Welcome back to our ‘In Conversation’ series where we introduce you to the people who make the Hub for Metabolic Psychiatry’s research happen. In this post, meet our newest Hub member, Etsubdink Teklebirhan Gebretsadika, a PhD researcher based at the University of Glasgow who is exploring the genetic links between type 2 diabetes and severe mental illness.

Please share a little about yourself.

My name is Etsubdink Teklebirhan Gebretsadik, but I usually go by Etsub, and I’m originally from Ethiopia. I’m currently based in Glasgow, where I’m pursuing a PhD focused on the biological and genetic links between type 2 diabetes and severe mental illness. Alongside my research, I’m also involved in mentoring students through the university application process, an initiative I’m passionate about and find really rewarding.Tell us a bit more about your current work.

I’m currently analysing whether genetic risk scores for glycaemic traits relate to specific features of severe mental illness, like mood instability and anhedonia. This work uses genome-wide association results to estimate an individual's risk of the glycaemic trait and assess the impact of this estimate on mental health traits. Later, I’ll be shifting to a more targeted approach, using eight biologically grouped genetic variants related to type 2 diabetes to investigate their contribution to bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder. For that, I’ll begin with data from the UK Biobank and plan to expand to other datasets as the project develops.

How did you become interested/involved in your current area of research?

I’ve always been curious about mental health and how it connects with other parts of the body. My first real look into how deeply linked everything is, was during my undergraduate degree, when I worked on a review project on the gut-brain axis. In my master's degree, I was lucky to work with Dr Rona Strawbridge on a project looking at the genetic connection between anhedonia (a feature of severe mental illness) and haemostatic traits, to explore links between major depression disorder and venous thromboembolism. That project really opened my eyes to how physical and mental health overlap more than we often think. Now with my PhD, I’m continuing along that path, asking more questions, digging into the data, and hoping to be part of the shift toward more personalised, connected approaches in medicine.

How do you deal with the ethical implications of your work?

Working with genetic data and mental health data means being constantly aware of how easily research can overlook the experiences of underrepresented groups, such as those with ancestral diversity. I try to stay mindful of that both in how data is interpreted and who it includes. Coming from Ethiopia, I’ve seen how mental health can be misunderstood or ignored entirely, so I care about research that doesn’t just apply to one population but can lead to more inclusive and equitable care across different communities.

What kind of research would you like to see conducted in the future?

I’d love to see more research that centres diverse populations and uses tools like neuroimaging to explore how cardiometabolic health and mental health are connected not just at the level of diagnosis, but through shared neural circuits or biological mechanisms. These areas are often studied separately, but I think we need more integrated approaches to truly understand the overlap. I also hope the future of research leans more into precision medicine not just tailored treatments, but also tailored understanding of what illness looks like across different communities. And above all, I’d like to see mental health treated with the same scientific depth and urgency as physical health.