Susannah is an MRC Senior Research Fellow and Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London. By background, she is an experimental psychologist and cognitive-affective neuroscientist with research interests spanning the interface of neuroscience, mental and physical health.

The primary focus of Dr Pick’s research is to examine causal factors and pathophysiological mechanisms across a range of neuropsychiatric disorders. She is also developing novel treatments and innovative approaches to outcome monitoring in these populations. In 2022, she established the Neurological Affective and Dissociative Symptoms (NEUROADS) lab, in which she leads a growing team of interdisciplinary researchers.

Susannah is the recipient of an MRC Career Development Award fellowship (2022-2026), which currently funds her programme of research on the psychobiological aetiology and mechanisms of functional neurological disorder (FND), particularly functional (dissociative) seizures and functional motor symptoms.

Other ongoing projects include developing and/or evaluating interventions for FND, examining clinical outcomes within local neuropsychiatry services, and investigating patients’ experiences of living with FND. Dr Pick is also running studies on major depression subtypes, dissociative states and disorders, and mental health outcomes in other neurological disorders.

Prior to her current roles, Susannah completed her undergraduate and initial postgraduate training at Cardiff and Liverpool universities respectively and held research posts at University College London and within the NHS. She then completed her PhD in the Department of Psychology at the IoPPN using experimental and qualitative methods to examine emotional processing and psychosocial risk factors in functional/dissociative seizures.

She subsequently held a Post-Doctoral Research Associate post in the Section of Cognitive Neuropsychiatry at the IoPPN from 2017-2021, where she extended her research experience in FND and related disorders. During this time, key projects included a feasibility RCT of transcranial magnetic stimulation for FND, co-leading an international working group (FND-COM) to develop guidelines for outcome measurement in FND, and an innovative mechanistic study on interoception and dissociation in FND resulting in her receiving the British Neuropsychiatry Association Lishman prize in 2020.

Dr Pick has extensive experience of teaching and supervising research across a range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes at the IoPPN and formerly at other institutions, including Birkbeck, University of London.

Dr Pick is also a member of the King's College London Health Faculties High Risk Research Ethics Committee (2022-present), is an Editorial Board Member at Scientific Reports (2024-present), and regularly reviews articles for a range of journals in the fields of clinical neuroscience, neuropsychiatry, and neuropsychology.

Susannah welcomes enquiries regarding PhD opportunities.

Research Interests

• Functional neurological (‘conversion’) disorder
• Dissociative (non-epileptic) seizures
• Dissociative symptoms/states/disorders
• Mind-body / cognition-emotion interactions
• Affective neuroscience
• Disorders of consciousness/awareness
• Affective disorders
• Neuropsychiatric disorders
• Mental health in neurological conditions

Teaching

Dr Pick teaches and supervises students on a range of programmes at King's College London, including the BSc in Psychology and the following MSc programmes: Affective Disorders, Mind-Body Interface, Mental Health Studies, Psychiatric Research, Clinical Neuropsychiatry, Clinical Psychotherapy, Neuroscience, Clinical Neuroscience.