kubicki, M, Kwon, JS, Langbein, K, Lewandowski, KE, Light, GA, Mamah, D, Marcy, PJ, Mathalon, DH, McGorry, PD, Mittal, VA, Nordentoft, M, Nunez, A, Pasternak, O, Pearlson, GD, Perez, J, Perkins, DO, Powers, AR, Roalf, DR, Sabb, FW, Schiffman, J, Shah, JL, Smesny, S, Spark, J, Stone, WS, Strauss, GP, Tamayo, Z, Torous, J, Upthegrove, R, Vangel, M, Verma, S, Wang, J, Rossum, IWV, Wolf, DH, Wolff, P, Wood, SJ, Yung, AR, Agurto, C, Alvarez-Jimenez, M, Amminger, P, Armando, M, Asgari-Targhi, A, Cahill, J, Carri贸n, RE, Castro, E, Cetin-Karayumak, S, Mallar Chakravarty, M, Cho, YT, Cotter, D, D'Alfonso, S, Ennis, M, Fadnavis, S, Fonteneau, C, Gao, C, Gupta, T, Gur, RE, Gur, RC, Hamilton, HK, Hoftman, GD, Jacobs, GR, Jarcho, J, Ji, JL, Kohler, CG, Lalousis, PA, Lavoie, S, Lepage, M, Liebenthal, E, Mervis, J, Murty, V, Nicholas, SC, Ning, L, Penzel, N, Poldrack, R, Polosecki, P, Pratt, DN, Rabin, R, Rahimi Eichi, H, Rathi, Y, Reichenberg, A, Reinen, J, Rogers, J, Ruiz-Yu, B, Scott, I, Seitz-Holland, J, Srihari, VH, Srivastava, A, Thompson, A, Turetsky, BI, Walsh, BC, Whitford, T, Wigman, JTW, Yao, B, Yuen, HP, Ahmed, U, Byun, AJS, Chung, Y, Do, K, Hendricks, L, Huynh, K, Jeffries, C, Lane, E, Langholm, C, Lin, E, Mantua, V, Santorelli, G, Ruparel, K, Zoupou, E, Adasme, T, Addamo, L, Adery, L, Ali, M, Auther, A, Aversa, S, Baek, SH, Bates, K, Bathery, A, Bayer, JMM, Beedham, R, Bilgrami, Z, Birch, S, Bonoldi, I, Borders, O, Borgatti, R, Brown, L, Bruna, A, Carrington, H, Castillo-Passi, RI, Chen, J, Cheng, N, Ching, AE, Clifford, C, Colton, BL, Contreras, P, Corral, S, Damiani, S, Done, M, Estrad茅, A, Etuka, BA, Formica, M, Furlan, R, Geljic, M, Germano, C, Getachew, R, Goncalves, M, Haidar, A, Hartmann, J, Jo, A, John, O, Kerins, S, Kerr, M, Kesselring, I, Kim, H, Kim, N, Kinney, K, Krcmar, M, Kotler, E, Lafanechere, M, Lee, C, Llerena, J, Markiewicz, C, Matnejl, P, Maturana, A, Mavambu, A, Mayol-Troncoso, R, McDonnell, A, McGowan, A, McLaughlin, D, McIlhenny, R, McQueen, B, Mebrahtu, Y, Mensi, M, Hui, CLM, Suen, YN, Wong, SMY, Morrell, N, Omar, M, Partridge, A, Phassouliotis, C, Pichiecchio, A, Politi, P, Porter, C, Provenzani, U, Prunier, N, Raj, J, Ray, S, Rayner, V, Reyes, M, Reynolds, K, Rush, S, Salinas, C, Shetty, J, Snowball, C, Tod, S, Turra-Fari帽a, G, Valle, D, Veale, S, Whitson, S, Wickham, A, Youn, S, Zamorano, F, Zavaglia, E, Zinberg, J, Woods, SW & Shenton, ME 2024, '', Schizophrenia bulletin, vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 496-512.

Hoheisel, L, Kambeitz-Ilankovic, L, Wenzel, J, Haas, SS, Antonucci, LA, Ruef, A, Penzel, N, Schultze-Lutter, F, Lichtenstein, T, Rosen, M, Dwyer, DB, Salokangas, RKR, Lencer, R, Brambilla, P, Borgwardt, S, Wood, SJ, Upthegrove, R, Bertolino, A, Ruhrmann, S, Meisenzahl, E, Koutsouleris, N, Fink, GR, Daun, S & Kambeitz, J 2024, '', Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging.

Lalousis, PA, Malaviya, A, Khatibi, A, Saberi, M, Kambeitz-Ilankovic, L, Haas, SS, Wood, SJ, Barnes, NM, Rogers, J, Chisholm, K, Bertolino, A, Borgwardt, S, Brambilla, P, Kambeitz, J, Lencer, R, Pantelis, C, Ruhrmann, S, Salokangas, RKR, Schultze-Lutter, F, Schmidt, A, Meisenzahl, E, Dwyer, D, Koutsouleris, N, Upthegrove, R, Griffiths, SL & PRONIA Consortium 2024, '', Biological Psychiatry.

Birdi, GK, Wong, G, Upthegrove, R, Higgs, S, Walsh, A, Ahern, A, Allen, K, Howe, J, Habib, H, Nixon, K, Oduola, S & Maidment, I 2024, '', Inquiry : The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing, vol. 61.

Tse, W, Khandaker, GM, Zhou, H, Luo, H, Yan, WC, Siu, MW, Poon, LT, Lee, EHM, Zhang, Q, Upthegrove, R, Osimo, EF, Perry, BI & Chan, SKW 2024, '', The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific, vol. 47, 101089.

Griffiths, K, Mellado, MR, Chung, R, Lally, J, McQueen, G, Sendt, K-V, Gillespie, A, Ibrahim, M, Richter, A, Shields, A, Ponsford, M, Jolles, S, Hodsoll, J, Pollak, TA, Upthegrove, R, Egerton, A & Maccabe, JH 2024, '', Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, vol. 115, pp. 223-228.

Casetta, C, Santosh, P, Bayley, R, Bisson, J, Byford, S, Dixon, C, Drake, RJ, Elvins, R, Emsley, R, Fung, N, Hayes, D, Howes, O, James, A, James, K, Jones, R, Killaspy, H, Lennox, B, Marchant, L, McGuire, P, Oloyede, E, Rogdaki, M, Upthegrove, R, Walters, J, Egerton, A & MacCabe, JH 2024, '', BMC Psychiatry, vol. 24, no. 1, 122.

Dunleavy, C, Elsworthy, RJ, Wood, SJ, Allott, K, Spencer, F, Upthegrove, R & Aldred, S 2024, '', Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, vol. 120, pp. 379-390.

Altaweel, N, Upthegrove, R & Marwaha, S 2024, '', Journal of Affective Disorders, vol. 367, pp. 157-163.

Lee, R, Griffiths, SL, Gkoutos, GV, Wood, SJ, Bravo Merodio, L, Lalousis, PA, Everard, L, Jones, PB, Fowler, D, Hodgekins, J, Amos, T, Freemantle, N, Singh, SP, Birchwood, M & Upthegrove, R 2024, '', Schizophrenia Research, vol. 274, pp. 66-77.

Morales-Munoz, I, Marwaha, S, Upthegrove, R & Cropley, V 2024, '', JAMA psychiatry, vol. 81, no. 8, pp. 825-833.

Comment/debate

ISARIC4C Investigators, COVID-CNS Consortium, Michael, BD, Dunai, C, Needham, EJ, Tharmaratnam, K, Williams, R, Huang, Y, Boardman, SA, Clark, JJ, Sharma, P, Subramaniam, K, Wood, GK, Collie, C, Digby, R, Ren, A, Norton, E, Leibowitz, M, Ebrahimi, S, Fower, A, Fox, H, Tato, E, Ellul, MA, Sunderland, G, Held, M, Hetherington, C, Egbe, FN, Palmos, A, Stirrups, K, Grundmann, A, Chiollaz, AC, Sanchez, JC, Stewart, JP, Griffiths, M, Solomon, T, Breen, G, Coles, AJ, Kingston, N, Bradley, JR, Chinnery, PF, Cavanagh, J, Irani, SR, Vincent, A, Baillie, JK, Openshaw, PJ, Semple, MG, Taams, LS & Menon, DK 2024, '', Nature Communications, vol. 15, no. 1, 2918.

Letter

PHOSP-COVID Collaborative Group & ISARIC investigators 2024, '', Nature Immunology, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 607-621.