Northern and Yorkshire Autumn Conference 2023 'Gold standards: myths, bias and evidence'

Professor David Baldwin

Professor of Psychiatry and Section Head, Clinical Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton

David is President of the British Association for Psychopharmacology, a Councillor of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, a Past President of Depression Alliance, a Medical Patron of Anxiety UK, Editor-in-Chief of Human Psychopharmacology, and author of around 500 full articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Dr Lade Smith CBE

RCPsych President

Dr Shubulade (Lade) Smith was elected President of the RCPsych in 2023. She holds this role until 2026 and leads RCPsych on behalf of its members and associates.

Lade is a Consultant Psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Visiting Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College London.

Until July 2023, Lade was the Clinical and Strategic Director of the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health at the RCPsych, providing medical leadership for the team developing mental health guidelines.

Lade was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2019 for services to Forensic Intensive Psychiatric care. In November 2019 she was awarded Psychiatrist of the Year by the RCPsych. In July 2020, she became joint Presidential Lead for Race and Equality at the RCPsych.

Professor Nicol Ferrier

Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, Newcastle University

Nicol Ferrier is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at Newcastle University. His research interests are in psychopharmacology and the neurobiology and treatment of severe affective disorders.

Professor Ferrier was pharmacological lead on the 2004 NICE Guidelines for Unipolar Depression and was Chairman of the 2006 NICE Bipolar Disorder Guideline. He has served on the MRC Clinical Fellowship, the Wellcome Trust Neuroscience and Mental Health Grant Committees and the Research Assessment Exercise on two occasions. Professor Ferrier is Past-President of the British Association for Psychopharmacology.

Matthew Croft

 Advanced Clinical Pharmacist – Locality Lead for Mental Health Services for Older People TEWV

Mat Croft is a specialist mental health, non-medical prescribing pharmacist with experience from across inpatient and community settings. He graduated with a Masters of Pharmacy from the University of East Anglia in 2010, completed a postgraduate diploma in Clinical Pharmacy Practice in 2013, and postgraduate certificate in Psychiatric Therapeutics from Aston University in 2017. His current role involves supporting community mental health teams and primary care across North Yorkshire through MDT queries and medication reviews. His interests include utilising evidence and audits to inform best practice, person centred care, and collaboration across organisational boundaries. Outside of work he enjoys rock climbing, house renovation and keeping an allotment.

Dr Sameer Jauhar

King's College London

Dr Jauhar graduated in Medicine from Glasgow University in 2002, having also completed a degree in Public Health and Epidemiology. He moved to the Institute of Psychiatry in 2012, to work with Oliver Howes and Shitij Kapur on predominantly PET studies of the dopamine system, with the focus on psychosis and treatment response.

His research interests focus on understanding neurobiological causes of psychotic disorders, with a focus on the affective psychoses, and treatment of psychotic and affective disorders.

He has received travel awards/grants from the European Psychiatric Association, European Congress of Neuropsychopharmacology, British Association for Psychopharmacology, and Schizophrenia International Research Society.
He received a Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh JMS Sim Fellowship in 2018, enabling him to build on work examining the presynaptic dopamine system in affective psychoses.

In 2019 he was awarded the Senior Clinical Award from the British Association for Psychopharmacology, and in 2022 the Rafelson Young Investigator Award from the International College of Neuropsychopharmacology. 

He has published over 100 peer-reviewed publications, with lead author publications in Lancet, BMJ, Lancet Psychiatry, JAMA Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, Molecular Psychiatry and the British Journal of Psychiatry.