Owen studied medicine and neurosciences at
Birmingham University, gaining a B.Sc. in anatomy in 1977 and a PhD in neuroscience in 1982, and qualifying MB ChB in 1983. He then trained in Psychiatry at Northwick Park and the
Maudsley Hospital,
London, obtaining his MRCPsych in 1987. He then undertook an MRC Fellowship in John Hardy's lab at
St Mary's Hospital, London before moving to Cardiff in 1990. He was awarded a personal chair in 1995 and the chair in Psychological Medicine and Headship of the Department of Psychological Medicine in 1998. His research has focused on the genetics of major psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders and he has made notable contributions to the study of schizophrenia and Alzheimer disease. He has studied the impact of genetic risk factors across diagnostic boundaries and developed a theoretical framework to understand the relationship between different neurodevelopmental disorders. He has also identified specific genes and sets of proteins involved in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease, which are potential therapeutic targets. As well as continuing his work on psychiatric genetics, he is currently undertaking research aimed at translating recent genetic findings into a greater understanding of disease mechanisms and into the development of novel biomarkers to aid classification and diagnosis. ==Awards==