Alexander Santillo

I work as a psychiatrist and as a reseacher. The goal of my research is to gain a better understanding of frontotemporal dementia and schizophrenia, in turn leading to better lives for people affected by these disorders. Despite obvious differences between the conditions (the former is neurodegenerative, the latter neurodevelopmental), there are large similarities.

My current research on frontotemporal dementia is multifaceted. I study the role of neurodevelopmental variation as a risk factor, mechanisms of key symptoms (loss of empathy), and biomarkers, both fluid and imaging (MRI, PET) biomarkers.

As for schizophrenia, I study neurodevelopmental mechanisms (cortical myelination) using ultra-high field (7T) MRI, blood biomarkers of structural alterations, and the role of interneurons, the latter using a patient-derived iPSC model.  

I teach medical students, biomedicine students, psychologists, and speech pathologists at the medical faculty on the subjects of dementia, frontotemporal dementia in particular, and schizophrenia. I supervise PhD-students and post-docs. In the clinic, I teach and supervise medical interns and residents in psychiatry. 

I work as a Senior Consultant Psychiatrist at the Psychosis Clinic of Malmö-Trelleborg, at a First Episode Psychosis Unit. I also work at the Memory Clinic, Skåne University Hospital in Malmö. 

You can read about our research in The Conversation https://theconversation.com/frontotemporal-dementia-we-discovered-a-brain-fold-that-may-delay-onset-of-symptoms-216864

And in Forskning och Framsteg (in Swedish)

https://fof.se/artikel/hjarnans-veck-kan-ha-betydelse-for-demens

Listen to me talking about our research on Spotify

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Jy0HdeGmU0kzzMMYmQJXO

And on psychosis

https://www.sydsvenskan.se/artikel/nyblivna-mammans-mardrom-blev-sann-drabbades-av-psykos/