Biography
Nicole Ponto is a PhD student in Psychosis Studies at King's College London, which she joined in June of 2026. Her research examines the cardiometabolic effects of antipsychotic medication in psychosis, including the impact of clozapine on cardiac structure in treatment-resistant schizophrenia, cardiac and brain imaging in antipsychotic-naive first-episode psychosis, and genetic and metabolomic analyses of cardiovascular risk associated with antipsychotic use. Her work is supervised by Dr Toby Pillinger, Professor Fiona Gaughran, and Professor Khalida Ismail, and is supported by a studentship from the Metabolic Hub for Psychiatry.
Her areas of expertise include cardiovascular and metabolic outcomes in psychiatric illness, neuroimaging, and the pharmacological effects of antipsychotic treatment.
Ponto holds a BSc in Neuroscience from the University of King's College (Halifax, Nova Scotia) and an MSc in Medical Neuroscience from Dalhousie University, where her dissertation investigated the impact of cannabis use on brain white matter in adolescents reporting psychotic-like experiences.
Research Interests
- Cardiometabolic effects of clozapine on cardiac structure in treatment-resistant schizophrenia
- Cardiac and brain imaging in antipsychotic-naive first-episode psychosis
- Comparative efficacy and metabolic/cardiac adverse effects of antipsychotics (network meta-analysis)
- Genetic and metabolomic determinants of cardiovascular risk in antipsychotic use and severe mental illness
- Neuroimaging methods (MRI, 31-P MRS) applied to psychiatric populations
- Effects of substance use on brain white matter in adolescents at risk of psychosis
Research Groups
Teaching
GTA in MSc Neuroscience