Megan Dibble

Megan is currently a PhD student in Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin.  After completing a BSc in Psychology from the University of Birmingham, she then obtained an MPhil in Psychoanalytic Studies from Trinity College Dublin. Her Masters thesis explores the early life trauma and unconscious thought processes behind disordered eating behaviour. Wanting to expand on her work on infant trauma, the NEPTuNE project presented itself as an exciting opportunity to examine the development of the brain in the first year of life, and what changes to the brain and behaviour may arise following perinatal trauma; specifically, in this case, to brain injury in neonatal encephalopathy (NE).  Her goal for this project is to use diffusion MR imaging techniques to contribute to the current understanding of NE and to aid diagnoses and early interventions, in particular for those infants with mild-moderate encephalopathy, whose neuropsychological symptoms may not be outwardly apparent during the first year of life.