Rate My Professor Richard Porter

Professor Richard J. Porter is Head of Department and Director of the Mental Health Clinical Research Unit in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Otago, Christchurch, within the Faculty of Medicine, Division of Health Sciences. He is a consultant psychiatrist specializing in the psychiatric care of adults with intellectual disability and provides second opinions for patients with treatment-resistant mood disorders. His academic qualifications include an MA from the University of Cambridge, MB BS and MD from Newcastle University UK, DipObst from the University of Otago, and MRCPsych. Porter's career encompasses clinical practice, leadership in academic psychiatry, and directing research initiatives focused on improving mental health outcomes.

His main research interests are in the treatment of mood disorders, including clinical trials in mood disorders, service delivery, psychological treatments, and electroconvulsive therapy. He has conducted multiple studies on the neurobiology of mood disorders, particularly cognitive impairment, and is now leading investigations into cognitive remediation in mood disorders. Expertise areas encompass cognitive impairment in mood disorders and its treatment, effects of stress and trauma, medication treatments, and inpatient management of mood disorders. Porter has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals. Key recent publications include: Inder, M. L., Crowe, M. T., & Porter, R. J. (2026). Bridging the research to practice gap: Feasibility of implementing social rhythm therapy for bipolar disorder in specialist mental health services. Community Mental Health Journal; Bauer, M., et al. (2026). Family history and solar insolation in bipolar I disorder. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 153, 270-278; Van Rheenen, T. E., et al. (2026). Consensus on subdomains and measures of relevance to affective and social cognition research on bipolar disorder. Bipolar Disorders, 28(2); Eggleston, K., et al. (2026). Systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between subjective and objective cognitive function in mood disorders. Bipolar Disorders, 28(1); Manuel, J., et al. (2025). Addressing exclusionary epidemiology in psychosis population prevalence studies. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. His work is highly cited, exceeding 16,000 citations on Google Scholar, underscoring impact in mood disorders and psychopharmacology.