In this episode Professor Mal Hopwood and Dr Dhamidhu Eratne discuss The Markers in Neuropsychiatric Disorders Study. The MiND Study is an Australia-wide research study led by Professor Dennis Velakoulis and Dr Eratne in Neuropsychiatry at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and The University of Melbourne, aiming to develop a routinely available blood test to diagnose (or rule out) dementia and other illnesses quickly and accurately, and transform the care for all people with symptoms and illnesses of the mind and brain. 
 
Many patients with conditions like younger onset dementia, go through years of multiple assessments and investigations, misdiagnosis, conflicting opinions, uncertainty, and delay. Psychiatrists, other specialists, and general practitioners, frequently face the diagnostic dilemma of distinguishing neurodegenerative/neurological from primary psychiatric causes of symptoms.
 
There is a great need, and much promise, for routine, simple blood tests, which could dramatically improve outcomes, for so many patients, their families, and healthcare systems.

MiND - the markers in neuropsychiatric disorders study: https://themindstudy.org/ 

Dr Dhamidhu Eratne is a neuropsychiatrist at Neuropsychiatry, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, and PhD Student and Clinical Research Fellow on the Markers in Neuropsychiatric Disorders Study (The MiND Study), The University of Melbourne. His clinical work mainly involves the assessment, diagnosis and management of younger onset dementia and other severe psychiatric and neurogenetic diseases. Dr Eratne’s PhD is focussed on biomarkers and other markers to reduce diagnostic delay and misdiagnosis, and clinical translation and widely available tests to improve timely and accurate diagnosis, care, and outcomes for patients with neuropsychiatric symptoms. He was awarded the 2021 RANZCP Early Career Psychiatrist Award for his pilot study work, that laid the foundations for significant expansion and broader work of The MiND Study.

Professor Malcolm Hopwood is the Ramsay Health Care Professor of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne; based at the Albert Road Clinic (ARC) in Melbourne, Australia. At the ARC, he is the Director of the Professorial Psychiatry Unit.  He has a long track record of research in areas of interest include psychopharmacology and clinical aspects of mood and anxiety disorders.   He was President of the RANZCP between 2015 and 2017 and is now president of the Asian Federation of Psychiatric Associations. In 2020/2021 he was an author of the RANZCP Mood Disorder guidelines, the Beyond Blue Depression and Anxiety Guidelines and Psychotropic Guidelines in Australia.  

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