Rate My Professor Anne Lingford-Hughes

Professor Anne Lingford-Hughes is Professor of Addiction Biology in the Department of Brain Sciences at Imperial College London, Faculty of Medicine. She graduated in medicine from the University of Oxford, obtained her PhD from the University of Cambridge characterizing the cholecystokinin receptor in the brain, and completed psychiatric training at the Bethlem and Maudsley Hospitals and Institute of Psychiatry. Following a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Mental Health in the USA, she trained as a psychiatrist under supervisors including Professor Rob Kerwin and Dr. Jane Marshall. Awarded a Wellcome Trust clinical fellowship, she investigated the GABA-benzodiazepine receptor in alcoholism using brain imaging. In 2000, she joined the University of Bristol as Clinical Senior Lecturer and Consultant for the alcohol service, pioneering positron emission tomography studies of dopamine, GABA-benzodiazepine, and NK1 receptors in alcoholism and opiate dependence. Since 2009, she has held the Chair in Addiction Biology at Imperial College London and serves as Consultant Psychiatrist in addictions at Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust. Previously Head of the Division of Psychiatry, she leads the MRC-funded PhD programme in addiction research clinical training.

Her research employs neuroimaging, pharmacology, and behavioural challenges to elucidate the neurobiology of addictions to alcohol, opiates, cocaine, gambling, and nicotine. Key projects include assessing brain responses during methadone detoxification modulated by NK1 antagonism and baclofen's effects in alcoholism. Notable publications include 'The dopamine theory of addiction: 40 years of highs and lows' (Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2015, with David J. Nutt et al.), 'Blunted endogenous opioid release following an oral dexamphetamine challenge in abstinent alcohol-dependent individuals' (Molecular Psychiatry, 2018), and contributions to British Association for Psychopharmacology guidelines on substance misuse. With over 250 publications and more than 10,500 citations, her work has advanced understanding of addiction mechanisms and relapse prevention. She chairs the Academic Faculty of Addictions at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Addiction Healthcare Goals, and serves as Professional Liaison Officer for the British Neuroscience Association. She received the 2015 Academic Women in Psychiatry Award.