2019 Maltz Prize for Innovative and Promising Schizophrenia Research: Decision-making and neuropsychiatry - what can we learn from the decisions we make? (2020-2023)

Dr Kesby's research examines a set of decision-making tasks that are dependent on associative striatal function and can be conducted in both humans and rodents. Even simple decisions require a complex set of computational processes that our brains navigate seamlessly, most of the time. Dr Kesby uses studies in humans and preclinical models to decode these processes in order to gain a better understanding of the pathological mechanisms underlying decision-making problems in psychosis. By using similar tests of decision-making in people with psychosis and in animal models after circuit-based manipulations, Dr Kesby's translational research approach aims to leverage the strength of basic research synergistically with outcomes obtained from direct patient-based clinical studies.