Anne Farmer is Professor of psychiatric nosology at the Institute of Psychiatry and lead consultant in the Affective Disorders Unit at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and is the Trust's Director of Medical Education. Farmer's focus is on genetic research in affective disorders. Farmer was previously Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Wales College of Medicine.
Education and career
Anne Farmer graduated from Leeds Medical School in 1972 and did her residency training in psychiatry in Leeds and London UK. In 1980 she worked for 18 months Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, with Drs Lee Robins, John Helzer and Linda Cotler as a member of the Epidemiological Catchment Area (ECA) study research team. Her doctorate awarded in 1987, applied novel statistical procedures to the psychopathology of schizophrenia to refine the classification.
After 4 years as a Clinical Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, she was appointed first as Senior Lecturer, then Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Wales College of Medicine in Cardiff, Wales. She returned to the Institute of Psychiatry and Maudsley Hospital in London in 1998, where she was appointed as Professor of Psychiatric Nosology.
She has written over 100 peer reviewed papers, as well as numerous book chapters, review articles and editorials on wide ranging research interests including classification, the aetiology of schizophrenia and affective disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome and ethical aspects of genetic research. Current research includes investigating genetic and environmental risk factors for unipolar and bipolar affective disorders, genetically determined response to antidepressants and cognitive changes in mania.
Anne was involved in the following research roles between 2007 and 2010: 2008: Principal Investigator for a genome wide association study of unipolar depression. Grant of £1.2 million over two years. Medical Research Council and Glaxo Smith Kline Pharmaceuticals 2007: Principal Investigator for an MRI study on a sub-sample of the Gendep Human Pharmacogenetics Study. Grant of £100,000 over 6 months. Glaxo Smith Kline Pharmaceuticals 2007: Principal Investigator for a whole genome association study of unipolar depression. Grant of £630,000 over three years. Medical Research Council 2007: Principal Investigator on a programme of research to develop and test stepped care for patients with depression and symptomatic coronary heart disease in primary care. Grant of £1.99m over five years. NIHR Programme.
Smillie LD, Bhairo Y, Gray J, Gunasinghe C, Elkin A, McGuffin P, Farmer A. Comprehensive Psychiatry. Personality and the bipolar spectrum: normative and classification data for the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised. 2009 Jan–Feb;50(1):48–53.
Schosser A, Gaysina D, Cohen-Woods S, Chow PC, Martucci L, Craddock N, Farmer A, Korszun A, Gunasinghe C, Gray J, Jones L, Tozzi F, Perry J, Muglia P, Owen MJ, Craig IW, McGuffin P. Association of DISC1 and TSNAX genes and affective disorders in the depression case-control (DeCC) and bipolar affective case-control (BACCS) studies. Molecular Psychiatry. 2009 Mar 3.
Uher R, Mors O, Hauser J, Rietschel M, Maier W, Kozel D, Henigsberg N, Souery D, Placentino A, Perroud N, Dernovsek MZ, Strohmaier J, Larsen ER, Zobel A, Leszczynska-Rodziewicz A, Kalember P, Pedrini L, Linotte S, Gunasinghe C, Aitchison KJ, McGuffin P, Farmer A. Body weight as a predictor of antidepressant efficacy in the GENDEP project. Journal of Affective Disorders. 2009 Mar 6.
Samaan Z, Farmer A, Craddock N, Jones L, Korszun A, Owen M, McGuffin P. Migraine in recurrent depression: case-control study" British Journal of Psychiatry 2009 Apr; 194(4):350-4.
Uher R, Maier W, Hauser J, Marusic A, Schmael C, Mors O, Henigsberg N, Souery D, Placentino A, Rietschel M, Zobel A, Dmitrzak-Weglarz M, Petrovic A, Jorgensen L, Kalember P, Giovannini C, Barreto M, Elkin A, Landau S, Farmer A, Aitchison KJ, McGuffin P. Differential efficacy of escitalopram and nortriptyline on dimensional measures of depression" British Journal of Psychiatry 2009 Mar; 194(3):252-9.
Ball H, Samaan Z, Brewster S, Craddock N, Gill M, Korszun A, Maier W, Middleton L, Mors O, Owen M, Perry J, Preisig M, Rice J, Rietschel M, Jones L, Jones I, Farmer A, McGuffin P. Depression, migraine with aura and migraine without aura: their familiality and interrelatedness. Cephalalgia. 2009 Feb 23.
Keers R, Farmer AE, Aitchison KJ. Extracting a needle from a haystack: reanalysis of whole genome data reveals a readily translatable finding. Psychological Medicine. 2009 Feb 12:1–5
Cohen-Woods S, Gaysina D, Craddock N, Farmer A, Gray J, Gunasinghe C, Hoda F, Jones L, Knight J, Korszun A, Owen MJ, Sterne A, Craig IW, McGuffin P. Depression Case Control (DeCC) Study fails to support involvement of the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor M2 (CHRM2) gene in recurrent major depressive disorder. Human Molecular Genetics. 2009 Apr 15; 18(8):1504-9.
Green EK, Grozeva D, Raybould R, Elvidge G, Macgregor S, Craig I, Farmer A, McGuffin P, Forty L, Jones L, Jones I, O’Donovan MC, Owen MJ, Kirov G, Craddock N. P2RX7: A bipolar and unipolar disorder candidate susceptibility gene? American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B. 2009 Jan 21.
Schosser A, Cohen-Woods S, Gaysina D, Chow PC, Martucci L, Farmer A, Korszun A, Gunashinghe C, Gray J, Jones L, Craddock N, Owen MJ, Craig IW, McGuffin P. NRG1 gene in recurrent major depression: No association in a large-scale case-control association study. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2009 Apr 14.
Scott LJ, Muglia P, Kong XQ, Guan W, Flickinger M, Upmanyu R, Tozzi F, Li JZ, Burmeister M, Absher D, Thompson RC, Francks C, Meng F, Antoniades A, Southwick AM, Schatzberg AF, Bunney WE, Barchas JD, Jones EG, Day R, Matthews K, McGuffin P, Strauss JS, Kennedy JL, Middleton L, Roses AD, Watson SJ, Vincent JB, Myers RM, Farmer AE, Akil H, Burns DK, Boehnke M. Genome-wide association and meta-analysis of bipolar disorder in individuals of European ancestry. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 May 5;106(18):7501-6.
Forty L, Smith D, Jones L, Jones I, Caesar S, Cooper C, Fraser C, Gordon-Smith K, Hyde S, Farmer A, McGuffin P, Craddock N. Clinical characteristics of unipolar disorder and bipolar disorder according to the lifetime presence of recurrent panic attacks. Bipolar Disord. 2009 May; 11(3):307-15.
Perroud N, Aitchison KJ, Uher R, Smith R, Huezo-Diaz P, Marusic A, Maier W, Mors O, Placentino A, Henigsberg N, Rietschel M, Hauser J, Souery D, Kapelski P, Bonvicini C, Zobel A, Jorgensen L, Petrovic A, Kalember P, Schulze TG, Gupta B, Gray J, Lewis CM, Farmer AE, McGuffin P, Craig I. Genetic Predictors of Increase in Suicidal Ideation During Antidepressant Treatment in the GENDEP Project. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2009 Jul 29
Green EK, Grozeva D, Jones I, Jones L, Kirov G, Caesar S, Gordon-Smith K, Fraser C, Forty L, Russell E, Hamshere ML, Moskvina V, Nikolov I, Farmer A, McGuffin P; Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium5, Holmans PA, Owen MJ, O’Donovan MC, Craddock N. The bipolar disorder risk allele at CACNA1C also confers risk of recurrent major depression and of schizophrenia. Mol Psychiatry. 2009 Jul 21.
Huezo-Diaz P, Uher R, Smith R, Rietschel M, Henigsberg N, Marusic A, Mors O, Maier W, Hauser J, Souery D, Placentino A, Zobel A, Larsen ER, Czerski PM, Gupta B, Hoda F, Perroud N, Farmer A, Craig I, Aitchison KJ, McGuffin P. Moderation of antidepressant response by the serotonin transporter gene" Br J Psychiatry 2009 Jul;195(1):30-8.
Hamshere ML, Green EK, Jones IR, Jones L, Moskvina V, Kirov G, Grozeva D, Nikolov I, Vukcevic D, Caesar S, Gordon-Smith K, Fraser C, Russell E, Breen G, St Clair D, Collier DA, Young AH, Ferrier IN, Farmer A, McGuffin P; Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium, Holmans PA, Owen MJ, O’Donovan MC, Craddock N. Genetic utility of broadly defined bipolar schizoaffective disorder as a diagnostic concept" Br J Psychiatry 2009 Jul;195(1):23-9.
Uher R, Huezo-Diaz P, Perroud N, Smith R, Rietschel M, Mors O, Hauser J, Maier W, Kozel D, Henigsberg N, Barreto M, Placentino A, Dernovsek MZ, Schulze TG, Kalember P, Zobel A, Czerski PM, Larsen ER, Souery D, Giovannini C, Gray JM, Lewis CM, Farmer A, Aitchison KJ, McGuffin P, Craig I. Genetic predictors of response to antidepressants in the GENDEP project. Pharmacogenomics J. 2009 Aug;9(4):225-33.
Carroll LS, Williams NM, Moskvina V, Russell E, Norton N, Williams HJ, Peirce T, Georgieva L, Dwyer S, Grozeva D, Greene E, Farmer A, McGuffin P, Morris DW, Corvin A, Gill M, Rujescu D, Sham P, Holmans P, Jones I, Kirov G, Craddock N, O’Donovan MC, Owen MJ. Evidence for rare and common genetic risk variants for schizophrenia at protein kinase C, alpha. Mol Psychiatry. 2009 Sep 29.
Uher, R; Farmer, A; Henigsberg, N; Rietschel, M; Mors, O; Maier, W; Kozel, D; Hauser, J; Souery, D; Placentino, A; Strohmaier, J; Perroud, N; Zobel, A; Rajewska-Rager, A; Dernovsek, MZ; Larsen, ER; Kalember, P; Giovannini, C; Barreto, M; McGuffin, P; Aitchison, KJ (Sep 2009). "Adverse reactions to antidepressants". Br J Psychiatry. 195 (3): 202–10. doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.108.061960. PMID 19721108.
Perroud N, Uher R, Marusic A, Rietschel M, Mors O, Henigsberg N, Hauser J, Maier W, Souery D, Placentino A, Szczepankiewicz A, Jorgensen L, Strohmaier J, Zobel A, Giovannini C, Elkin A, Gunasinghe C, Gray J, Campbell D, Gupta B, Farmer AE, McGuffin P, Aitchison KJ. "Suicidal ideation during treatment of depression with escitalopram and nortriptyline in genome-based therapeutic drugs for depression (GENDEP): a clinical trial. BMC Med. 2009 Oct 15; 7:60.
Uher R, Muthén B, Souery D, Mors O, Jaracz J, Placentino A, Petrovic A, Zobel A, Henigsberg N, Rietschel M, Aitchison KJ, Farmer A, McGuffin P. "Trajectories of change in depression severity during treatment with antidepressants. Psychol Med. 2009 Oct 29:1–11.
Allan, CL; Cardno, AG; Rijsdijk, FV; Kalidindi, S; Farmer, A; Murray, RM; McGuffin, P (Dec 2009). "Twin study of illness history variables in psychosis". Schizophr Res. 115 (2–3): 237–44. doi:10.1016/j.schres.2009.09.002.
Samaan, Z; Macgregor, EA; Andrew, D; McGuffin, P; Farmer, A (Jan 2010). "Diagnosing migraine in research and clinical settings: the validation of the Structured Migraine Interview (SMI)". BMC Neurol. 10: 7. doi:10.1186/1471-2377-10-7.
McMahon, FJ; Akula, N; Schulze, TG; Muglia, P; Tozzi, F; Detera-Wadleigh, SD; Steele, CJ; Breuer, R; Strohmaier, J; Wendland, JR; Mattheisen, M; Mühleisen, TW; Maier, W; Nöthen, MM; Cichon, S; Farmer, A; Vincent, JB; Holsboer, F; Preisig, M; Rietschel, M (Feb 2010). "Bipolar Disorder Genome Study (BiGS) Consortium. Meta-analysis of genome-wide association data identifies a risk locus for major mood disorders on 3p21.1". Nat Genet. 42 (2): 128–31. doi:10.1038/ng.523. PMC 2854040. PMID 20081856.
Hosang GM, Uher R, Keers R, Cohen-Woods S, Craig I, Korszun A, Perry J, Tozzi F, Muglia P, McGuffin P, Farmer AE. "Stressful life events and the brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene in bipolar disorder. J Affect Disord. 2010 Feb 19.
Hosang GM, Korszun A, Jones L, Jones I, Gray JM, Gunasinghe CM, McGuffin P, Farmer AE. "Adverse life event reporting and worst illness episodes in unipolar and bipolar affective disorders: measuring environmental risk for genetic research. Psychol Med. 2010 Feb 5:1–9.
Liu Y, Blackwood DH, Caesar S, de Geus EJ, Farmer A, Ferreira MA, Ferrier IN, Fraser C, Gordon-Smith K, Green EK, Grozeva D, Gurling HM, Hamshere ML, Heutink P, Holmans PA, Hoogendijk WJ, Hottenga JJ, Jones L, Jones IR, Kirov G, Lin D, McGuffin P, Moskvina V, Nolen WA, Perlis RH, Posthuma D, Scolnick EM, Smit AB, Smit JH, Smoller JW, St Clair D, van Dyck R, Verhage M, Willemsen G, Young AH, Zandbelt T, Boomsma DI, Craddock N, O’Donovan MC, Owen MJ, Penninx BW, Purcell S, Sklar P, Sullivan PF. "Meta-analysis of genome-wide association data of bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder. Mol Psychiatry. 2010 Mar 30.
Keers R, Uher R, Huezo-Diaz P, Smith R, Jaffee S, Rietschel M, Henigsberg N, Kozel D, Mors O, Maier W, Zobel A, Hauser J, Souery D, Placentino A, Larsen ER, Dmitrzak-Weglarz M, Gupta B, Hoda F, Craig I, McGuffin P, Farmer AE, Aitchison KJ. "Interaction between serotonin transporter gene variants and life events predicts response to antidepressants in the GENDEP project. Pharmacogenomics J. 2010 Mar 9.
Jones, L; Scott, J; Cooper, C; Forty, L; Smith, KG; Sham, P; Farmer, A; McGuffin, P; Craddock, N; Jones, I (Mar 2010). "Cognitive style, personality and vulnerability to postnatal depression". Br J Psychiatry. 196: 200–5. doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.109.064683.
Butler, AW; Cohen-Woods, S; Farmer, A; McGuffin, P; Lewis, CM (Mar 2010). "Integrating phenotypic data for depression". J Integr Bioinform. 7: 3.
Grozeva, D; Kirov, G; Ivanov, D; Jones, IR; Jones, L; Green, EK; St Clair, DM; Young, AH; Ferrier, N; Farmer, AE; McGuffin, P; Holmans, PA; Owen, MJ; O'Donovan, MC; Craddock, N (Apr 2010). "Rare copy number variants: a point of rarity in genetic risk for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium". Arch Gen Psychiatry. 67 (4): 318–27. doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2010.25.
Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium, Craddock N, Hurles ME, Cardin N, Pearson RD, Plagnol V, Robson S, Vukcevic D, Barnes C, Conrad DF, Giannoulatou E, Holmes C, Marchini JL, Stirrups K, Tobin MD, Wain LV, Yau C, Aerts J, Ahmad T, Andrews TD, Arbury H, Attwood A, Auton A, Ball SG, Balmforth AJ, Barrett JC, Barroso I, Barton A, Bennett AJ, Bhaskar S, Blaszczyk K, Bowes J, Brand OJ, Braund PS, Bredin F, Breen G, Brown MJ, Bruce IN, Bull J, Burren OS, Burton J, Byrnes J, Caesar S, Clee CM, Coffey AJ, Connell JM, Cooper JD, Dominiczak AF, Downes K, Drummond HE, Dudakia D, Dunham A, Ebbs B, Eccles D, Edkins S, Edwards C, Elliot A, Emery P, Evans DM, Evans G, Eyre S, Farmer A, Ferrier IN, Feuk L, Fitzgerald T, Flynn E, Forbes A, Forty L, Franklyn JA, Freathy RM, Gibbs P, Gilbert P, Gokumen O, Gordon-Smith K, Gray E, Green E, Groves CJ, Grozeva D, Gwilliam R, Hall A, Hammond N, Hardy M, Harrison P, Hassanali N, Hebaishi H, Hines S, Hinks A, Hitman GA, Hocking L, Howard E, Howard P, Howson JM, Hughes D, Hunt S, Isaacs JD, Jain M, Jewell DP, Johnson T, Jolley JD, Jones IR, Jones LA, Kirov G, Langford CF, Lango-Allen H, Lathrop GM, Lee J, Lee KL, Lees C, Lewis K, Lindgren CM, Maisuria-Armer M, Maller J, Mansfield J, Martin P, Massey DC, McArdle WL, McGuffin P, McLay KE, Mentzer A, Mimmack ML, Morgan AE, Morris AP, Mowat C, Myers S, Newman W, Nimmo ER, O’Donovan MC, Onipinla A, Onyiah I, Ovington NR, Owen MJ, Palin K, Parnell K, Pernet D, Perry JR, Phillips A, Pinto D, Prescott NJ, Prokopenko I, Quail MA, Rafelt S, Rayner NW, Redon R, Reid DM, Renwick, Ring SM, Robertson N, Russell E, St Clair D, Sambrook JG, Sanderson JD, Schuilenburg H, Scott CE, Scott R, Seal S, Shaw-Hawkins S, Shields BM, Simmonds MJ, Smyth DJ, Somaskantharajah E, Spanova K, Steer S, Stephens J, Stevens HE, Stone MA, Su Z, Symmons DP, Thompson JR, Thomson W, Travers ME, Turnbull C, Valsesia A, Walker M, Walker NM, Wallace C, Warren-Perry M, Watkins NA, Webster J, Weedon MN, Wilson AG, Woodburn M, Wordsworth BP, Young AH, Zeggini E, Carter NP, Frayling TM, Lee C, McVean G, Munroe PB, Palotie A, Sawcer SJ, Scherer SW, Strachan DP, Tyler-Smith C, Brown MA, Burton PR, Caulfield MJ, Compston A, Farrall M, Gough SC, Hall AS, Hattersley AT, Hill AV, Mathew CG, Pembrey M, Satsangi J, Stratton MR, Worthington J, Deloukas P, Duncanson A, Kwiatkowski DP, McCarthy MI, Ouwehand W, Parkes M, Rahman N, Todd JA, Samani NJ, Donnelly P. "Genome-wide association study of CNVs in 16,000 cases of eight common diseases and 3,000 shared controls. Nature 2010 Apr 1;464(7289):713-20.
Uher, R; Perroud, N; Ng, MY; Hauser, J; Henigsberg, N; Maier, W; Mors, O; Placentino, A; Rietschel, M; Souery, D; Zagar, T; Czerski, PM; Jerman, B; Larsen, ER; Schulze, TG; Zobel, A; Cohen-Woods, S; Pirlo, K; Butler, AW; Muglia, P; Barnes, MR; Lathrop, M; Farmer, A; Breen, G; Aitchison, KJ; Craig, I; Lewis, CM; McGuffin, P (May 2010). "Genome-wide pharmacogenetics of antidepressant response in the GENDEP project". Am J Psychiatry. 167 (5): 555–64. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2009.09070932.
Liu JZ, Tozzi F, Waterworth DM, Pillai SG, Muglia P, Middleton L, Berrettini W, Knouff CW, Yuan X, Waeber G, Vollenweider P, Preisig M, Wareham NJ, Zhao JH, Loos RJ, Barroso I, Khaw KT, Grundy S, Barter P, Mahley R, Kesaniemi A, McPherson R, Vincent JB, Strauss J, Kennedy JL, Farmer A, McGuffin P, Day R, Matthews K, Bakke P, Gulsvik A, Lucae S, Ising M, Brueckl T, Horstmann S, Wichmann HE, Rawal R, Dahmen N, Lamina C, Polasek O, Zgaga L, Huffman J, Campbell S, Kooner J, Chambers JC, Burnett MS, Devaney JM, Pichard AD, Kent KM, Satler L, Lindsay JM, Waksman R, Epstein S, Wilson JF, Wild SH, Campbell H, Vitart V, Reilly MP, Li M, Qu L, Wilensky R, Matthai W, Hakonarson HH, Rader DJ, Franke A, Wittig M, Schäfer A, Uda M, Terracciano A, Xiao X, Busonero F, Scheet P, Schlessinger D, St Clair D, Rujescu D, Abecasis GR, Grabe HJ, Teumer A, Völzke H, Petersmann A, John U, Rudan I, Hayward C, Wright AF, Kolcic I, Wright BJ, Thompson JR, Balmforth AJ, Hall AS, Samani NJ, Anderson CA, Ahmad T, Mathew CG, Parkes M, Satsangi J, Caulfield M, Munroe PB, Farrall M, Dominiczak A, Worthington J, Thomson W, Eyre S, Barton Am Mooser V, Francks C, Marchini J. "Meta-analysis and imputation refines the association of 15q25 with smoking quantity" Nat Genet 2010; 42(5):436-40.
McGuffin P, Perroud N, Uher R, Butler A, Aitchison KJ, Craig I, Lewis C, Farmer A. "The genetics of affective disorder and suicide. Eur Psychiatry. 2010 May 10.
Lee, R; Lam, D; Mansell, W; Farmer, A (Jun 2010). "Sense of hyper-positive self, goal-attainment beliefs and coping strategies in bipolar I disorder". Psychol Med. 40 (6): 967–75. doi:10.1017/s0033291709991206.
Perroud N, Uher R, Hauser J, Rietschel M, Henigsberg N, Placentino A, Kozel D, Maier W, Mors O, Souery D, Dmitrzak-Weglarz M, Jorgensen L, Kovacic Z, Giovannini C, Mendlewicz J, Zobel A, Strohmaier J, McGuffin P, Aitchison KJ, Farmer A. "History of suicide attempts among patients with depression in the GENDEP project. J Affect Disord. 2010 Jun;123(1–3):131-7.
