Dr Anna McLaughlin serves as an Honorary Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience. She is the founder of Sci-translate, an independent scientific research, consulting, and communications agency. Dr McLaughlin earned her PhD in Neuroscience and Psychology and her MSc in Psychiatric Research from King's College London. She has authored and co-authored numerous academic papers on the immune and neuroendocrine mechanisms underpinning mental and physical health conditions and published a book chapter with Oxford University Press.

Dr McLaughlin regularly contributes to media publications and podcasts discussing neuroscience, mental health, well-being, and behavioural psychology. Her commitment to making science accessible earned her the Public Communication Prize from the British Association of Psychopharmacology.

Dr McLaughlin’s doctoral field of study focused on the intersection between immunology, mental health and metabolism. She was awarded a fully-funded PhD studentship by the National Institute of Health Research Biomedical Research Centre to investigate the role of the immune system in depression and obesity. Her PhD thesis looked at how a range of inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein, cytokines and cortisol) are related to clinical symptoms of depression and weight loss.