Dr Arnold is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney and has over 15 years experience in behavioural neuroscience and pharmacology. He has published 36 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals and has received 612 career citations (his publications prior to 2011 have received on average 28 citations per manuscript, h-index = 14). He completed his PhD on the neural and behavioural effects of cannabinoids (cannabis-like drugs) under Professor Iain McGregor at the University of Sydney in 2001. During his PhD Dr Arnold became fascinated by how genetic disposition influences the neurobehavioural actions of cannabinoids - understanding which genes affect cannabinoid action might help explain why certain individuals are more prone to mental disorders such as addiction or schizophrenia.
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Dr Arnold is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney and has over 15 years experience in behavioural neuroscience and pharmacology. He has published 36 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals and has received 612 career citations (his publications prior to 2011 have received on average 28 citations per manuscript, h-index = 14). He completed his PhD on the neural and behavioural effects of cannabinoids (cannabis-like drugs) under Professor Iain McGregor at the University of Sydney in 2001. During his PhD Dr Arnold became fascinated by how genetic disposition influences the neurobehavioural actions of cannabinoids - understanding which genes affect cannabinoid action might help explain why certain individuals are more prone to mental disorders such as addiction or schizophrenia.

Dr Arnold’s research has attracted national and international funding. In 2005 he took sabbatical leave at the Cajal Institute in Madrid, one of the world’s premier neuroscience institutes. He has an ongoing collaboration with Prof Jacques Micheau, University of Bordeaux, France that has yielded 4 publications. He has published invited reviews in special cannabinoid editions of Current Pharmaceutical Design, Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior and the British Journal of Pharmacology. In 2009 he reported from NHMRC-funded research that diet-induced lipolysis causes fat-stored THC to flood back into the blood (the phenomenon we termed “cannabinoid re-intoxication”, published in the British Journal of Pharmacology). This finding attracted national and international media attention including coverage in the New Scientist, Cosmos, and the Sun-Herald. His work on Nrg1-cannabinoid interactions has also generated much interest and he has given 6 invited presentations at both national and international conferences on this topic in the last 5 years.

Dr Arnold has reviewed grants for the National Health and Medical Research Council,Australian Research Council, the Marsden Fund (New Zealand) and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (Canada).He also reviews original research manuscripts for various international journals including Schizophrenia Bulletin,Biological Psychiatry, Neuropsychopharmacology, Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, PLoS ONE and The British Journal of Pharmacology. He serves on the Editorial Board of Current Neuropharmacology andThe World Journal of Pharmacology. He is the primary supervisor of 6 PhD students and has supervised 3 PhD students, 1 Masters and 12 Honours students to completion (10 awarded a 1^st class grading, 5 retained for PhD studies). In 2011 he received the Excellence in Research Higher Degree Supervision Award from the Sydney Medical School.

Dr Arnold has written numerous medico-legal reports on various drug-related cases. He has appeared on national television and radio commenting on the medicinal and adverse effects of cannabis (e.g. Channel 10 News, ABC and SBS Radio). He is routinely contacted by the Australian Science Media Centre to comment on cannabis-related scientific papers that draw media interest.

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