Developmental neuroscientist Professor Kim Cornish is a world-leading expert in genetic disorders, and especially Fragile X syndrome – the most common cause of hereditary mental retardation, and yet one of the least recognised.
She joined Monash in 2009 as the Head of Discipline, Psychology and Deputy Head of the School of Psychology and Psychiatry, and is the Director of the Developmental Neuroscience and Genetic Disorders Laboratory.
Born in the United Kingdom, Professor Cornish gained her PhD from the University of London. While visiting a nursery in 1990 as part of her research, she met a boy who at first seemed to share characteristics with autistic children, but who on closer examination was quite different. The child had specific facial features – a large head and big ears – but was still making eye contact and seemed quite social.
The meeting sparked a passion in Professor Cornish for learning more about Fragile X syndrome that continues 19 years later. While based at the University of Nottingham she delved further, tracking a range of children throughout their developmental trajectories. These children included those with normal brain function, and those with disorders including autism, ADHD, and Williams, Down and Fragile X syndromes.
In 2002 she was recruited to Canada’s McGill University for a prestigious Canada Research Chair, part of a national program established to draw the best researchers from around the world and to promote their innovative, interdisciplinary studies.
Professor Cornish’s work includes demonstrating to teachers and clinicians how cognitive delays in each developmental disorder must be addressed with care and attention to their unique qualities. She aims to maximise the strengths of children so that they can achieve their full potential, whether they function at a normal level or face developmental difficulties.
Now at Monash, Professor Cornish collaborates with fellow Monash researchers Professor Bruce Tonge, Emeritus Professor John Bradshaw, Associate Professor Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis and Dr Nicole Rinehart.
Her interdisciplinary focus incorporates a range of techniques (psychology, genetics, brain imaging, psychiatry, and neuroscience) that will help put Fragile X on the Australian health agenda.
>> People and Collaborators
Why Monash?
My answer is simple - Monash University is a dynamic and visionary university who is investing substantially in research platforms that recognise the interplay between the mind and the brain. With a medical faculty recognised as one of the best in the world and the School of Psychology and Psychiatry home to a rich diversity of research innovation and infrastructure that includes
- neuroimaging applications (e.g. TMS, MRI, EEG)
- neuropsychiatric and cognitive phenotyping (e.g. experimental paradigms that tap different components and pathways of cognition and behaviour)
- neurosensory and motor function (e.g eye-tracking, gait analysis)
- sleep and chronobiology
Add a unique skill in clinical translation housed within a developmental genetic perspective and you can see why Monash is poised to become a world leader in neurodevelopmental disorder research.
New collaborations are being formed with the School of Biomedical Sciences and Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI) at Monash to establish a Monash Neurogenetics and Brain Disorders Platform. This interdisciplinary initiative will seek to isolate and identify at-risk "psychiatric" genotypes in already established genetic disorders. The critical and dynamic role of the environment will also be explored in this context. The establishment of the Monash University Biomedical Imaging facility, housing state-of-the-art imaging technologies will transform our capacity to image typical and atypical brain functioning. We are partcularly seeking applications from potential fellows to drive this research forward. Email kim.cornish@monash.edu for further details.
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