Professor Clare Mackay
Professor of Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry; Associate Director and Head of Translation, Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity
Professor Mackay is a neuroscientist who studies, advocates for, and lives with body-focused repetitive behaviours (BFRBs).
About
Clare Mackay is a Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Oxford. She trained in Psychology at the University of Liverpool, where she also studied for her PhD in quantitative MRI.
The early part of Professor Mackay's career was characterised by developing an expertise in (and influencing) the rapid developments in MR acquisition and analysis techniques, and her Translational Neuroimaging Group in the Department of Psychiatry apply imaging methodology to understand risk and develop markers for psychiatric and neurodegenerative disease.
Professor Mackay is Associate Director of the Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity (OHBA) and has held many leadership roles within large team projects, including the open science and translation themes in the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, the dementia theme for the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), and imaging informatics for the MRC Dementias Platform UK (DPUK). She has also acted as imaging/MRI lead for the Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre [Parkinson’s UK]; Whitehall II Imaging Sub-study [MRC]; and Deep and Frequent Phenotyping Study [MRC/NIHR].
Professor Mackay has a track record in system/process innovations, including co-designing a facility management system (Exprodo Software Ltd), developing imaging informatics infrastructure for DPUK and building the Oxford Brain Health Clinic, which embeds research into the NHS pathway for memory clinic patients.
Having spent 30 years studying a variety of brain disorders (including epilepsy, psychosis and dementia), in 2023 Professor Mackay turned her attention in a new and more personal direction, and now studies and advocates for body-focused repetitive behaviours (BFRBs). She has developed several research studies and collaborations, hosted the first (and is organising the second) UK Conference for BFRBs, authored a book (Keep Your Hair On: Understanding urges to pick, pull and bite, Robinson Books, 2026), and uses her platform to educate, raise awareness and reduce stigma for people living with BFRBs (@thetrichprof on social media).
Expertise
- Body-focused repetitive behaviours (BFRBs)
- Trichotillomania (hair-pulling disorder)
- Dermatillomania (skin-picking disorder)
- Nail biting
- Lived experience science
- Shame and stigma
- Neuroimaging
Selected publications
- For the latest publications visit: Body focused repetitive behaviours (BFRBs) — Department of Psychiatry
- Keep your hair on: understanding urges to pick, pull and bite (Little Brown Books, 2026)
- Body-focused repetitive behaviours in adolescents: a common and under-recognised source of distress and unmet need (preprint, 2026)
- The mediating role of shame in the relationship between adolescent hairpulling and co-occurring anxiety and depressive symptomology (JCPP Advances, 2025)
- Trichotillomania: a perspective synthesised from neuroscience and lived experience (BMJ Mental Health, 2023)
Media experience
Professor Clare Mackay has been featured in broadcast media such as radio, podcasts and news packages, and has significant experience of creating and appearing on social media. She has had media training.
Podcasts
- For the latest podcasts visit: Body focused repetitive behaviours (BFRBs) — Department of Psychiatry
- Body Focused Repetitive Behaviours (BFRBs) with Professor Clare Mackay (Conversations with Annalisa Barbieri, 2026)
- Understanding BFRBs, with Clare Mackay, PhD, and Suzanne Mouton-Odum, PhD (Podcast: Speaking of Psychology, American Psychological Association, 2025)
Languages
English
The 6 things everyone should know about body-focused repetitive behaviours (BFRBs)
