My undergraduate training was at Cambridge and Barts and I started in Psychiatry at the Maudsley in 1988. I discovered the joy of the stories of older people and have been a consultant old age psychiatrist since 1994, initially at SLaM and then the North London Partnership Trust. I have loved my work in the NHS and self-identify as a clinical psychiatrist who does research.

Appointed to chairs at King’s in 2002 and subsequently UCL in 2015, my research as a professor develops and tests interventions for older people with psychosis, depression, anxiety and neurodegenerative disorders. As an independent clinical trialist, I have helped colleagues, NICE and the MHRA to appraise the evidence for new mental health and dementia treatments.

Training and capacity building have been important to me. I was training programme director at the Maudsley for 11 years, RCPsych Dean, currently lead Integrated Academic Training for my university and have worked throughout my career to supervise and mentor clinician and academic psychiatrists.

I am married with two adult children and a terrier, Layla, who is more photogenic than me and far more frequently recognised from social media. We live in Camberwell (the most psychiatric part of London) during the week and Norfolk at the weekends.

You can read about my work and research through the links to my university profile and Wikipedia. Please follow me on my Twitter/X or LinkedIn and use these or my email to let me know what matters to you in your life as a psychiatrist, what frustrates you and what you would like to see change.