MHRN regional office (hub) leads
Each of our regional offices, called hubs, is led by an expert who has extensive contacts within the research community and local mental health services. Each hub 'lead' chairs a small executive committee, made up of a team of other experts with considerable experience and local knowledge of mental health, social care and primary care services, including people with personal experience of mental health problems.
MHRN East Anglia Hub: Dr Jesus Perez
MHRN East Midlands Hub plus South Yorkshire: Professor Richard Morriss
MHRN Heart of England Hub: Professor Swaran Singh
MHRN North East Hub: Professor Nicol Ferrier
MHRN North London Hub: Professor Peter Tyrer
MHRN North West Hub: Dr Richard Gater
MHRN South London and South East Hub: Professor Tom Craig
MHRN West Hub: Professor Jonathan Evans
MHRN East Anglia Hub: Dr Jesus Perez
Dr Jesus Perez was trained in psychiatry at Salamanca General Hospital, University of Salamanca, Spain. He finished his training programme at Bellevue General Hospital and New York University, USA. During this period, Dr Perez concluded his PhD in epistemology of psychiatry. He has focused his professional career and interests on two main topics: phenomenology and early intervention in psychosis (epidemiology, pharmacological research and service development). He is consultant psychiatrist in the award-winning CAMEO Early Intervention in Psychosis Service (Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust – in partnership with the University of Cambridge) and senior researcher for the McLean First-episodes International Project at McLean Hospital (a division of Massachussets General Hospital and Harvard University, USA).
MHRN East Midlands Hub plus South Yorkshire:
Professor Richard Morriss
Richard Morriss is professor of psychiatry and community mental health at the University of Nottingham and honorary consultant psychiatrist at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust. Previously, he was professor of psychiatry at the University of Liverpool (1999-2006) and senior lecturer in psychiatry at the University of Manchester (1993-1999). He graduated in medicine from the University of Leeds in 1984 and held training or research posts in psychiatry in Leeds, York, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, United States, and Oxford. His research interests are in bipolar affective disorder, mood disorders, suicide risk, somatisation and the evaluation of complex interventions. He was vice chair of the NICE Guideline Development Group on bipolar disorder. He is director of research for the Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire CLAHRC (Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care).
MHRN Heart of England Hub: Professor Swaran Singh
Swaran Singh is professor of social and community psychiatry at Warwick University and a consultant psychiatrist in the Early Intervention Service at Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust. He is the clinical engagement (Darzi) lead for mental health and social care for the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority, and is a non-executive director of the Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust.
He is involved in several national research programmes, including the ENRICH Programme which seeks to improve pathways to care for black and minority ethnic communities; the AMEND project assessing the impact of the Amendments to the Mental Health Act (2007); the ENDEAVOUR trial, working on improving vocational outcomes in early psychosis; and the TRACK study about the transition of care from child to adult mental health services. He research interests include epidemiology, onset and outcomes of early psychosis, early intervention services, culture and ethnicity in mental health, health services evaluation, mental health law and medical education.
MHRN North East Hub: Professor Nicol Ferrier
Nicol Ferrier is professor of psychiatry at Newcastle University and honorary consultant psychiatrist for Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Trust. Professor Ferrier’s clinical work is in the regional Affective Disorders Service. His research interests are in psychopharmacology and the neurobiology and treatment of severe affective disorder. He was the pharmacological lead on the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guideline for unipolar depression, and chaired the group responsible for developing the NICE bipolar disorder guideline. He is president of the British Association for Psychopharmacology and has served on the MRC Clinical Fellowship and Wellcome Trust Neuroscience and Mental Health Grant Committees.
MHRN North London Hub: Professor Peter Tyrer
Peter Tyrer is the head of the Centre for Mental Health at Imperial College and honorary consultant at Central North West London Foundation NHS Trust, where he has worked in community psychiatry, assertive outreach and rehabilitation for 22 years. His main research interests are in the classification and treatment of common mental disorders and personality disorder, with a particular interest in psychological and environmental management of these conditions. He is also editor of the British Journal of Psychiatry and chair of the Personality Disorder Section of the World Psychiatric Association. He is currently involved heavily with the World Health Organisation in its revision of the International Classification of Diseases. Peter has an identical twin who is also a psychiatrist, but fortunately to avoid confusion, is based in Newcastle.
MHRN North West Hub: Dr Richard Gater
Richard Gater is based at the University of Manchester and works as a psychiatrist for Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust.
MHRN South London and South East Hub: Professor Tom Craig
Tom Craig is professor of community and social psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London. He is also a consultant psychiatrist, working for services run by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.
MHRN West Hub: Professor Jonathan Evans
Jonathan Evans is a senior lecturer in psychiatry at the University of Bristol and consultant adult psychiatrist at Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust. He graduated in medicine at the University of Birmingham and undertook clinical training in London and Bristol. His main research is in the field of perinatal psychiatry, in particular the impact of maternal depression on child development. He is running a trial for antenatal depression. He works closely with ALSPAC (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children), a large longitudinal study based in Bristol. Other research interests include self-harm and suicide, and he sits on a NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) guideline committee on the longer term management of self-harm. He has a clinical interest in bipolar disorder and has supported a number of research studies in this field.
page last updated 09 March 2011