Mrs Esther Via —Endeavour Research Fellowship
Home institution:
Host institution:
Bellvitge University Hospital-IDIBELL - Spain
The University of Melbourne— Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre (MNC)
“ the Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre
environment and the influence of my host supervisor
enriched me with a different perspective of working
in research, and have made an impact on my own
way of investigating, which I want to implement in
my research group in my home country.”
Mrs Esther Via at Bellvitge University Hospital, while
doing the last check for the poster to be presented at
the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology
Congress, September 2015.
Esther is a psychiatrist and has experience working in neuroimage research, using magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) techniques.
During her Endeavour Research Fellowship Esther worked on a new collaborative project in
generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) between her home institution, Bellvitge University HospitalIDIBELL and the Affective Neuropsychiatry team at Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre (MNC). GAD
is an under-diagnosed disorder, estimated to affect three in every 100 people per year in Australia.
Esther says the MNC started in 2005 under the direction of Professor Christos Pantelis and has
developed strong research profiles in psychosis and other disorders, being a worldwide reference
centre for research in mental health. Among these lines of research, the Affective Neuropsychiatry
team is devoted to the study of anxiety and depressive disorders in adolescent and adult
populations.
Esther’s home and host institutions have been collaborating for over ten years and she became
involved in an anxiety project that started in Barcelona and was further developed in Australia. “All
the work conducted during my fellowship was part of common projects between my home research
group led by Dr Cardoner and Dr Soriano-Mas at the Psychiatry department -directed by Dr J
Manuel Menchón- and my host research group led by Associate Professor Ben Harrison and Dr Chris
Davey.
“The main research activities involved analysing magnetic resonance images obtained from patients
with anxiety and healthy subjects, with the aim to understand the (pathological) response of brain
areas associated with anxiety and fear in affected patients,” Esther said.
The results have been presented at two scientific conferences: The Australasian Social Neuroscience
Society (Brisbane, June 2015); and at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Congress
(ECNP-Amsterdam, September 2015). The team is currently working on a research paper
summarising these results, and is expected to be published in a high-impact journal.
Mrs Esther Via – Endeavour Research Fellowship
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Esther describes her fellowship program as being one of the best professional and personal
experiences abroad.
“I consider myself an active and energetic person, and apart from the professional benefits I have
enjoyed my life in Melbourne in other ways. I joined a group of African dancers and a group of
Brazilian percussionists. With both of them we performed in different spaces within the city.
“Additionally, I volunteered for an in-house stimulation program with a child affected with autism
(non-verbal). I value these experiences as important pieces in my personal development during this
period. I have also travelled, although mainly within Victoria.
“In general, the Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre environment and the influence of my host
supervisor enriched me with a different perspective of working in research, and have made an
impact on my own way of investigating, which I want to implement in my research group at my
home country.”
Looking into the future, Esther says she will most likely working partly as a clinician (psychiatrist)
and partly as a researcher at a hospital.
“Luckily enough, the link between these two professional paths is going to merge in some months at
my home institution. I am certain the Endeavour experience has helped me to be in this position
and to further develop my research path. I expect to keep and grow Australian collaborative
projects, and hopefully having another opportunity to visit the country.”
Mrs Esther Via – Endeavour Research Fellowship
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