Photo of Dr Michael Bloomfield

Dr Michael Bloomfield

Location:

  • National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery

GMC/GDC number:

6160440

This consultant also offers private services through UCLH Private Healthcare.

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Professional background

Dr Bloomfield is a principal clinical fellow at University College London, where he leads the translational psychiatry research group, conducting research into the mechanisms underlying mental health problems. He also works as a consultant psychiatrist at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He teaches students across medicine and the neurosciences, and he has published scientific papers in leading international medical journals.

After his medical training in Oxford, he worked in London and the Channel Islands, including as an air ambulance doctor. He began his psychiatry specialist training at Charing Cross Hospital and was later made a Medical Research Council clinical research fellow at Hammersmith Hospital. During his research fellowship, he worked at the Maudsley Hospital and in the psychotherapy unit at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, before being awarded an academic clinical fellowship and then lectureship at University College London.

He has worked in a range of specialist NHS services, including acute in-patient psychiatry, treatment-resistant psychosis, and a team for people experiencing severe mental illnesses, substance dependence and personality disorder. He has undertaken advanced training in enhanced cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) with the University of Oxford and in clinical psychopharmacology. He is an approved clinician under section 12 of the Mental Health Act.

Research interests

Dr Bloomfield’s PhD thesis was on dopaminergic mechanisms underlying psychosis. In his work, he explores how exposure to risk factors for mental illness during childhood and adolescence can alter brain function to give rise to mental illnesses.

His current research priorities include understanding how psychological trauma in childhood and adolescence induce vulnerability to psychosis in adulthood, and investigating the mechanisms of action of cannabinoids. 

Languages spoken

Portuguese

Publications

Howes et al. (2012) From the prodrome to chronic schizophrenia: the neurobiology underlying

psychotic symptoms and cognitive impairments. Current pharm design

Egerton et al. (2013) Presynaptic striatal dopamine dysfunction in people at ultra-high risk for psychosis: findings in a second cohort. Biol psych;

Howes et al. (2013) Dopaminergic Function in the Psychosis Spectrum: An [18F]-DOPA Imaging Study in Healthy Individuals With Auditory Hallucinations. Schiz bull;

Bloomfield et al. (2014) Dopaminergic function in cannabis users and its relationship to cannabis-induced psychotic symptoms Biological psychiatry 75 (6), 470-478;

Bloomfield et al. (2014) The link between dopamine function and apathy in cannabis users: an [18F]-DOPA PET imaging study Psychopharmacology;

Bloomfield et al. (2014) Dopamine function in cigarette smokers: an [18F]-DOPA PET study. Neuropsychopharmacology;

Carhart-Harris et al. (2014) Int J Neuropsychopharm;

Beck et al. (2014) The practical management of refractory schizophrenia–the

Maudsley Treatment REview and Assessment Team service approach. Acta psychiatrica

scandinavica;

Stokes et al. (2014) J Psychopharm;

Egerton et al. (2014) Effect of childhood adversity on brain dopamine function in adulthood; Bloomfield (2015) Commentary on a study of the prevalence of mental disorders by Breslau J Psych Res;

Carhart-Harris et al. (2015) The effects of acutely administered MDMA on spontaneous brain function. Biol Psych;

McCutcheon et al. (2015) Treatment resistant or resistant to treatment? J Psychopharm;

Beck et al. (2015) Prevalence of serum NMDA receptor autoantibodies in refractory psychosis. BJPsych;

Bloomfield et al. (2016) The effects of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol on the dopamine system. Nature

Bloomfield et al. (2016) Salience attribution and its relationship to cannabis-induced psychotic symptoms. Psych Med;

Bloomfield et al. (2016) Schizophrenia: inorganic no more. Lancet Psych;

Carhart-Harris et al. (2016) Psilocybin with psychological support for treatment-resistant depression. Lancet Psych;

Volkow et al. (2016) Effects of cannabis use on human behavior, including cognition, motivation, and psychosis. JAMA Psychiatry

Bloomfield et al. (2016) Microglial Activity in People at Ultra High Risk of Psychosis and in

Schizophrenia: An [11C]PBR28 PET Brain Imaging Study. Am J Psych;

Mouchlianitis et al. (2016) Treatment-resistant schizophrenia patients show elevated anterior cingulate cortex glutamate Schiz bull;

Lawn et al. (2016) Psychopharm;

Egerton et al. (2016) Adversity in childhood linked to elevated striatal dopamine function in adulthood. Schiz Res;

Moss et al. (2016) Bringing together pharmacological and psychological approaches to mental health research. Lancet Psych;

Howes et al. (2017) Treatment-resistant schizophrenia: consensus guidelines on diagnosis and terminology. Am J Psych;

 Egerton et al.  (2017) Elevated striatal dopamine function in immigrants and their children. Schiz bull;

Jauhar et al.  (2017) Regulation of dopaminergic function: an [18F]-DOPA PET

apomorphine challenge study. Transl Psych;

Froudist-Walsh et al. (2017) The effect of perinatal brain injury on dopaminergic function and hippocampal volume in adult life. Elife;

Carhart-Harris et al. (2018) Psychopharm;

McCutcheon et al. (2018) Amygdala reactivity in ethnic minorities and its relationship to the social environment: an fMRI study. Psych med;

Lawn et al. (2018) Nicot Tob Res;

Dahoun et al. (2018). Hum mol gen;

Freeman et al. (2018) Int J Neuropsychopharm;

Bloomfield (2019) The neuropsychopharmacology of cannabis: a review of human imaging studies. Pharm Thera;

Freeman et al. (2019) Medicinal use of cannabis based products and cannabinoids BMJ; Hindocha et al. (2019) The Effectiveness of Cannabinoids in the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): A Systematic Review;

Bloomfield et al.  (2019) The effects of psychosocial stress on dopaminergic function and the acute stress response. Elife;

Bloomfield et al. (2019) Trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder: children should be seen and heard. Lancet Psych;

Wall et al.  (2019) J Psychopharm;

McCutcheon et al. (2019) Chronic psychosocial stressors are associated with

alterations in salience processing and corticostriatal connectivity. Schiz res;

Dahoun et al. (2019) The relationship between childhood trauma, dopamine release and dexamphetamine-induced positive psychotic symptoms: a [11 C]-(+)-PHNO PET study. Translational Psychiatry;

D’Abramsio et al. (2019) The effect of a genetic variant at the schizophrenia associated

AS3MT/BORCS7 locus on striatal dopamine function: A PET imaging study. Psych Research:

Neuroimaging;

Hindocha et al. (2019);

Ogunbiyi et al. (2020) Acute and chronic effects of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on cerebral blood flow: A systematic review. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharm Biol Psych;

Bloomfield et al. (2020) Trauma-informed care for adult survivors of developmental trauma with psychotic and dissociative symptoms: a systematic review of intervention studies. Lancet Psych; Billings et al. (2020) Supporting Hospital Staff During COVID-19: Early Interventions. Occ Med.