Professor Derek Tracy is the Chief Medical Officer of South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, and deputy Chair of the Cavendish Square Group of London Mental Health CMOs. Derek is an Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, and an honorary Professor at Brunel Medical School. His PhD was in policy and cultural aspects of integrated care systems and their effectiveness. He has published over 140 peer-reviewed scientific papers and 20 book chapters, including editing the leading UK textbook on the coroner’s court. At the Royal College of Psychiatrists Derek is an executive member of the occupational psychiatry faculty, and in 2020 he was co-opted as one of the medical leads set-up the mental health team at the London Nightingale hospital, work that was awarded the 2021 Royal College of Psychiatrist’s
“Team of the Year”. Other notable awards include the 2024 RCPsych Presidential Medal, the 2019 Royal College of Psychiatrist’s “Communicator of the Year” award, and the 2015 King’s College
London Teaching Excellence Award. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, the Higher Education Academy, the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management, and the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
New research from Finland highlights the messiness of collaboration between mental health and occupational services. This blog explores what gets in the way, and what could make return-to-work support work better.
Zoe Hunter and Derek Tracy summarise a new RCT on social recovery therapy out today in the British Journal of Psychiatry, which investigates how to prevent and treat social disability in young people with emerging severe mental illness.
Charlie Lynch and Derek Tracy review a study on childhood intellectual disability and parents’ wellbeing, which integrates social, psychological and genetic influences.
Alice Grishkov and Derek Tracy explore a recent paper, which finds that generalised anxiety disorder is on the rise in the UK, especially in young women.
Hanzla Amir and Derek Tracy summarise a recent online randomised controlled trial on the effects of suicide awareness materials on people who feel suicidal, which finds that the Papageno effect is real and that stories of hope and recovery can help.
Jack Kerwin and Derek Tracy summarise a new RCT published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, which suggests that twice weekly psychotherapy (CBT or IPT) may be more effective than once weekly sessions for people with depression.
Emmeline Lagunes Cordoba and Derek Tracy explore a case control study that looks at cognitive change in people with schizophrenia and other psychoses in the decade following the first episode.
LucÍa Almazán Sánchez and Derek Tracy appraise a new paper in the British Journal of Psychiatry on continuity of care and clinical outcomes in the community for people with severe mental illness.
