Prof. Gary Donohoe is a clinical psychologist working in the area of mental health and cognitive neursocience. Following undergraduate and postgraduate training at University College Dublin, Gary completed his clinical training at Trinity College Dublin. He subsequently undertook a research fellowship in department of psychiatry at TCD, where he earned a PhD in Cognitive genomics and began the cognitive genomics lab. He was appointed an assistant professor in TCD's School of medicine in 2006, and associate professor in 2009, before coming to the University of Galway as Establsihed Professor of Psychology in 2013.

 In 2015 Gary became the founding director of the Neuroimaging and Cognitive Genomics Research Center (NICOG), the goal of which is to build on the synergistic activities of researchers from neuroimaging, cognitive neuroscience and psychiatric genetics at the university of Galway. In 2016, Gary was the recipient of a European Research Council fellowship award for his work on the contribution of the immune system to cognition in schizophrenia. In 2020 he was granted a Health research Board Research Leaders Award in youth mental health to work alongside the national early intervention in psychosis program. He was elected to the Royal Irish academy in 2022. Gary has published ~300 peer reviewed articles, which have been cited more than 50,000 times. As a qualified clinical psychologist, neuropsychologist, and advanced certified schema psychotherapist, Gary continues to be clinically active in adult and young adult mental health service delivery.

Garys research interests include the genetic and neural basis of cognitive deficits associated with psychosis, the development of therapeutic programs for overcoming these deficits, and development of psychological interventions for young adults more broadly.

Gary co-leads the Youth Mental Health Research Group with Prof Caroline Heary, and the CogGene group with Prof Derek Morris as part of the NICOG center. The CogGene group studies how brain structure and function are affected by genetic risk factors for psychosis using neuropsychology, MRI and EEG. Aspects of brain structure, such as brain volume and white matter integrity, and brain functions, such as cortical activations that occur during information processing, are likely to mediate the effects of genetic risk variants on illness. This work draws on neuropsychological, electrophysiological, and neuro-imaging techniques for investigating the role of gene function at the level of individual brain systems.This work has led to a number of important insights into newly discovered risk genes for psychosis.

A major focus of Gary's current work is developing psychological therapies for major mental health disorders, including therapies that address cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. In recent years this has resulted in an increased focus on digital technologies and virtual reality to advance the development of new and innovative interventions. 

The group collaborates with clinical and academic partners nationally and internationally. Clincal partners include the HSE (e.g. the early intervention for psychosis services), Jigsaw (the national youth mental health service) and MINDSPACE Mayo, as well as several third level student conselling services.  The group participates in several international consortia, including the ENIGMA consortium, the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC), and the YOUTHREACH consortium.

Gary's work is generously funded by several national and international sources, including the the Health research Board (HRB) and the European Research Council.