Personal profile
Research interests
Angharad’s research interests include neurocognition, self-harm and psychopharmacology across different mental illnesses - especially involving mood and psychotic disorders. Currently, she is particularly interested in investigating whether one group of new agents, which act as agonists at the 5-HT4 receptor, may work as antidepressants and / or improve cognition in humans using neuropsychological tasks and brain imaging.
Biography
Angharad qualified as a medical doctor from the University of Oxford, and completed NIHR Academic Foundation and Academic Clinical Fellow posts at the University of Warwick. She then moved to Oxford to complete a Wellcome Trust funded DPhil (working on the first fMRI studies of medications that activate the 5HT4 receptor and how these might be useful for cognition), and subsequently a Guarantors of Brain Clinical Postdoctoral Fellowship.
She has been supervised by Catherine Harmer, Phil Cowen and Susannah Murphy (DoP, Oxford), Thomas Nichols and Anya Topiwala (BDI, Oxford), Matthew Broome and Rachel Upthegrove (Birmingham) and Scott Weich (Sheffield).
She is now completing her psychiatry residency in the West Midlands while continuing her research supported by the NIHR with a Clinical Lectureship.
Qualifications
- PhD Oxford
- PGCert in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Oxford
- MRCPsych
- MSc Warwick
- BMBCH (Hons) Oxford
Education/Academic qualification
Doctor of Philosophy, Human translational studies validating the neurocognitive effects of 5HT4 agonism, University of Oxford
1 Oct 2018 → 13 Jan 2023
Award Date: 8 May 2023
External positions
Lecturer, University of Oxford
2 Feb 2024 → …
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being -
SDG 5 Gender Equality
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Authors response to nitrous oxide and mood: metabolic mechanisms (E. H. Reynolds)
Gill, K., de Cates, A. N., Morales-Muñoz, I. & Marwaha, S., Mar 2026, In: EBioMedicine. 125, 1 p., 106166.Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate
Open Access -
Serotonin-4 receptor agonism improves memory and attention in participants with previous depression
De Cates, A., Hamilton, S., Guru, A., Blandhol, M., Colwell, M., Cowen, P., Harmer, C. & Murphy, S., 2 Jan 2026, In: Neuroscience Applied. 5, Supplement 1, p. 2-2 1 p., 106549.Research output: Contribution to journal › Abstract › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Women at the heart of mental science: commentary, Pinto da Costa et al
Pinto da Costa, M., de Cates, A. N., Dhamala, E., McAlonan, G. M., Upthegrove, R. & Comasco, E., 11 Feb 2026, (E-pub ahead of print) In: British Journal of Psychiatry . 3 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate › peer-review
Open AccessFile7 Downloads (Pure) -
Cognition and Future Depression: Associations with Risk in Those With and Without a History of Depression
de Cates, A. N., Lee, A., Winchester, L., Ebmeier, K. P., Lalousis, P., Upthegrove, R., Harmer, C. J., Nichols, T. & Topiwala, A., 17 Nov 2025, medRxiv.Research output: Working paper/Preprint › Preprint
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Early effects of a novel 5-HT4 agonist (PF-04995274) and the SSRI citalopram on emotional cognition in unmedicated depression: the RESTAND study
Gillespie, A., de Cates, A. N., Scaife, J., Blandhol, M., Martens, M. A. G., Gibson, D., Godlewska, B. R., Howard, W., Cowen, P. J., Murphy, S. E. & Harmer, C. J., 29 Aug 2025, medRxiv.Research output: Working paper/Preprint › Preprint
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Targeting 5-HT4R Agonism to Enhance Cognition in Participants at Clinical High-Risk for Psychosis: A Proof-of-Concept Study
de Cates, A. (Principal Investigator)
ROSETREES TRUST, The Stoneygate Trust
1/12/25 → 31/05/27
Project: Research
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Potential of 5-HT4 receptor agonism in young adults at clinical high risk of psychosis as a probe for changes in neurocognitive measures: a feasibility study
de Cates, A. (Principal Investigator) & Barnes, N. (Co-Investigator)
1/12/24 → 30/09/26
Project: Other Government Departments
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Oxford BRC - Angharad De Cates
de Cates, A. (Principal Investigator)
1/01/25 → 31/03/26
Project: Other Government Departments
Prizes
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British Association of Psychopharmacology Junior Clinical Psychopharmacology Prize
de Cates, A. (Recipient), 21 Jul 2024
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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European Psychiatric Association Research Prize 2025
de Cates, A. (Recipient), 5 Apr 2025
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)