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67-600: In 2012, the John Maddox Prize was awarded to British psychiatrist Simon Wessely and Chinese science writer Shi-min Fang . Wessely was recognised for continuing his research on Myalgic Encaphalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome despite criticism from patient groups, and Fang was recognised for his work exposing pseudoscience and fraud as a popular science writer in China. There have been objections to Wessely being awarded

134-548: A Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) for Emergency Preparedness and Response which he now chairs. In July 2017 he became the first psychiatrist to be elected as President of the Royal Society of Medicine . In February 2017 he was appointed as Regius Professor of Psychiatry at King's College London, the first Regius Chair at KCL and the first in psychiatry anywhere in the United Kingdom. On 26 June 2019 he

201-465: A consequence of this MOD created a new specific mental health programme for reservists.  However, by ten and then 20 years, PTSD rates had increased overall  (from 4 to 8%), with the greatest increase in those who had been in direct combat roles, and had now left the Services (15%) KCMHR, has become a leading centres in military health research globally. In two recent citation analyses Wessely

268-538: A dispassionate thirst for knowledge but more by an overwhelming desire to get rid of the psychiatrists" from the area of chronic fatigue syndrome, despite having himself published research which concluded that "the stereotype of CFS sufferers as perfectionists with negative attitudes toward psychiatry was not supported". When asked about severely affected bed-ridden patients, Wessely said "in that kind of disability, psychological factors are important and I don't care how unpopular that statement makes me." Malcolm Hooper ,

335-732: A guest on Private Passions,   The Life Scientific, and  on the BBC celebrity radio show Desert Island Discs in March 2021. Wessely's father Rudi came to the UK in August 1939, one of the children rescued by Nicky (Sir Nicholas) Winton . Nearly all of Rudi's family, including his parents, were murdered during the Holocaust. His father was the first of the "children" to meet Winton nearly 40 years later and both Wessely and his father were present in

402-708: A history of military psychiatry, From Shell Shock to PTSD . For his work on CFS, Wessely was awarded the Jean Hunter Prize in 1997 by the Royal College of Physicians and was co-winner of the John Maddox Prize 2012 sponsored by Nature and the Ralph Kohn Foundation, and organised by Sense about Science on whose advisory council he serves. The award is given to individuals who have promoted sound science and evidence on

469-699: A lifetime ban. He advised the Civil Aviation Authority with the result that no such ban was instituted, but mental health assessments were improved. He worked with the CAA and BALPA to achieve his proposals. During the 2016 EU referendum he was one of the leaders of the Healthier IN campaign, making the case for science and health. He was a member of the Mental Health Taskforce, chaired by Paul Farmer, which led to

536-452: A lot safer". Wessely's work was the first to show that service in the 1991 Gulf War had had a significant effect on the health of UK servicemen and women. Their work found an association between both multiple vaccines and vaccines used to protect against biological warfare.  His group also confirmed that classic psychiatric injury,  (PTSD), was not a sufficient explanation for the observed health problems, He and his colleagues in

603-407: A matter of public interest, with an emphasis on those who have faced extreme difficulty or opposition in doing so, as Wessely has done in researching neuropsychiatric elements to CFS despite alleged threats to his life. Some, however, have objected to this award being given to him due to concerns over the quality of his research. To balance these criticisms academic supporters would point out that he

670-610: A paper was published in Science stating that the XMRV virus was found in two-thirds of CFS patients. Wessely collaborated with experts in retrovirology at Imperial College London, sharing with them stored DNA samples from the King’s CFS unit, and providing the first proof that XMRV was not the cause of CFS/ME. Wessely also said that this research fails to model the role that childhood abuse, psychological factors, and other infections may play in

737-584: A problem? Yes there is. Is it Gulf War syndrome or isn't it? I think that's a statistical and technical question that's of minor interest".    His and many other groups failed to show the existence of a discrete syndrome related to Gulf War Service , as a result of which he prefers the term  “Gulf War Illnesses” or  “Gulf War health effects”.  which might have at least in part being triggered by stress, specifically troops' anxiety about chemical weapons and vaccines, as well as misinformation about Gulf War syndrome. In 1998 Wessely co founded

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804-754: A regular media spokesperson such as on BBC current affairs programme Panorama , and that killings by those with mental illness are both unusual and declining. He has argued against making benefits conditional on co operating with mental health treatments, as subsequently accepted by the Carol Black report and warned psychiatrists against diagnosing Donald Trump , no matter how tempting this may be. He has also claimed to oppose lazy or negative stereotypes and images of psychiatry and false dichotomies such as "physical versus mental" or "drugs versus talking" and instead putting forward more positive images. For example, on Any Questions in August 2014, he opposed

871-480: A rehabilitation strategy for patients that involved cognitive behavioural and graded exercise therapy , that is claimed to be effective in reducing symptoms of CFS (a condition that otherwise lacks a cure or unequivocally successful treatment) in ambulant (non-severely affected) patients. Other studies looked at the professional and popular views of CFS, neuropsychological impairment in CFS, and cytokine activation in

938-578: A specialist in sexual and reproductive health issues, for challenging false claims in the marketing of a fertility tracking device, overcoming a lawsuit from the manufacturer. Simon Wessely Sir Simon Charles Wessely FMedSci FRS (born 23 December 1956) is a British psychiatrist . He is Regius Professor of Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry , King's College London and head of its department of psychological medicine, vice dean for academic psychiatry, teaching and training at

1005-519: A substantial minority did not While this work, Wessely's evidence to the Lloyd Inquiry, and the work of other investigators was crucial in categorising Gulf War syndrome as a verifiable consequence of service in the Gulf, which resulted in affected Gulf War veterans being able to receive war pensions, Wessely does not believe that Gulf War syndrome exists as a distinct illness, stating "Is there

1072-483: A virus, but that the role of psychological and social factors are more important in perpetuating the illness, otherwise known as the 'cognitive behavioural model' of CFS, and that treatments centred around these factors can be effective. He describes the cognitive behavioural model as follows: "According to the model the symptoms and disability of CFS are perpetuated predominantly by dysfunctional illness beliefs and coping behaviours. These beliefs and behaviours interact with

1139-692: A year at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and a year studying epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine . In 1999 he was elected fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci). Wessely's main research interests lie in the "grey areas" between medicine and psychiatry , clinical epidemiology and military health . His first paper was entitled "Dementia and Mrs. Thatcher", since then he has published over 900 papers. His first interest

1206-475: A ‘Highly Cited Researcher”, putting him in the top 0.1% of science and social science researchers. In the first years after the introduction of the diagnosis chronic fatigue syndrome the condition was often mocked in the media, for example being described as "yuppie flu". Wessely and his co-workers verified that this stereotype was inaccurate, substantiating an association between autonomic dysfunction and chronic fatigue syndrome and providing reliable data on

1273-426: Is a relentless, vicious, vile campaign designed to hurt and intimidate...For some years now all my mail has been x rayed. I have speed dial phones and panic buttons at police request and receive a regular briefing on my safety and specific threats." Wessely gave up research into CFS around 2001, and as of 2011 his clinical work was with members of the armed forces; he said: "I now go to Iraq and Afghanistan, where I feel

1340-679: Is approved for use in over 50 countries, but not in Canada . It was approved in the US in 2011 under the FDA's accelerated approval program. An investigation commissioned by the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) revealed that one of Olivieri's critics, Gideon Koren , had anonymously sent disparaging letters about Olivieri to the media and colleagues. Koren initially denied responsibility, but substantial DNA evidence tied him to

1407-719: Is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and Public Health England, now the UK Health Security Agency. The unit continued a major theme of Wessely’s research into how populations and people react to disaster and adversity, adding the Salisbury Novocok incident Public responses to the Salisbury Novichok incident: a cross-sectional survey of anxiety, anger, uncertainty, perceived risk and avoidance behaviour in

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1474-701: Is impossible go on increasing demand and expectations with diminishing resources. Wessely was succeeded as president by Professor Wendy Burn in June 2017. In October 2017 the Prime Minister Theresa May announced that she had chosen Wessely to conduct a review of the Mental Health Act . He stated in an interview with the Huffington Post "Reviewing the act isn't just about changing the legislation. In some ways that might be

1541-473: The Countess of Mar , and others have strongly criticised Wessely including specific allegations which he said are myths. In a 2002 article on chronic fatigue syndrome, The Guardian characterised the criticisms of one group of patients as a "vendetta." Wessely has repeatedly stated he has been the subject of numerous threats and personal attacks, and that "militants" have even made threats to his life. "It

1608-464: The GermanWings tragedy he suggested that we should not jump to conclusions such as banning all pilots from flying who had a history of depression (as opposed to current depression). He argued that the skies would be safer if pilots felt that the best way to be able to continue their careers was by being open and honest about their mental health, and not covering up, which would be the consequence of

1675-603: The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (MSc 1989). In 1993 the University of London conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Medicine . Wessely completed a medical rotation in Newcastle. After attaining medical membership he studied psychiatry (his primary interest) at the Maudsley in 1984. His 1993 doctoral thesis was on the relationship between crime and schizophrenia . Post-doctoral studies included

1742-553: The 2016 John Maddox Prize for persistence in researching and communicating the evidence behind false memory. In 2017, Japanese doctor and journalist Riko Muranaka won the John Maddox Prize for her work countering misinformation about the HPV vaccine with science and evidence, despite hostility including legal suits. In 2018, an early-career researcher John Maddox Prize was awarded to former naturopath Britt Hermes for promoting evidence-based medicine . Marine biologist Terry Hughes

1809-842: The Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa. Anne Abbott, a neurologist from the Central Clinical School at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia was awarded the early career prize for her perseverance in challenging unnecessary procedural treatment of carotid stenosis , which can lead to strokes. The 2021 prize was awarded to Elisabeth Bik for "outstanding work exposing widespread threats to research integrity in scientific papers". Mohammad Sharif Razai , from St George's, University of London ,

1876-545: The Five Year Forward View for Psychiatry. He was instrumental in setting up the Commission on Acute Psychiatric Care, chaired by Lord Crisp , to investigate the increasing numbers of inappropriate out of area placements – over 5,000 patients a year being seen and hospitalised outside their local area, sometimes at the other end of the country. The report made recommendations which were incorporated into

1943-599: The Five year Forward View for Mental Health, accepted by NHS-England. He was appointed in 2017 to the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) the body that selects candidates for judicial office in England and Wales , and is dedicated to the principal that an independent judiciary is an essential feature of a democratic society.    He was reappointed in 2020 . In January 2023 he

2010-652: The Institute of Psychiatry, as well as Director of the King's Centre for Military Health Research. He is also honorary consultant psychiatrist at King's College Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital , as well as civilian consultant advisor in psychiatry to the British Army . He was knighted in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to military healthcare and to psychological medicine. From 2014 to 2017, he

2077-407: The John Maddox Prize. Ernst was awarded for applying evidence-based methodologies to research in complementary and alternative medicines, and for communicating this research despite severe hostility. Jebb was awarded for her work to promote evidence in public understandings of nutrition in the face of criticism and false claims of industry funding. Cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Loftus was awarded

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2144-508: The King’s Centre for Military Health (KCMHR) with social scientist Professor Christopher Dandeker  (King's Centre for Military Health Research (kcmhr.org).  Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and mindful of the problems that had arisen with Gulf War Illnesses, they began a new long term study of the possible impact of this new deployment on the health and well being of UK Armed Forces deployed to Iraq.  This study has continued to

2211-771: The audience of the 1988 That's Life episode when Winton met many of the 'children; he had saved and their families, as scene reproduced in the 2023 feature film One Life . He has spoken passionately about issues affecting refugees supporting Alf Dubs legislation. He spoke at several of the commemorations for the 80th anniversary of the start of the Kindertransports. Wessely is married to Clare Gerada ; they have two sons. His interests include skiing and history, and he cycled annually from London to Paris between 2006 and 2012, to raise money for veterans' charities. Wessely has co-authored books on CFS, psychological reactions to terrorism, randomised controlled trials , and

2278-422: The best thing we can do in the immediate aftermath of trauma is to offer practical support and encourage people to turn to their own social networks, such as family, friends, colleagues or family doctor. However, after a few months, when most distress has reduced, then for the minority who are still psychologically distressed or disabled it is appropriate to offer evidence-based psychological interventions. After

2345-595: The drug deferiprone . Olivieri was born to the Hamilton, Ontario , Doctor Fernando Olivieri and Victoria Olivieri. Her paternal grandfather had immigrated to Hamilton from Italy in 1909. Olivieri received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto and an MD from McMaster University in 1978. She has also pursued training in Internal Medicine and Hematology at McMaster, University of Toronto, and Harvard University . Starting in 1989, Olivieri

2412-448: The easy part. The bigger challenge is changing the way we deliver care so that people do not need to be detained in the first place. In my experience it is unusual for a detention to be unnecessary – by the time we get to that stage people are often very unwell, and there seems few other alternatives available." Wessely also has a long-standing interest in how normal people react to adversity, and what, if any, responses are appropriate. He

2479-613: The evidence - The Lancet, work on Pmoral injury and the health of the NHS workforce during the pandemic Managing mental health challenges faced by healthcare workers during covid-19 pandemic The BMJ, conspiracy theories and Covid, and other aspects of health protection. He has been profiled in the BMJ profile, where they described him as having a “joking seriousness”, as well as the Times, Lancet, New Statesman, Daily Telegraph and others. He has been

2546-424: The illness. Some of his other written work includes a history of CFS, numerous reviews, and co-authoring the 1998 book Chronic fatigue and its syndromes . He has also established the first National Health Service programme solely devoted to patients with CFS, and continues to provide ongoing treatment with patients at King's College Hospital. Wessely believes that CFS generally has some organic trigger, such as

2613-493: The illness.  The Science paper was retracted but not before there was intense criticism of the King’s/Imperial failure to replicate, claiming that the patients seen at King’s did not have CFS/ME. The team responded showing this to be unfair In an interview published by The Lancet , Wessely discusses the controversy relating to his work on Gulf War syndrome and chronic fatigue syndrome. With hindsight he states that he

2680-533: The image of psychiatry and psychiatrists, improving recruitment into the specialism, and ensuring excellence in education and training. He was named in the Health Service Journal Top 100 Clinicians 2014, 2015. Listed in Debrett's Top 500 as one of the 7 most influential doctors in the country. In 2013 he led the successful bid to the National Institute for Health Research to establish

2747-476: The large disparity between those receiving any form of treatment for physical disorders such as diabetes and those with serious mental health problems, making the case that we can successfully treat many mental health problems, and that patients with disorders do get better. He also argued that there were dangers in pulling out of the European Convention on Human Rights . As president he has been

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2814-622: The letters, and he was reprimanded. Olivieri has advocated greater academic freedom and called for less control of research by pharmaceutical companies . This situation was publicised extensively and was investigated by the Canadian Association of University Teachers. Olivieri was awarded the 2009 AAAS Award for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility for her "indefatigable determination that patient safety and research integrity come before institutional and commercial interests and for her courage in defending these principles in

2881-469: The local community risk communication, organisational responses to stress, and latterly a large portfolio of research into Covid-19, including psychological impacts of quarantine Coronavirus: The psychological effects of quarantining a city  - The BMJ, a Feb 2020 systematic review of the likely impact and how to reduce it, which has been cited over 10,000 times since publication The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of

2948-443: The medical equivalent of the Royal Society , in 1999. Only 40 are honoured per year, and it is the highest honour and professional recognition in UK academic medical science. His 2013 Knighthood was for services to Military healthcare and psychological medicine. In 2014, Wessely was elected president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists . He announced his priorities to include parity between physical and mental health , improving

3015-551: The medical school showed persisting evidence of immune activation 2004_skowera_a.pdf (kcmhr.org), but did not find evidence that exposure to organophosphate agents had caused chronic neurological damage, nor evidence linking depleted uranium to Gulf War Illness. . The group also showed that although many veterans, irrespective of service in the 1991 Gulf War,  who left the Armed Forces with persisting mental health problems did seek and receive help for mental health problems,

3082-399: The motion proposed by Will Self that psychiatrists were to blame for the current epidemic of mental disorders. During the junior doctors dispute he continued to emphasise support for junior psychiatrists whilst arguing that the deeper causes of the dispute went beyond pay and hours, comparing junior doctors careers to "being shuffled around the country like lost luggage" and that it

3149-529: The oil fields of the Niger Delta. The 2023 prize was awarded to Canadian scientist Nancy Olivieri for "her communication of the importance of being open with patients about medical research". Olivieri lost her post at SickKids Hospital in Toronto after raising concerns about the drug deferiprone during a clinical trial of its use. The early career prize went to American epidemiologist Chelsea Polis,

3216-413: The onset of CFS, "we're not going to go doing more and more tests to find out what was the virus because, frankly, even if we found it there's nothing we're going to do about it. We're in the business of rehabilitation." He used the analogy of a hit-and-run accident in which finding out the manufacturer or number plate of the car that hits you doesn't assist the doctor in trying to mend the injury. In 2009

3283-491: The patient's emotional and physiological state and interpersonal situation to form self-perpetuating vicious circles of fatigue and disability... The patient is encouraged to think of the illness as 'real but reversible by his or her own efforts' rather than (as many patients do) as a fixed unalterable disease". In an interview with the BMJ , Wessely said that although viruses and other infections are clearly involved in triggering

3350-494: The portion of the study in which she was participating. In 1998, the New England Journal of Medicine published a paper by Olivieri and seven other authors, with further study results suggesting that deferiprone led to progressive hepatic fibrosis . Olivieri's scientific findings, which sparked the controversy, have been challenged on the basis of data from clinical trials conducted by Apotex. Deferiprone

3417-855: The present day, and is the main source of information on the short, medium and long term effects of the deployment to Iraq (Op TELIC and subsequently Afghanistan  (Op HERRICK). Early results showed that there had been no “Iraq War Syndrome”, despite the fact that the Forces had received similar drugs and vaccinations to protect against chemical and biological warfare.  Improvements in record keeping now showed that both anthrax and multiple vaccinations were not associated with medium or long term ill health.   KCMHR did not find an early and anticipated “tidal wave” or “tsumani” of PTSD in Regulars post deployment, but did show that reservists experienced more frequent and prolonged ill health that Regulars.  As

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3484-518: The prevalence of CFS in the community, showing that it has become an important public health issue. Other work on CFS included the development of new measurement tools, establishing the lack of relationship between hyperventilation and CFS, discovery of an endocrine "signature" for CFS that differed from depression and that prior depressive illnesses were likely linked to the condition in some cases. Wessely and his colleagues, using randomised controlled trials and follow-up studies, developed

3551-521: The prize, however, due to concerns about his quality of research. In 2013, British Neuropsychopharmacologist David Nutt was awarded the John Maddox Prize for his influence on the evidence-based classification of drugs in the UK and elsewhere. He had faced adversity such as dismissal from his government position on the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs . In 2014, the John Maddox Prize

3618-556: The study and Apotex, the drug maker. The research ethics board instructed Olivieri to inform participants about her concerns. Apotex responded by noting that Olivieri had signed a confidentiality agreement as part of the drug trial and that informing participants about her concerns, the validity of which Apotex disputed, would violate that confidentiality agreement. In 1996, Apotex threatened to vigorously pursue legal remedies against her if she disclosed her conclusions to patients. Olivieri disclosed her concerns to her patients and Apotex ended

3685-629: Was a co-author of an influential Cochrane Review showing that the conventional intervention for disaster survivors – to offer immediate psychological debriefing – was not only ineffective, but possibly did more harm than good. Since then he has published on civilian reactions to the Blitz , and latterly an early study of reactions to the 7 July 2005 London bombings, the Litvinenko affair, and swine flu. In many venues, he has argued that people are more resilient than we give them credit for, and that

3752-523: Was also awarded the John Maddox Prize for his work documenting coral reef decline despite lawsuits and death threats. In 2019, the John Maddox Prize was awarded to Bambang Hero Saharjo , a professor of forestry and forest fires forensics at Bogor Agricultural University, for sharing his research findings as an expert witness for at least 500 forest fire cases in Indonesia since 2000 despite facing harassment, intimidation and lawsuits. The early career prize

3819-521: Was appointed as a Foundation Senior Investigator of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), which is given on very strict criteria including analysis of metrics/citations. The college of NIHR Senior Investigators is drawn from the most pre-eminent NIHR-funded researchers selected through annual competitions. He was also elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences ,

3886-626: Was appointed as a Non Executive Director on the Board of NHS-England  NHS England In 2015 he led the bid between King’s College London, Newcastle University and University of East Anglia for a new Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) in Emergency Preparedness and Response in 201R, becoming its first director and leading it to renewal in 2020, before handing over the Directorship to Professor James Rubin in 2022 . The unit

3953-463: Was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science by the University of Oxford . Nancy Olivieri McMaster University Nancy Fern Olivieri (born 1954) is a prominent Toronto haematologist and researcher with an interest in the treatment of haemoglobinopathies . She is best known for a protracted struggle with the Hospital for Sick Children and the pharmaceutical company Apotex about

4020-541: Was awarded the early career prize for his work "tackling racial health inequalities; from vaccine hesitancy among ethnic minority groups, to revealing systemic racism as a fundamental cause and driver of adverse health outcomes". In 2022, the John Maddox Prize was awarded to Eucharia Oluchi Nwaichi , a biochemist at the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, has been awarded the 2022 John Maddox Prize for engaging communities in conflict to research solutions to pollution in

4087-403: Was awarded to Olivier Bernard , a pharmacist from Quebec, Canada who became the target of a smear campaign for challenging the use of high-dose vitamin C injections in cancer patients. 2020's prize was awarded, for communicating the science behind COVID-19 , to Anthony Fauci , Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and Salim S. Abdool Karim , director of

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4154-475: Was awarded to US writer and journalist Emily Willingham and Irish physicist and science writer David Robert Grimes . Both winners are science writers who have communicated difficult science topics to the public despite intense criticism, and in Willingham's case, legal action. In 2015, University of Exeter academic physician Edzard Ernst and University of Oxford nutrition scientist Susan Jebb shared

4221-1080: Was in medically unexplained symptoms and syndromes, most often about chronic fatigue syndrome , including its aetiology , history, psychology , immunology , sociology, epidemiology and treatment. Later he  moved into military health, publishing on numerous areas including combat stress, post traumatic stress , mental health screening, tour length, shell shock, Gulf War syndrome ,  Forces Health Protection, veterans' mental and physical health, substance misuse, stigma, impact of deployment, families, children of military families, reservists, cohesion and morale, concussion and head injury, combat motivation, peer support, moral injury, peacekeeping, violence, women in combat roles, and military history. Other interests include epidemiology , , medicine and law, history of psychiatry, chronic pain , somatisation ,  chemical and biological terrorism and deliberate self-harm . He has over 1000 papers with an H index of 153 and his work has been cited in over 118, 000 scientific papers (April 2023) In 2021 he became

4288-533: Was keen to get published, could have been more diplomatic, and is now better at handling controversy. He has been described as both "the most hated doctor in Britain" and "one of the most respected psychiatrists working in Britain today". Although Wessely has studied physical markers, and allows the possibility of a biological basis to CFS, he is not confident of such a basis, and remains sceptical. He has also suggested that campaigners are motivated "not so much by

4355-413: Was part of a group evaluating the use of a drug, deferiprone , in treating persons with the blood disorder thalassaemia . Starting from 1985, this work included a clinical trial partly funded by Apotex. During the course of the trial, Olivieri became concerned about evidence that pointed to the drug being inefficacious for some patients. Olivieri informed both the research ethics board that was monitoring

4422-414: Was rated the most published author on military health, with his colleagues Professors Fear and Greenberg in third and fourth place globally. In 2014, Wessely was elected president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists . He has used his position to argue for better resources for mental health and the treatment of mental disorders and holding the government to account. This included drawing attention to

4489-544: Was the elected president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and then became the first psychiatrist to be elected as President of the Royal Society of Medicine in 200 years. He became Britain's first and only Regius Professor of Psychiatry in 2018, and joined the board of NHS-England in 2023. After attending King Edward VII School in Sheffield from 1968 to 1975, Wessely studied at Trinity Hall, Cambridge (BA 1978), University College, Oxford ( BM BCh 1981), and

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