Lisa Phillips

Lisa Phillips is Professor in the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Melbourne, part of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. She holds the positions of Deputy Head of School and Director of Professional Programs. As a fully registered clinical psychologist, she has practical experience supporting young adults and adults with diverse mental health challenges. Phillips contributes to the education sector by training future clinical psychologists through the university's professional programs. Her academic qualifications include a PhD awarded by the University of Melbourne in 2005 and a Master of Psychology (Clinical) from Flinders University in 1996.

Phillips' research career began with a focus on psychotic disorders, particularly schizophrenia, investigating early detection methods, prognostic factors, and therapeutic interventions for individuals at ultra-high risk (UHR) of developing psychosis. She explores the contributions of stress, coping mechanisms, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning to psychosis onset. Her work extends to first-episode psychosis, depression within schizophrenia spectrum disorders, childhood trauma prevalence and impacts, cognitive profiles, clinician motivations for physical health interventions, sleep disruptions, rumination's role in anxiety and depression, and barriers to trauma-related help-seeking. Additionally, she addresses mental health stigma, including through podcast initiatives, and university student well-being. With over 220 peer-reviewed publications and more than 20,000 citations, key contributions include "Motivating the motivators: clinician motivation and communication style for physical health intervention with young people experiencing first-episode psychosis" (2025), "Development and temporal validation of a clinical prediction model of transition to psychosis in individuals at ultra-high risk" (2024), "Childhood trauma is prevalent and associated with co-occurring depression, anxiety, mania and psychosis" (2023), "The relationship between subjective sleep disturbance and attenuated psychotic symptoms" (2023), and "Barriers to Young People Seeking Help for Trauma: A Qualitative Analysis of Internet Forums" (2022).

Professional Email: lisajp@unimelb.edu.au