Dr Payam Rezaie

Professional biography

I am a neuroscientist with expertise and research interest in Neurodegenerative and Neuropsychiatric disorders, Neuropathology, Neuroimmunology, and Developmental Neurobiology. I have extensive teaching experience in the Neurosciences and Mental Health, with a broader interest in postgraduate studies, medical education, online and distance-learning.

I joined the Open University in 2003, coming from the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, where I co-ordinated and led research into the pathogenesis of prion diseases funded by the European Union (1998-2003). My research at the Open University has focused on the neurobiology of autism (2003-2012), collaborating with colleagues in Germany, leading a programme supported by NAAR, Autism Speaks and ATP in the United States, and on microglial cell development (2006-present) collaborating with colleagues at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and in Japan. I have held long-standing honorary and visiting academic appointments at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London (2001-2014), and have taught on the MSc Neuroscience programme at the Institute for nearly two decades (1995-2014). I was appointed Reader at the OU in 2008 and Head of the Brain and Behavioural Sciences Discipline in the Faculty of Science from 2011-2013.

Since 2013, I have directed the Science Taught Postgraduate Programme (2013-2016), and developed and led the MSc in Mental Health Science (2016-2023) and the ‘Open Masters’ (MA/MSc Open) programmes (2016-2023). At institutional level, I was involved in developing the Valued Ways of Working for Academics and Leadership Competency Frameworks (2012) and as Academic Lead on the University’s Taught Postgraduate Pass Mark and Classification Project (2018-2020) which has seen the transition to the 50% pass mark and a new Classification Framework for Taught Postgraduate at the OU. I have also made significant contributions to taught postgraduate induction as co-author of the ‘Succeeding in Postgraduate Study’ Badged Open Course (launched in 2017) and have authored advanced free learning resources on Mental Health focusing on Anxiety and Depression on OpenLearn (2019).

I am a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (RSB) and a member of the Royal Institution of Great Britain (RI), the British Neuropathological Society (BNS), International Society of Neuropathology (ISN), the British Neuroscience Association (BNA), Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS), the International Brain Research Organisation (IBRO) and the Biosciences Federation (BSF). I have served on the General and Academic Committees of the BNS (2006-2010), on the Advisory Board of the UK Brain Bank for Autism and Related Developmental Research (2009-2018), on the Open University's Senate (2008-2012), Research Careers Development Advisory Group (2006-2014), Taught Postgraduate Advisory Group (2014-2018), as Chair of the STEM Taught Postgraduate Group (2017-2021), as Postgraduate Science Exam and Award Board Chair (2016-2023), OU Validation Partnerships External Review Panel Chair (2019), and as an academic member contributing to the ongoing work of the Assessment Programme (2018-present) and the Human Research Ethics Committee (2022-present). My most recent appointment is as Co-Chair of the University's Taught Postgraduate Steering and Advisory Group (2025-2028) and I am looking forward to serving the OU in this capacity over the next few years.

BSc (Honours) Physiology, King's College London, University of London.
MSc and PhD in Neuroscience (Neuropathology and Neuroimmunology), Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, University of London.