CPFT psychiatry researcher wins international pioneer award | News

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CPFT psychiatry researcher wins international pioneer award

Photo of Valerie Voon seated at a white table

CPFT honorary consultant psychiatrist and mental health researcher Professor Valerie Voon has been honoured with a Pioneer Award at the international 2026 Neuromodulation Conference in New York City.

The Pioneer Award recognises ground-breaking scientific and technical milestones and rewards individuals discovering new pathways in brain stimulation to improve mental health treatments. Professor Voon received this prestigious award alongside Professor Mark George of the Medical University of South Carolina and Professor Angel Peterchev of Duke University.

Valerie Voon is Professor of Neuropsychiatry at the University of Cambridge and a Distinguished Professor at Fudan University in Shanghai. Her research explores why we repeat harmful behaviours or make impulsive, risky decisions—processes central to everyday life and often disrupted in psychiatric disorders. 

Valerie's group studies the brain mechanisms of self-control, compulsivity, emotion, and incentives, with a focus on addiction and compulsive disorders. She is exploring the potential of neuromodulation techniques to improve treatments for a range of psychiatric and neurological conditions, including treatment-resistant depression. 

Neuromodulation involves technology that acts directly on nerves with electrical or chemical signals to change how some areas in the brain work, through approaches like deep brain stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation and vagus nerve stimulation. Valerie is leading a UK-wide Medical Research Council study on deep brain stimulation for addiction, using imaging, physiology, pharmacological challenges, cognitive neuroscience, and computational modelling.

Professor Voon said: “I’m deeply honoured and humbled to receive the Pioneer Award at Neuromodec NYC 2026. It’s a privilege to share the recognition with fellow pioneers in neuromodulation and neuroengineering, thank you to everyone who has supported my work at the University of Cambridge and Fudan University.”

The NYC Neuromodulation Conference brings together researchers, clinicians and innovators working across brain stimulation, neural interfaces and related technologies. It is the largest international conference in 2026 focused on brain technology and neuromodulation science. 

Find out more about the 2026 NYC Neuromodulation Conference Awards: https://neuromodec.org/2026-nyc-neuromodulation-conference/awards.html

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