Medical Research

What are your research interests?

When treatments that delay or cure Alzheimer's disease become available, we will need to have established techniques that identify those in the early stages of the disease who would most benefit from treatment. I am working on developing approaches to early detection that could be widely applied.  

I am also interested in the brain and mental health problems in offender populations, their relevance for criminal activity, and how we can intervene to help them and hopefully reduce crime.

Why did you get into research?

I like the challenges and collegiality of research: the possibility of making a difference, and the sense of being a member of a wider scientific community. Novelty with the potential for implementation is exciting. 

What would be the ultimate goal for your research?

Dementia and crime are not going to disappear. Both are huge challenges. Both are neurobiologically complex. Studying them is its own reward. Having an impact at some level, even better!  

Brief Profile

Professor Peter Schofield studied medicine and was drawn to neurology because of an early interest in language, fascinated by how brain damage changes that in extraordinary ways. After completing specialist training in neurology and geriatrics in Australia, he spent five years in New York, completing a fellowship in behavioural neurology, a Master's degree in epidemiology and undertaking epidemiological research on dementia which formed the basis of his Doctor of Medicine degree.

In making the transition from New York to Newcastle, Professor Schofield noted how relatively limited the cognitive assessments were locally, because of limited resources, and therefore sought to make sophisticated assessment of cognition more widely available by developing a new instrument, the Audio Recorded Cognitive Screen (ARCS).

Appointed to establish and develop a Neuropsychiatry Service, Professor Schofield came into contact with individuals who had sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and got into trouble with the law. He became interested in the possible association of TBI with offending behaviour. This ultimately led him to a collaboration with Professor Tony Butler, a prison researcher, the conception of a large study, trialling a medication to reduce violent offending, and other studies concerned with the health and behaviour of offender populations.

As a practicing behavioural neurologist/neuropsychiatrist, Professor Schofield has had the privilege of seeing many people with cognitive disorders, traumatic brain injury, and impulse control disorders, which keeps him grounded and motivates him in ongoing research.

Future Focus

My future focus will be on improving systems for early detection of dementing disorders, learning more about violence and developing ways to reduce it.

Specialised/Technical Skills

• Alzheimer's disease
• Memory disorders
• Clinical trials
• Traumatic brain injury
• Neuropsychiatric assessment

Affiliations

• HMRI Translational Neuroscience and Mental Health
• The Priority Research Centre for Generational Health and Ageing
• The Centre for Brain and Mental Health Research (CBMHR)