Mirei Okada

Mirei is a current PhD candidate at the University of Sydney. She works at the Charles Perkins Centre where she studies the multi-disciplinary areas of gut microbiome and anorexia nervosa under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Andrew Holmes, Dr. Sarah Maguire and Prof. Stephen Simpson. In particular, her project examines the role our diet and microbes play on the gut-brain axis in anorexia nervosa. Mirei completed her dual Bachelor degrees in Science and Arts (2018), majoring in Biomedical Science, Psychology and Japanese followed by an honours research year receiving 1st Class honours in Biomedical Science (2019) at the University of Queensland (UQ). She has also been a recipient of UQ Employability Award (2019). In 2016, Mirei also had the opportunity to study a semester exchange abroad at Kansas State University in the USA. She aspires to help the wider community by integrating the areas of the gastrointestinal field and mental health field, allowing for further opportunities to tackle difficult areas in biomedical translational research.