Profile
Jessica O'Loughlin
RILD Building
University of Exeter Medical School, RILD Building, RD&E Hospital Wonford, Barrack Road, Exeter, EX2 5DW, UK
Overview
Jess is a PhD student at the University of Exeter Medical School. Her main research interest involves using genetics to explore causal relationships between metabolic and mental health in diverse global settings.
The majority of her research utilises the UK Biobank and Chinese Kadoorie Biobank data sets which have over 500,000 participants as well as the Born in Bradford resource.
Qualifications
- BSc Biochemistry with Biomedicine
Research
Research interests
Obesity and mental health problems represent a major global health burden, with both being leading causes of disability worldwide. There is clear unmet need for research to improve our understanding of the links between obesity (and related metabolic traits) and mental health problems in diverse populations.
Work to date has utilized Mendelian Randomization to explore the role of higher BMI on depression in Caucasian individuals in the UK Biobank data. This has demonstrated that both higher BMI, “favourable adiposity” and “unfavourable” adiposity are associated with higher odds of depression and lower wellbeing. This suggests that it is not just the metabolic consequences of obesity driving the BMI relationship, but potentially other factors including social stigma. Jess now wish’s to further explore these relationships in more diverse populations and understand the role socioeconomic factors play in these associations.
Research projects
- Using Mendelian Randomization methods to understand the causal relationships between metabolic and mental health in diverse global settings. (PhD)