Dr Claire Foldi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) where she heads the Neural Mechanisms of Eating Disorders laboratory. She completed her PhD in Behavioural Neuroscience at the Queensland Brain Institute in 2012 under the supervision of A/Prof Thomas Burne and Prof Darryl Eyles. Following Postdoctoral training in electrophysiology and molecular neurobiology at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden (Advisor; A/Prof Jens Hjerling-Leffler), she was recruited to Monash University in 2015.

Dr Foldi’s research priority is to understand the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie serious psychiatric disease. She is particularly interested in the often-unreported response heterogeneity that occurs in single neurons, animal models and patients in the clinic. She believes that interrogating the mechanisms underpinning this variability will inform the development of more effective treatment strategies.

Claire's current work focuses on the impact of specific neural circuitries on feeding behaviour and body weight maintenance in anorexia nervosa and the therapeutic potential of psilocybin for treating anorectic pathologies. The Foldi Lab is funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia, with previous funding from the Rebecca L Cooper Medical Research Foundation and the British Society for Neuroendocrinology. 

Dr Foldi gives lectures as part of the Integrative Neuroscience course (PHY3012) and runs Masterclasses and Journal Clubs in the Masters of Biomedical and Health Sciences units (BMS5004 & BMS5015).