Prof Kia Nobre, Head of the university’s Department of Experimental Psychology,  took up her role last month in succession to Professor Sue Dopson of Oxford’s Said Business School who stepped down after nine years’ service.

Prof Nobre is Director of the Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity (OHBA), Chair of Oxford Neuroscience Strategy Committee,  Professorial Fellow at St Catherine’s College and Head of the Brain & Cognition Lab.

David Walker, Chair of Oxford Health said: “We’re delighted to welcome not just a distinguished scientist to the board but someone deeply versed in translating new knowledge into therapies and techniques of practical benefit to NHS patients.”

The Trust is home to the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre, one of the UK’s only two specialist mental health centres, dedicated to solving problems of mental disorders and dementia, turned advance in knowledge into new treatments.

Prof Nobre said: “ I am delighted to be joining the board of Oxford Health. As a scientific researcher, I am passionate about innovating new ways of understanding the human brain and bringing cutting-edge and rigorous fundamental cognitive neuroscience to translational and clinical research for societal benefit.

“As a scientific citizen, I am committed to keeping curiosity and science alive in the world. I try to share my wonder and delight about discovering the nature of things with those around me. To this end, I am dedicated to educating, training and mentoring – and helping individuals forge career paths that bring them meaning and fulfilment.”

Prof Nobre grew up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and obtained her PhD in the United States in 1993, carrying out postdoctoral research at Yale University, working with a specialist Cognative Neurology and Alzheimer’s group at Harvard Medical School and then Northwestern University.

Oxford has been her home since 1994 when she arrived in the city to take up a McDonnell-Pew Lectureship in Cognitive Neuroscience and a Junior Research Fellowship at New College.

She holds the Chair in Translational Cognitive Neuroscience at Oxford, shared between the Departments of Psychiatry and of Experimental Psychology and linked to St Catherine’s College.  She continues to collaborate with the Mesulam Centre for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease as an adjunct professor at Northwestern University in Chicago, USA.

Among many roles and interests, she is also a member of the University Council and serves on its research, innovation, and education committees.

*Professor Sue Dopson is Rhodes Trust Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Faculty Dean at Saïd Business School, a Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford, and Visiting Professor at the University of Alberta, Canada.

David Walker said: “Every NHS body would benefit from having a social scientist of Sue’s distinction in their midst. We have had access to Sue’s deep knowledge of organisation and the NHS, and through her access to research and teaching at the Said Business School. We shall miss her greatly.”