She heads the Neuropsychiatric Genetics research group, and is co-Director of the SU/South African Medical Research Council Unit on the Genomics of Brain Disorders.

Her research interests include investigating the molecular aetiology of PTSD and stress-related disorders, by conducting genetic, epigenetic, transcriptomic and microbiome studies. She is a member of the PGC-PTSD workgroup, where she leads the microbiome workgroup. She also works on fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD).