Rate My Professor Alison Yung

Professor Alison Yung is Professor (Clinical Research) in the School of Medicine, Faculty of Health at Deakin University, where she leads the Deakin Psychosis Research Group. She is internationally recognised for developing the ultra-high risk for psychosis criteria, which has transformed early detection and intervention strategies worldwide. Yung created the Comprehensive Assessment of At Risk Mental States (CAARMS), a tool translated into 18 languages and used globally in clinical practice and research to identify at-risk individuals and facilitate preventive interventions such as cognitive behaviour therapy and medication. Her research encompasses the early stages of psychosis, exercise as an intervention for first-episode psychosis, mental wellbeing through sport and social connectedness in Aboriginal communities, and improving data sharing in mental health research.

Yung earned her MBBS from the University of Melbourne in 1986, Master of Psychological Medicine from Monash University in 1994, MD and Graduate Diploma in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the University of Melbourne in 2004, and Fellowship of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. Her career began with medical residency and psychiatry training at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Monash Medical Centre in the 1990s, where she identified psychosis risk factors through patient interviews. From 2012 to 2018, she served as Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Manchester, demonstrating that weekly exercise exceeding 100 minutes reduced depression in first-episode psychosis patients. Since 2018, she has been based primarily at Deakin, also holding roles such as NHMRC Principal Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Youth Mental Health. She has received the Founders’ Medal from the Society of Mental Health Research, appeared on the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers list for eight consecutive years including 2022, and been named one of the world’s most influential scientific minds by Thomson Reuters twice. Yung has secured over $28 million in research funding, amassed over 50,000 citations, and is president-elect of the International Early Psychosis Association.