Our People

Luca Cocchi

Associate Professor | Group Leader

Clinical Brain Networks

+61 7 3845 3008

luca.cocchi@qimrberghofer.edu.au

CAREER HISTORY

Associate Professor Luca Cocchi obtained his PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Lausanne and Geneva (Switzerland) in 2007. Following postdoctoral training in mental health research institutes including the Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre (The University of Melbourne) and the Queensland Brain Institute (University of Queensland), Associate Professor Cocchi started a position at QIMR Berghofer in March 2016. He is currently head of the Clinical Brain Networks team.

CURRENT APPOINTMENTS

2018-current: Team Head, Clinical Brain Networks Group

PREVIOUS APPOINTMENTS

2016-2018: Senior Research Officer, Systems Neuroscience Group, QIMR Berghofer

2011-2016: Research fellow at the Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland

2008-2011: Postdoctoral Research fellow at the Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry; University of Melbourne

ORCID NUMBER

0000-0003-3651-2676

CURRENT AREA OF RESEARCH

Associate Professor Cocchi is internationally recognised for his work on brain imaging in health and disease. He has applied novel image analysis to identify functional and anatomical brain connectivity underpinning psychiatric symptoms including schizophrenia, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD), and obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD). Associate Professor Cocchi’s work is having a major influence on the conceptualisation of healthy and pathological brain functions as resulting from complex neural dynamics emerging on top of anatomical brain connectivity. With the goal of progressing evidence-based psychiatric therapies, He recently investigated the impact that local brain stimulation techniques such as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) has on the activity of whole-brain neural networks. Results from these investigations have motivated two ongoing clinical trials assessing the use of TMS as a viable tool to restore brain network activity and reduce symptoms of OCD. Associate Professor Cocchi’s research program is supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Australian Research Council (ARC).

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

2007: PhD in Neuroscience, University of Lausanne and University of Geneva