Bernadette Fitzgibbon

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Dr Bernadette Fitzgibbon PhD

Dr Bernadette Fitzgibbon is an NHMRC early career research fellow at MAPrc.

Bernadette completed her PhD in 2011 where she conducted the first clinical and neurophysiological studies of a new pain phenomenon in amputees.

Her current research utilises modern neuroscientific techniques including Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Electroencephalography, to explore the neurobiology of pain perception and to develop novel treatment approaches for chronic pain syndromes.

She also has a significant interest in social cognition and how pain can be used as a model to explore how we understand the thoughts, feelings and actions of other people.

She has received several awards for her research including the 2014 Bethlehem Griffith Foundation Young Researcher Award, a 2014 Tall Poppy Award from the Australian Institute of Policy of Science and the 2012 Vice Chancellor's Commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence (Monash University). Her work has been covered in top media outlets including New Scientist magazine, Australasian Science, and The Psychologist. She has also been invited to write online pieces for The Conversation and Body in Mind Blog, and been interviewed on 3RRR and ABC1 television

If you would like to find out more about Bernadette's research, please contact bernadette.fitzgibbon@monash.edu.

Experience

  • 2014–present
    NHMRC Research Fellow, MAPrc
  • 2012–2014
    Postdoctoral Research Fellow, MAPrc
  • 2010–2012
    Research Assistant, Monash University
  • 2006–2007
    Research Assistant, Auckland University

Education

  • 2012 
    Monash, PhD (Neuroscience)
  • 2007 
    University of Auckland, Master of Science

Publications

  • 2015
    Affective, sensory and empathic sharing of others' pain: The Empathy for Pain Scale, European Journal of Pain
  • 2015
    Into the looking glass: Broadening models to explain the spectrum of sensory and affective vicarious experiences, Cognitive Neuroscience
  • 2015
    Enhancement of working memory and task related oscillatory activity following intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation in healthy controls, Cerebral Cortex
  • 2015
    Habitual Suppression Relates to Difficulty in Regulating Emotion with Cognitive Reappraisal, Biological Psychology
  • 2015
    Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder associated with painful and non-painful vicarious reactivity following amputation, Journal of Traumatic Stress
  • 2015
    Neural evidence that conscious awareness of errors is reduced in depression following a traumatic brain injury, Biological Psychology
  • 2014
    The neural underpinnings of vicarious experience, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
  • 2014
    An examination of the influence of visuomotor associations on interpersonal motor resonance, Neuropsychologia
  • 2014
    Removing artifacts from TMS-EEG recordings using independent component analysis: importance for assessing prefrontal and motor cortex network properties, NeuroImage
  • 2013
    A double-blind, randomized trial of deep repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for autism spectrum disorder , Brain Stimulation
  • 2013
    Modulation of putative mirror neuron activity by both positively and negatively valanced affective stimuli: A TMS study , Behavioural Brain Research
  • 2013
    Can studies of pain help to bridge the gap between sensory and social impairments in autism? , Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
  • 2013
    A transcranial magnetic stimulation study of the effect of visual orientation on the putative human mirror neuron system, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
  • 2012
    Motor cortical excitability and inhibition in acquired mirror pain , Neuroscience Letters
  • 2012
    Emotional valence modulates putative mirror neuron activity, Neuroscience Letters
  • 2012
    Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the inferior frontal gyrus disrupts interpersonal , Neuropsychologia
  • 2011
    Mirror-sensory synaesthesia: Exploring 'shared' sensory experiences as synaesthesia, Neuroscience & Biobehavioural Reviews
  • 2011
    Enhanced corticospinal response to observed pain in pain synaesthetes, Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience
  • 2010
    High incidence of ‘synaesthesia for pain’ in amputees. , Neuropsychologia
  • 2010
    Shared pain: From empathy to synaesthesia., Neuroscience and Biobehavioural Reviews
  • 2010
    Atypical electrophysiological activity in amputees who experience synaesthetic pain., Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
  • 2010
    Ouch! My leg hurts when you stab ‘my’ hand, Perception
  • 2008
    Functional MRI in NPSLE patients reveals increased parietal and frontal brain activation, Rheumatology
  • 2006
    Differential cortical processing of location and pitch changes in dichotic pitch., NeuroReport

Grants and Contracts

  • 2015
    Brain Stimulation Equipment Suite
    Role:
    CI
    Funding Source:
    NHMRC Equipment Grant
  • 2015
    Interventional repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment for fibromyalgia
    Role:
    CI
    Funding Source:
    Arthritis Australia
  • 2014
    NHMRC Early Career Research Fellow: Peter Doherty Biomedical Fellowship
    Role:
    CI
    Funding Source:
    National Health and Medical Research Council

Professional Memberships

  • International Association for the Study of Pain
  • The Society for Social Neuroscience
  • Australian Neuroscience Society
  • Australasian Society for Social and Affective Neuroscience

Research Areas

  • Neurosciences (1109)
  • Psychology And Cognitive Sciences (17)
  • Biological Psychology (Neuropsychology, Psychopharmacology, Physiological Psychology) (170101)

Contact Bernadette for

  • General
  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision