Professor Dinesh Bhugra elected President of the British Medical Association
Dinesh Bhugra, Emeritus Professor of Mental Health and Cultural Diversity at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London, will today begin his Presidency of the British Medical Association (BMA).
The goals for his tenure include exploring what the public want from doctors and what doctors need in return, and improving health outcomes for some of the most vulnerable in society.
Professor Bhugra said, ‘I am honoured to be taking over as a President of the BMA at a very exciting but also stressful times for the NHS. My year is bookended by the NHS celebrating its 70th birthday and Brexit. We need to bring equity between mental health and physical health funding in research and services.’
As President of the BMA, his tenure will focus on:
- The social contract between the public and the medical profession
- The health of migrant doctors
- Campaigning for mental health, especially for those who are victims of discrimination
- The mental health needs of medical students and doctors at all levels
At the IoPPN, Professor Bhugra specialises in the following areas of social psychiatry: psychosexual medicine; cross-cultural psychiatry; professionalism in psychiatry; decision making by psychiatrists and patients; depression; pathways into psychiatric care; deliberate self-harm and primary care. In 2012, he was awarded a CBE for services to psychiatry in the New Year’s Honours.
Professor Bhugra is also honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, and an Honorary King’s College London Fellow. He has been past President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (2008-2011), and the World Psychiatric Association (2014-2017). He is Non-Executive Director for the Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Royal Society of Medicine, the Royal College of Physicians, the Faculty of Public Health and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
He has received honours from the American Psychiatry Association, the American College of Psychiatrists, the Academy of Medical Sciences (Singapore), the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, the Hong Kong College of Psychiatrists and the International Medical Sciences Academy.