Biography

Dr Griffiths is a Senior Research Fellow and leader of the neurodevelopmental and eating disorders neuroimaging team within the Brain Dynamics Centre.
 
Kristi completed her PhD in behavioural neuroscience at the University of Sydney. She was subsequently awarded a Tenix Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, followed by a NHMRC Early Career Fellowship. She completed neuroimaging training with the fMRI Visiting Fellowship at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging in Boston.
 
Kristi has published more than 40 peer-reviewed papers, which have been highly cited (1000+), and she has secured >1.3 million dollars in competitive research funding. She is a peer reviewer for top international journals and has served as reviewer for international grant funding bodies (e.g. Agency for Health Quality and Assessment of Catalonia).

Keywords

Neuroimaging, Impulse Control, ADHD, Eating Disorders

Themes

Neurosciences and Mental Health

Research Focus

Her research is dedicated to applying neuroimaging methods to better understand neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders in young people, with the ultimate goal of advancing personalised medicine. Dr Griffiths’ work recognises the heterogeneity commonly seen within psychiatric disorders, and has employed transdiagnostic data-driven approaches and “bio-typing” to find markers that can predict response to various treatments. Her research program applies connectivity analyses across a range of imaging modalities, including resting-state fMRI, fMRI and diffusion-weighted imaging. This research has been undertaken across a range of disorders affecting youth, including ADHD, depression, bipolar disorder and eating disorders.

Other Affiliations

Faculty of Medicine and Health > FMH Medical Research Institutes > Westmead Institute for Medical Research

Awards and Recognition

  • Perpetual IMPACT grant 2022
  • Investigator-initiated Grant, Takeda 2018-2020                               
  • Understanding the neural mechanisms of Lisdexamfetamine pharmacotherapy in Binge-Eating Disorder                                                                          
  • NHMRC Early Career Fellowship 2017-2022
  • Goal-directed Behaviour in Adolescent ADHD: Neural Connectivity
    and it’s Significance for Clinical Translation 
  • Elaine Tolley Medal in Mental Health 2016-2017                                                    
  • Neurodevelopmental changes in brain connectivity and the effects
    of stimulant medication in child and adolescent ADHD   
  • Tenix Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship 2015-2017                                                
  • Best Poster Prize, Society for Mental Health Research 2017, Canberra
  • Best poster prize, Society for Mental Health Research 2016, Sydney
  • 2015 Westmead Medical Research Foundation Tenix fellowship
  • Recipient of “Hot Topic” Award, Oral Presentation, Society for Neuroscience 2014, Washington
  • Sydney Medical School Travelling Fellowship 2013     
  • 2013 Sydney Neuroscience Network best poster prize
  • 2011, 2013 Sydney Medical School Travelling fellowship   
  • 2011, 2012, 2014 Postgraduate research support scheme
  • 2010-2014 ARC laureate postgraduate scholarship  
  • 2009 World Congress of Biological Psychiatry travel award                          

Education

  • 2008 B.Psych (Hons), University of Sydney
  • 2015 PhD, University of Sydney. Doctoral thesis, ‘The Effect of Psychiatric Disorders on Causal Awareness in Goal-Directed Action Selection’.