ACU Researcher

Dr Hannah Thomson

Post Doctoral Research Associate
Neuroscience of Addiction and Mental Health Program

Areas of expertise: neuroimaging; manuscript preparation; clinical neuropsychology; cognitive assessment; behavioural intervention/support

Email: hannah.thomson@acu.edu.edu

Location: ACU Melbourne Campus

HDR Supervisor accreditation status: Not accredited/Not applicable

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-7220-1624

ORCID link: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7220-1624

I am a postdoctoral researcher within the Neuroscience of Addiction and Mental Health Program, HBMRC. My expertise is in the use of resting-state functional connectivity using functional neuroimaging to identify the neurocircuitry of cannabis use disorder (CUD); and in the application of evidence-based interventions that target craving (e.g., mindfulness) using robust active- and passive-placebo controlled designs, to reduce alterations in the neurocircuitry of CUD. My role also supports all aspects of research, including manuscript preparation, data analysis, support research collaborations with people with lived experience, training of student and junior staff in participants' testing, study design and the conduct of neuroscientific research including neurofeedback.

When I'm not supporting Professor Lorenzetti and the Neuroscience of Addiction and Mental Health Program, I am a Clinical Neuropsychology Registrar within the public health system. I also work as a contractor for Syneos Health Learning Solutions, with the Insights and Evidence Generation Team in Patient Insights and Assessment Research (Implementation Science). Finally, I am an avid runner and swimmer, and consumer of books and podcasts.

Website

LinkedIn

Select publications

• Thomson, H., Labuschagne, I., Greenwood, LM. et al. Is resting-state functional connectivity altered in regular cannabis users? A systematic review of the literature. Psychopharmacology 239, 1191-1209 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-021-05938-0

• Sehl, H., Terrett, G., Greenwood, LM. et al. Patterns of brain function associated with cannabis cue-reactivity in regular cannabis users: a systematic review of fMRI studies. Psychopharmacology 238, 2709-2728 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-021-05973-x

• Beyer, E., Poudel, G., Antonopoulos, S., Thomson, H., & Lorenzetti, V. (2024). Brain reward function in people who use cannabis: a systematic review. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 17, 1323609. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1323609

Projects

• Mapping short-term brain changes in cannabis users (BrainCann)
  https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN76056942
  ACU HREC:2019-71H

• Brain training in people who use cannabis (CannChange)
  This research is funded by a NHMRC grant (ID:2016833), an AI & Val Rosenstrauss Foundation grant, and a competitive scheme within ACU (HREC:2023-3338).

Awards

• 'President's Poster Prize' at the British Association of Psychopharmacology (BAP) London Summer Meeting, London, England, July 2022

Appointments and Affiliations

• Clinical Neuropsychology Registrar with Ahpra, registration number PSY0002175006

Public engagement

• I supported a collaboration with Monash University and people with lived cannabis use experience in Nimbin, in the Northern Rivers region of NSW, in February 2024 (Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee; MUHREC:13390). The collaboration was to collect images of cannabis plant matter and paraphernalia from members of the community, to create a high-quality image dataset of contemporary cannabis products for research purposes.

• I supported the running of the Women IN STEM Leadership (WINS) 2024 series, featuring world-class researchers from distinct career stages on managing excellence in research and lifestyle

• www.linkedin.com/posts/valentina-lorenzetti-972ab051_stem-antarctica-activity-7246655072980348930-0_mK

• www.linkedin.com/posts/anastasia-paloubis-1a2a32234_ecr-stem-leadership-activity-7190492949921595392-0-HW