Biography
Professor Naomi Wray has a BSc in Agricultural Science from the University of Edinburgh, MS in livestock genetics and statistics from Cornell University and PhD in quantitative genetics from the University of Edinburgh. Her first academic career was in livestock genetics. She transitioned her research to human genetics when technologies that allowed direct study of DNA variation at scale were developed. Her research addresses fundamental questions about why some people get common disease and some do not, why some people respond to treatment and some people do not, particularly focussing on disorders of the brain. She was previously based at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience and the Queensland Brain Institute of the University of Queensland, where she still holds a partial appointment. She joined the University of Oxford and St Hilda’s College in 2023.
Professor Wray is a statistical geneticist internationally recognised for advancing understanding of the polygenic contribution to common complex disease, particularly psychiatric disorders. Awards include the Australian Neuroscience Society Nina Kondelos Award 2016 (awarded to female neuroscientists for outstanding contributions to basic or clinical neuroscience research), the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Elizabeth Blackburn Award for basic science 2020, and the International Psychiatric Genetics Society Ming Tsuang Lifetime Achievement Award 2021. She is an elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science. She supervises PhD and DPhil students in Brisbane and Oxford.
Positions
- Professorial Fellow in Neuroscience
- Michael Davys Professor of Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry and Big Data Institute
Subjects
- Neuroscience
