Queen's Birthday Honours 2017
Professor Graham Thornicroft from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) has received a Knighthood for services to mental health in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Professor of Community Psychiatry in the Health Service and Population Research Department at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), Professor Sir Graham is a Consultant Psychiatrist in a community mental health team in Lambeth for the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. He has made significant contributions to the development of mental health policy in England, including Chairing the External Reference Group for the National Service Framework for Mental Health, the national mental health plan for England for 1999-2009.
He also chaired the World Health Organisation Guideline Development Group for the Mental Health Gap Action Programme Intervention Guide, a practical support for primary care staff in low income settings to help treat people with mental health problems, now used in over 90 countries worldwide. Professor Sir Graham specialises in ways to reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness - he has led the evaluation of Time to Change, the national programme to reduce mental health stigma in England.
Professor Sir Graham, who is also Director of the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) South London, said: 'The award of this Queen’s Birthday Honour is in recognition of work dedicated to improving mental health. To try to achieve this, all of the work I do is with teams of outstanding collaborators: people who use mental health services, family members, and colleagues in policy, clinical and research settings. Increasingly we see that the importance of mental health is being recognised at all levels, both in Britain and worldwide. Indeed our Royal Family is now in the vanguard of these efforts. My hope is that this award will further strengthen global efforts to end the stigma of mental illness and to provide everyone with mental health problems the support and care they need.’
Lieutenant Colonel Norman Jones, Military Senior Lecturer in King’s Centre for Military Health Research at the IoPPN, was also recognised with an MBE in the Military Division of the Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Other King’s College London colleagues to be recognised include Professor Lucilla Poston, who has been awarded a CBE for her services to Women’s Health and Professor Clive Page who received an OBE for his services to Pharmacology.
King’s alumni who were recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours include Professor Simon Lovestone, Knighthood for services to Neuroscience research and Professor Pamela Taylor, CBE for services to Forensic Psychology.