Riccardo De Giorgi

MD, DPhil, MRCPsych

Senior Clinical Researcher

Senior Clinical Researcher
Honorary Consultant in General Adult Psychiatry

Repurposing immuno-metabolic drugs in cognitive and mental disorders

I am a Senior Clinical Researcher at the University of Oxford Department of Psychiatry, and Honorary Consultant in General Adult Psychiatry at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. In Oxford, I am a tutor in psychiatry and regularly teach medical students and trainees about the topics of research methodology and critical appraisal, psychopharmacology, and mood disorders. I am also Adjunct Professor at the University of Salento, Italy. I serve as Elected Council Member for the British Association of Psychopharmacology, EDI Ambassador at the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre, and BJPsych Journal Club Co-Coordinator for The BJPsych. I am Editor-in-Chief for BMJ Connections Mental Health, and Section/Associate Editor for the BJPsych, BJPsych Adv, and BMJ Mental Health.

I am interested in neuropsychopharmacology and the evidence-based treatment of severe mental illness, especially mood disorders. There is increasing evidence that immunological and metabolic factors play a role in the pathophysiology of cognitive and mental disorders. Repurposing commonly used medical treatments (e.g., anti-inflammatory or metabolic interventions) may therefore benefit those patients who respond poorly to conventional treatments and who might be identifiable a priori through measurement of immunological and metabolic markers.

Currently, I am working on experimental medicine studies for the repurposing of drugs with immuno-metabolic activity (e.g., statins, GLP-1 therapies) in mental disorders. This work is informed by collaborative projects in evidence synthesis and pharmacoepidemiology with several other research teams at the department. I look at early markers of response, such as neuropsychological changes, as well as immuno-metabolic peripheral markers, to validate the use of these drugs in further clinical trials.