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- Senior Research Fellow
- Behavioural Science and Health
- Institute of Epidemiology & Health
- Faculty of Pop Health Sciences
Lydia was awarded first class honours for a 4-year BSc in Psychology at the University of Bath in 2006, including a one year academic placement in neuropsychiatry at Hunter New England Mental Health in Newcastle, Australia. On graduation, Lydia worked as a rehabilitation assistant for Headway, a brain injury organization. In 2007/8 she undertook an MSc in Health Psychology at the University of London (KCL and UCL) for which she was awarded a distinction. Lydia secured funding for this Master’s with a scholarship awarded by the Medical Research Council. Lydia worked as a full-time research assistant in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health (UCL) for a year following the completion of her MSc. In 2009 she was awarded a studentship from the British Heart Foundation for the PhD research project: “Neuroendocrine and inflammatory factors in adjustments and recovery after cardiac surgery”. The aim of the PhD was to examine the effect of biological processes involved in recovery from cardiac surgery using a longitudinal design. Having completed her PhD in 2012, and has since undertaken post-doctoral training under Professor Andrew Steptoe, also at UCL. Her current position is as an ESRC Future Leader funded research fellow. Lydia is currently working on an independent programme of work investigating the psychobiology of depression across multiple physical illnesses.


Lydia 's research focuses on the psychobiology of chronic disease. She is particularly interested in how depression is linked to physical illness and the biobehavioural pathways through which depression can explain disease onset and progression. Her current ESRC funded fellowship comprises a body of work exploring the similarities and differences in depression across different physical illnesses. Lydia has a growing number of first-authored publications in peer-reviewed journals and has co-authored three book chapters. She has participated in several international conferences, most recently at the American Psychosomatic Society conference in Denver, USA.
Lydia is involved in a variety of teaching activities within the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, including key responsibiltiies on the MSc in Health Psychology. Specifically this involves lecturing on several core topics, being a personal tutor, leading student journal clubs, supervising students disseration projects, and marking essay coursework. In addition, she lectures the UCL MBBS first year undergraduate students and is a regular guest lecturer at Roehampton University and Imperial College London.
2013 | Doctor of Philosophy | University College London | |
2008 | Master of Science | King's College London | |
2006 | Bachelor of Science | University of Bath |