Dr Ellis Onwordi

Profile

I am an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow in General Psychiatry, working as a psychiatrist-in-training at East London NHS Foundation Trust and postdoctoral researcher based within the Centre for Psychiatry and Mental Health. I also collaborate closely with researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (King’s College London), and Imperial College London, where I hold a visiting appointment.

My research explores how brain synaptic density is reduced in patients with schizophrenia. In these studies, I use brain imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy, to better understand the mechanisms underlying symptoms and cognition. Recently, my research has begun to explore how natural language processing can be applied to electronic health records, to identify novel treatments in severe mental illness.

I completed a bachelor’s degree in philosophy alongside studying medicine at King’s College London. I then undertook medical foundation training, before completing a PhD at Imperial College London. My research is now funded by Barts Charity and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

Research

Research Interests:

Neuroimaging

Neuroscience

Psychopharmacology

Pharmacoepidemiology

Psychiatry

Publications

• Onwordi EC, Whitehurst T, Shatalina E, et al. Synaptic Terminal Density Early in the Course of Schizophrenia: An In Vivo UCB-J Positron Emission Tomographic Imaging Study of SV2A. Biol Psychiatry. 2024;95(7):639-646. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2023.05.022 https://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S0006-3223(23)01353-7/fulltext

• Howes, OD., Onwordi, EC. The synaptic hypothesis of schizophrenia version III: a master mechanism. Mol Psychiatry (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-023-02043-w https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-023-02043-w

• Zahid, U., Onwordi, E.C., Hedges, E.P., Wall, M.B., Modinos, G., Murray, R.M., Egerton, A.  Neurofunctional correlates of glutamate and GABA imbalance in psychosis: a systematic review.  Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2023;144:105010. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.105010 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763422004997?via%3Dihub

• Onwordi, EC, et al. The relationship between synaptic density marker SV2A, glutamate and N-acetyl aspartate levels in healthy volunteers and schizophrenia: a multimodal PET and magnetic resonance spectroscopy brain imaging study. Translational Psychiatry, 11(1), 393. doi:10.1038/s41398-021-01515-3 (2021). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-021-01515-3

• Onwordi, EC et al. Synaptic density marker SV2A is reduced in schizophrenia patients and unaffected by antipsychotics in rats, Nature Communications, doi:10.1038/s41467-019-14122-0 (2020) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-14122-0

• Onwordi, E. & Howes, O. Trends in mortality in schizophrenia and their implications. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 138, 489-491, doi:10.1111/acps.12977 (2018). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/acps.12977