Christine Lochner is a professor with a PhD in Psychiatry, and Co-Director of the MRC Unit on Risk and Resilience in Mental Disorders, at Stellenbosch University.  She has been the recipient of several awards including the Rafaelson Fellowship Award for outstanding young investigators in neuropsychopharmacology research by the Collegium Internationale Neuropsychopharmicologicum (CINP), the Lundbeck International Neuroscience Foundation (LINF) Sponsorship Award for young scientists, an NRF B-rating and the Chancellor’s Award for Research Excellence from Stellenbosch University.  Christine was also a founding member of the South Africa Young Academy of Science (SAYAS) by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), a recipient of the Biological Psychiatry Established Research Career Award and most recently (2020), winner of the TW Kambule-NSTF award in recognition of her contributions through research over a period of 15 years.

She has more than 20 years of clinical, epidemiological and basic neuroscience research experience as a clinical psychologist working in the field of obsessive-compulsive and related disorders and anxiety disorders and has existing collaborative research projects with colleagues in Europe, the United States and in the United Kingdom. She is principal investigator of a number of research programs in the above-mentioned unit and mentors masters, doctoral and postdoctoral students. She has experience in research ethics as a previous member of the Faculty of Medicine’s Health Research Ethics committee. She is currently a member of the International College of Obsessive Compulsive Spectrum Disorders (ICOCS), the Obsessive-Compulsive Research Network (OCRN), the Trichotillomania Learning Centre (TLC) and she chairs an external observers panel of the COST Action European Network for the problematic use of the Internet supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).

Currently, Prof Lochner serves as a board member of the Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and related disorders and associate editor on the board of Comprehensive Psychiatry. She has published over 155+ peer-reviewed journal manuscripts and has co-written 20+ book chapters.

Co-director: Prof Christine Lochner
Email: cl2@sun.ac.za