#WeAreNorthern
“Facing unmet medical needs in clinical practice is a real incentive to pursue research. Listening to patients often inspires the research questions I investigate.”
Research Week reminds us that every discovery starts with a question.
Through clinicians and researchers like Professor Josselin Houenou, an internationally recognised psychiatrist and neuroscientist who joined Northern Health in 2025 from Paris, France, Northern Health continues to turn those questions into new knowledge, better treatments and improved outcomes for our diverse communities.
Formerly a professor at Henri Mondor University Hospital and leader of a neuroimaging research group at NeuroSpin, he is renowned for his work on bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, autism, and advanced brain imaging. His research focuses on bridging neuroscience and clinical psychiatry to develop more precise and personalised approaches to mental health care.
As a clinician, researcher and recently appointed Chair of Psychiatry and Professor at the University of Melbourne, Professor Houenou is helping shape the future of mental health care across Melbourne’s north.
Q: What’s your coffee order, Josselin?
A: My coffee is of course a Magic! I’d never heard of it before coming to Melbourne.
Q: Briefly explain what you’ve been working on.
A: Most of my time has been spent working in the inpatient psychiatric unit, treating patients on the ward.
I’m also establishing a public outpatient autism referral centre for adults, which addresses a significant unmet need in Melbourne’s northern metropolitan region.
Another important part of my role is helping to grow research within the Mental Health Division by providing guidance and support to students and colleagues.
Q: You balance both clinical care and research in your role. How does your research inform the way you care for patients, and how do your experiences with patients shape the research questions you pursue?
A: Facing unmet medical needs in clinical practice is a real incentive to pursue research. Listening to patients and hearing about their lived experiences often inspires the research questions I investigate. Their experiences help me design models of their conditions, which I can then explore and test through research.
Q: Now that you’ve had time to settle in, what parts of your role have you found most rewarding?
A: While teaching and research are very important aspects of my role, the clinical component has been the most rewarding so far. I really enjoy contributing to improvements in my patients’ mental health and wellbeing.
Q: As both a clinician and researcher, what opportunities do you see for translating new discoveries into better outcomes for patients in our community?
A: Contrary to what many people may believe, the treatment landscape in psychiatry is evolving rapidly. For example, transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for depression, based on personalised biomarkers, has recently received FDA clearance.
I believe we’ll increasingly see biomarker-driven treatments become part of psychiatry, including at Northern Health. New therapies for conditions such as schizophrenia are also emerging, creating exciting opportunities to improve care and outcomes for patients.
Q: What strengths do you see in Northern Health as a place for clinical research and innovation in mental health?
A: One of Northern Health’s greatest strengths is the diversity of the communities we serve. While this can present challenges, it also creates unique opportunities for research.
The wide range of cultural backgrounds represented among our patients can help inform the psychiatry community’s understanding of the causes, variability and classification of psychiatric disorders. Studying mental health across diverse communities provides important insights that can help improve care for everyone.
Q: Finally, what excites you most about the future of mental health care and research in Melbourne’s growing northern communities?
A: If I were starting medicine again today, I would choose psychiatry without hesitation.
Why? Because there is still so much suffering we can help alleviate, and significant gaps remain in both care and research.
Northern Melbourne is a clear example of a community where there are tremendous opportunities to improve mental health outcomes through innovation, research and collaboration.