Dr Jessica Eccles is a leading neurodevelopmental psychiatrist, researcher, and public communicator whose work bridges brain-body medicine and neurodivergence. After completing a BA in the History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge, followed by medical studies at Cambridge and Oxford, she embarked on a clinical academic career at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS). Now Associate Professor (Reader) in Brain-Body Medicine at BSMS, she also holds a consultant psychiatrist post with Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust Neurodevelopmental Service, where, as a liaison psychiatrist, she co-leads the world’s first Neurodivergent Brain-Body Clinic and helped set up the Immunopsychiatry Research Clinic.
Dr Eccles’s research transforms understanding of links between neurodivergence, hypermobility, and mental and physical health—culminating in prestigious national recognition such as the 2024 Ehlers Danlos Society Research Pioneer Award. Her PhD pioneered work on joint hypermobility, autonomic dysfunction, and psychiatric symptoms, and she has led ground-breaking studies revealing the links between hypermobility, pain, emotion regulation, fatigue and neurodivergence (e.g. ADHD, autism, Tourette syndrome) .Dr Eccles’s research is internationally recognised and is making real impact.
A passionate advocate for hypermobile and neurodivergent people, Dr Eccles chairs the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Neurodevelopmental Psychiatry Special Interest Group and serves on the Clinical Reference Group for the UK ADHD Taskforce. She is a patron and advisor to multiple charities, including SEDSCONNECTIVE, ADHD Aware UK, the Hypermobility Syndromes Association, and The Sussex ME/CFS Society.
With her team, Dr Eccles has published the first ever brain-imaging studies of hypermobility and pioneered new research clinics at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, published in top academic journals, and received major grants, including from the Medical Research Council, the Academy of Medical Sciences, MQ and Versus Arthritis. She is firmly committed to public engagement, regularly appearing in the media, including the BBC, The Guardian, The New York Times. She has appeared on the highly popular Channel 4 Documentary, ‘Sam Thompson: Is this ADHD?”, featured on Channel 5 News and represented the Royal College of Psychiatrists on BBC Radio Four Today Programme. Through webinars, podcasts, and social media she seeks to improve understanding and policies around hypermobility, neurodivergence and brain-body health. She hopes to encourage curiosity and challenge stereotypes.