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.