Theodora A. Thoroddsen

I am a DPhil student under the supervision of Dr Andrea Reinecke and Professor Catherine Harmer. My research explores how the antihypertensive drug losartan impacts emotional processing and fear extinction in human participants, using behavioural and functional brain imaging approaches.

Prior to starting my DPhil, I completed a BSc-degree in Psychology at the University of Iceland. While I was finishing my BSc-degree, I had the honor of studying Cognitive Neuroscience at both Stanford University and Columbia University, and became completely fascinated with the field. I thus decided to pursue a MSc-degree in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of York and graduated with distinction. My MSc-project involved an investigation of the contribution of emotion regulation abnormalities in the brain to non-clinical eating disorder psychopathology, which piqued my interest in mental health research. I also gained insight into mental health while working with children with different kinds of disabilities and elderly patients with mental health problems, and as one of the founders and editors of a webpage intended to educate the public in Iceland about mental health. I am also educated in plant-based nutrition and am a certified personal trainer.