George Kirov
Clinical Professor, Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University
Professor George Kirov trained in Psychiatry in South-West London, starting 1990. He developed an interest in psychiatric genetics during his first research post with Professor Robin Murray at the Institute of Psychiatry in London.
This was followed by a Wellcome Trust Fellowship in Cardiff with Professor Michael Owen, on the genetics of bipolar affective disorder. Professor Kirov stayed in Cardiff and extended his research into schizophrenia. His most important contribution to the genetics research is elucidating the role of copy number variation (CNV) in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Professor Kirov's interest in ECT started during a trial of Magnetic Seizure Therapy. He continued working in the ECT department in Cardiff where he became ECT Lead.
George has conducted research on cognitive performance after ECT and started a pilot study on functional neuroimaging of ECT. He is a member of the ECT Committee of the Royal College and has written a book about ECT, called “Shocked”.