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Visiting Clinical Research Fellow in older people's substance use and mental health, King's College London

Following postgraduate clinical and research experience in psychiatry on the Cambridge and Maudsley training schemes, I started as a consultant in old age psychiatry in 1998, working first at Lewisham and Guy’s Mental Health Trust and later at South London and Maudsley (SLAM) NHS Foundation Trust.

Over the past 20 years, I have published widely on the subject of alcohol misuse in older people. I was visiting Professor of Addiction in Older People at London South Bank University from 2010 to 2012 and currently a Visiting Clinical Research Fellow at the Institute of Psychiatry. I was also co-author of The Royal College of Psychiatrists Report Our Invisible Addicts in 2011 and 2018.

Since 2007, I have delivered both keynote speeches and other presentations on alcohol and older people at postgraduate and voluntary sector conferences, as well as acting as a specialist advisor to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Alcohol Misuse, the Institute of Alcohol Studies and Alcohol Concern. I received a Clinical Governance award from my Trust in 2007 for my work on service development for dual diagnosis (alcohol misuse accompanying other mental disorders) and helped to set up the first dual diagnosis working group for older people within my own Trust. I have also become a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and a member of the Medical Journalists Association.

I chaired the Substance Misuse in Older People Working Group at the Royal College of Psychiatrists from 2012-2017 and currently chair the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust Dual Diagnosis Group for the Psychological Medicine and Older Adults Clinical Academic Group.

Having a broad overview of both clinical and public health aspects of addiction as well as being a frontline NHS clinician,My overall aim has always been to ensure that older people can live healthy lifestyles in their own homes. Living healthily with alcohol and free from drug related harm requires a better understanding of the relationship between substance use and health.

Experience

  • –present
    Visiting Lecturer in Old Age Psychiatry, King's College London
  • 1998–present
    Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
  • 2010–2012
    Visiting professor, London South Bank University

Education

  • 2008 
    University of Westminster, Certificate in Educational Leadership
  • 2004 
    Institute of Psychiatry, MSc in Addictions
  • 1998 
    University of London, MD
  • 1994 
    Royal College of Psychiatrists, MRCPsych
  • 1989 
    University of London, MBBS
  • 1986 
    University of London, BSc

Publications

  • 2021
    Dual diagnosis in older drinkers during the COVID-19 pandemic, Advances in Dual Diagnosis
  • 2021
    Risky alcohol consumption in older people before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, Journal of Substance Use
  • 2021
    Alcohol use and dementia: new research directions, Current Opinion in Pscyhiatry
  • 2020
    Alcohol consumption of UK members of parliament: cross-sectional survey, BMJ Open
  • 2020
    Alcohol Use Disorders and the Brain, Addiction
  • 2020
    Alcohol and public mental health for older people: 20 years of UK policy change. , Journal of Public Mental Health
  • 2020
    Thiamine as a modifying factor for alcohol related intracranial hemorrhage, Alcohol and Alcoholism
  • 2019
    Substance misuse in later life: challenges for primary care: a review of policy and evidence, Primary Health Care Research & Development
  • 2019
    New thinking on alcohol related harm in older adults, BMJ
  • 2019
    Risky drinking and dual diagnosis in older people under a UK community old age psychiatry service, Advances in Dual Diagnosis
  • 2018
    Methodological difficulties of studying alcohol consumption and dementia, BMJ
  • 2018
    Addressing alcohol-related dementia should involve better detection, not watchful waiting, British Journal of Psychiatry
  • 2018
    Vascular cognitive impairment and vascular dementia, InnovAIT
  • 2017
    Substance misuse in older people, BMJ
  • 2016
    Substance misuse in older people, Substance misuse in older people
  • 2016
    Assessment in the Older Patient, Addiction in the Older Patient
  • 2016
    7 day services and psychiatry, Lancet Psychiatry
  • 2016
    Managing older people's alcohol misuse in primary care, British Journal of General Practice
  • 2016
    Alcohol misuse in older people, BJPsych Advances
  • 2016
    Cognitive impairment in older people with alcohol use disorders in a UK community mental health service, Advances in Dual Diagnosis

Professional Memberships

  • Society for the Study of Addiction
  • Royal Society of the Arts

Honours

Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts