Ania Korszun's research focuses on mood disorders and particularly on the interface of depression and stress with other medical conditions. She has completed studies on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function in facial pain, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome and was Co-PI on large multi-centre genetic studies of depression. Further work has focused on identifying the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms that link depression, stress and atherosclerosis. More recently, she is working in collaboration with colleagues from surgery and oncology on predictors of psychological wellbeing in cancer and trauma patients.
Ania Korszun maintains a strong commitment to medical education. She is the Academic Lead for Psychiatry Education, Systems Lead for Brain and Behaviour and Academic Tutor in Medical Professionalism at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London. She is conducting research on undergraduate teaching and assessment of medical professionalism and the effectiveness of interdisciplinary teaching of clinical skills in psychiatry and leading a large multidisciplinary project that focuses on overcoming stigmatizing attitudes to mental health.
Recent Publications
Schosser A, Gaysina D, Cohen-Woods S, Domenici E, Perry J, Tozzi F, Korszun A, Gunasinghe C, Gray J, Jones L, Binder EB, Holsboer F, Craddock N, Owen MJ, Craig IW, Farmer AE, Muglia P, McGuffin P. (2011) A follow-up case-control association study of tractable (druggable) genes in recurrent major depression. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet.156(6):640-50. PubMed PMID: 21630437.
Breen G, Webb BT, Butler AW, van den Oord EJ, Tozzi F, Craddock N, Gill M, Korszun A, Maier W, Middleton L, Mors O, Owen MJ, Cohen-Woods S, Perry J, Galwey NW, Upmanyu R, Craig I, Lewis CM, Ng M, Brewster S, Preisig M, Rietschel M, Jones L, Knight J, Rice J, Muglia P, Farmer AE, McGuffin P. (2011) A genome-wide significant linkage for severe depression on chromosome 3: the depression network study. Am J Psychiatry 168(8):840-7. PubMed PMID: 21572164.
Samaan Z, Gaysina D, Cohen-Woods S, Craddock N, Jones L, Korszun A, Owen M, Mente A, McGuffin P, Farmer A. (2011) Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene variant (MTHFR C677T) and migraine: a case control study and meta-analysis. BMC Neurol. 11:66. PubMed PMID: 21635773
Rivera M, Cohen-Woods S, Kapur K, Breen G, Ng MY, Butler AW, Craddock N, Gill M, Korszun A, Maier W, Mors O, Owen MJ, Preisig M, Bergmann S, Tozzi F, Rice J, Rietschel M, Rucker J, Schosser A, Aitchison KJ, Uher R, Craig IW, Lewis CM, Farmer AE, McGuffin P. (2011) Depressive disorder moderates the effect of the FTO gene on body mass index. Mol Psychiatry. 2011 Apr 19. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed
Schosser A, Butler AW, Ising M, Perroud N, Uher R, Ng MY, Cohen-Woods S, Craddock N, Owen MJ, Korszun A, Jones L, Jones I, Gill M, Rice JP, Maier W, Mors O, Rietschel M, Lucae S, Binder EB, Preisig M, Perry J, Tozzi F, Muglia P, Aitchison KJ, Breen G, Craig IW, Farmer AE, Moller-Myhsok B, McGuffin P, Lewis CM. (2011) Genomewide association scan of suicidal thoughts and behaviour in major depression. PLoS One.;6(7):e20690. Epub 2011 Jul 5. PubMed PMID: 21750702
Korszun A, Dharmaindra N, Koravangattu V, Bhui K (2011). Teaching medical students and recruitment to psychiatry: attitudes of psychiatric clinicians, academics and trainees. The Psychiatrist 35:350-353
Korszun A, Dinos S, Ahmed K, Bhui K (2011) Student Attitudes to Mental Illness: does medical school education reduce stigma? Academic Psychiatry (in press)
Fisher, H.L., Cohen-Woods, S., Hosang, G.M., Uher, R., Powell-Smith, G., Keers, R., Tropeano, M., Korszun, A., Jones, L., Jones, I., Owen, M., Craddock, N., Craig, I.W., Farmer, A.E., McGuffin, P. (2011) Stressful life events and the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTT) in recurrent clinical depression. Journal of Affective Disorders on line doi:10.1016/j.jad.2011.09.016.
Bache RA, Bhui KS, Dein S, Korszun A. African and Black Caribbean origin cancer survivors: a qualitative study of the narratives of causes, coping and care experiences. Ethn Health. 2011 Nov 23. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 22107269.
Rucker JJ, Breen G, Pinto D, Pedroso I, Lewis CM, Cohen-Woods S, Uher R, Schosser A, Rivera M, Aitchison KJ, Craddock N, Owen MJ, Jones L, Jones I, Korszun A, Muglia P, Barnes MR, Preisig M, Mors O, Gill M, Maier W, Rice J, Rietschel M, Holsboer F, Farmer AE, Craig IW, Scherer SW, McGuffin P. (2011) Genome-wide association analysis of copy number variation in recurrent depressive disorder. Mol Psychiatry. 2011 Nov 1. doi: 10.1038/mp.2011.144. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 22042228.
Butler AW, Breen G, Tozzi F, Craddock N, Gill M, Korszun A, Maier W, Middleton LT, Mors O, Owen MJ, Perry J, Preisig M, Rice JP, Rietschel M, Jones L, Farmer AE, Lewis CM, McGuffin P. (2010) A genomewide linkage study on suicidality in major depressive disorder confirms evidence for linkage to 2p12. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 153B(8):1465-73. PubMed PMID: 20886545.
Schosser A, Pirlo K, Gaysina D, Cohen-Woods S, Schalkwyk LC, Elkin A, Korszun A, Gunasinghe C, Gray J, Jones L, Meaburn E, Farmer AE, Craig IW, McGuffin P (2010) Utility of the pooling approach as applied to whole genome association scans with high-density Affymetrix microarrays. BMC Res Notes. 3:274. PubMed PMID: 21040578
Hosang GM, Korszun A, Jones L, Jones I, Gray JM, Gunasinghe CM, McGuffin P, Farmer AE. (2010) Adverse life event reporting and worst illness episodes in unipolar and bipolar affective disorders: measuring environmental risk for genetic research. Psychol Med 40(11):1829-37 PubMed PMID: 20132580.
Cohen-Woods S, Craig I, Gaysina D, Gray J, Gunasinghe C, Craddock N, Elkin A, Jones L, Kennedy J, King N, Korszun A, Knight J, Owen M, Parikh S, Strauss J, Sterne A, Tozzi F, Perry J, Muglia P, Vincent J, McGuffin P, Farmer A. (2010) The Bipolar Association Case-Control Study (BACCS) and meta-analysis: No association with the 5,10-Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene and bipolar disorder. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 153B(7):1298-304. PubMed PMID: 20552676.
Hosang GM, Uher R, Keers R, Cohen-Woods S, Craig I, Korszun A, Perry J, Tozzi F, Muglia P, McGuffin P, Farmer AE. (2010) Stressful life events and the brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene in bipolar disorder. J Affect Disord. 125(1-3):345-9. PubMed PMID: 20172611.
Lewis CM, Ng MY, Butler AW, Cohen-Woods S, Uher R, Pirlo K, Weale ME, Schosser A, Paredes UM, Rivera M, Craddock N, Owen MJ, Jones L, Jones I, Korszun A, Aitchison KJ, Shi J, Quinn JP, Mackenzie A, Vollenweider P, Waeber G, Heath S, Lathrop M, Muglia P, Barnes MR, Whittaker JC, Tozzi F, Holsboer F, Preisig M, Farmer AE, Breen G, Craig IW, McGuffin P (2010) Genome-wide association study of major recurrent depression in the U.K. population. Am J Psychiatry 167(8):949-57 PubMed PMID: 20516156.
Schosser A, Gaysina D, Cohen-Woods S, Chow PC, Martucci L, Craddock N, Farmer A, Korszun A, Gunasinghe C, Gray J, Jones L, Tozzi F, Perry J, Muglia P, Owen MJ, Craig IW, McGuffin P. (2010) Association of DISC1 and TSNAX genes and affective disorders in the depression case-control (DeCC) and bipolar affective case-control (BACCS) studies. Mol Psychiatry. Aug;15(8):844-9. Epub 2009 Mar 3. PubMed PMID: 19255581.
Schosser A, Cohen-Woods S, Gaysina D, Chow PC, Martucci L, Farmer A, Korszun A, Gunashinghe C, Gray J, Jones L, Craddock N, Owen MJ, Craig IW, McGuffin P. (2010) NRG1 gene in recurrent major depression: no association in a large-scale case-control association study. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 153B(1):141-7. PubMed PMID: 19367584.
Young E, Korszun A. (2010) Sex, trauma, stress hormones and depression. Mol Psychiatry. 15(1):23-8. PubMed PMID: 19773810.
Samaan Z, Farmer A, Craddock N, Jones L, Korszun A, Owen M, McGuffin P (2009) Migraine in recurrent depression: case-control study. Br J Psychiatry 194(4):350-4.
Ball HA, Samaan Z, Brewster S, Craddock N, Gill M, Korszun A, Maier W, Middleton L, Mors O, Owen MJ, Perry J, Preisig M, Rice J, Rietschel M, Jones L, Jones I, Farmer AE, McGuffin P. (2009) Depression, migraine with aura and migraine without aura: their familiality and interrelatedness. Cephalalgia. 29(8):848-54.
Cohen-Woods S, Gaysina D, Craddock N, Farmer A, Gray J, Gunasinghe C, Hoda F, Jones L, Knight J, Korszun A, Owen MJ, Sterne A, Craig IW, McGuffin P (2009) Depression Case Control (DeCC) Study fails to support involvement of the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor M2 (CHRM2) gene in recurrent major depressive disorder. Hum Mol Genet. 18(8):1504-9.
Farmer A, Korszun A, Owen MJ, Craddock N, Jones L, Jones I, Gray J, Williamson RJ, McGuffin P. Medical disorders in people with recurrent depression (2008). Br J Psychiatry. 192(5):351-5.
Archer J, Hutchison I, Korszun A. Mood and malignancy: head and neck cancer and depression. (2008) J Oral Pathol Med. 37(5):255-70.
Gaysina D, Cohen S, Craddock N, Farmer A, Hoda F, Korszun A, Owen MJ, Craig IW, McGuffin P (2008). No association with the 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene and major depressive disorder: results of the depression case control (DeCC) study and a meta-analysis. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 147B(6):699-706.
Korszun A, Stansfeld S, Frenneaux M. Depression post-myocardial infarction. (2007) Br J Psychiatry. Nov;191:455; author reply 456-7. Moskvina V, Farmer A, Jones IR, Brewster S, Ferrero F, Gill M, Jones LA, Maier W, Mors O, Owen MJ, Perry J, Preisig M, Rietschel M, McGuffin P, Craddock N, Korszun A. (2008) Sex differences in symptom patterns of recurrent major depression in siblings. Depress Anxiety. 25(6):527-34.
Broadley AJ*, Korszun A*, (*joint first authors) Abdelaal E, Moskvina V, Deanfield J, Jones CJ, Frenneaux MP (2006). Metyrapone improves endothelial dysfunction in depressed patients. J Am Coll Cardiol.48 (1):170-5.
Moskvina V, Swainson V, O'Leary J, Gunasinghe C, Owen M, Craddock N, McGuffin P, Farmer A, Korszun A (2006) The Interrelationship of Childhood Trauma, Neuroticism and Depressive Phenotype. Depression and Anxiety 2006 Aug 9
Korszun A, Frenneaux MP (2006) Stress: The battle for hearts and minds. Links between depression, stress and ischaemic heart disease. Future Cardiology 2(5):571-578
Book Chapters
Korszun A, Archer JA, Young EA (2009) "Psychoneuroendocrinology" in Psychopharmacology, Fourth Edition edited by Schatzberg AF & Nemeroff CB, American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc, USA.
Young, E.A., Korszun, A (2008) "Stress, the HPA axis and depressive illness" (2009), in The New Encyclopedia of Neuroscience edited by Larry Squire. Elsevier USA
Korszun, A., Altemus, M., Young, E.A. (2006) The Biological Underpinnings of Depression. Chapter 3 in Women and Depression. A Handbook for the Social, Behavioral, and Biomedical Sciences. Ed: Keyes C & Goodman S. Cambridge University Press, New York. pp41-61
Young, E.A., Korszun, A, Altemus M. (2002) Sex differences in neuroendocrine and neurotransmitter systems. Chapter 1 in Textbook of Women's Mental Health Ed: Susan Kornstein & Anita Clayton, The Guilford Press. New York, NY.
