King's College London

Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) staff have been recognised at this year’s Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) Awards, which celebrate ‘the best and brightest teams and individuals’ in the field of psychiatry.

Professor Janet Treasure OBE received the highest accolade – the Lifetime Achievement Award. She is Professor of Adult Psychiatry at the IoPPN and a Consultant Psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.

Professor Fiona Gaughran was awarded a President’s Medal. She is the Director of Research and Development at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, where she is also Lead Consultant Psychiatrist of the National Psychosis Service. She is Professor of Physical Health and Clinical Therapeutics at the IoPPN.

Professor Derek Tracy, Senior Lecturer at King’s IoPPN, was also awarded a President’s Medal. He will take up the role of Chief Medical Officer at South London and Maudsley in December 2024.

Dr Toby Pillinger, Academic Clinical Lecturer at the IoPPN and South London and Maudsley, received the Early Career Academic Researcher of the Year.

See the full list of winners, and watch a video tribute to Professor Janet Treasure on the RCPsych website or below.

Lifetime Achievement Award for Professor Janet Treasure

The Lifetime Achievement Award is given annually and celebrates Professor Treasure’s achievements and contributions across clinical practice and academic research, and her impact on the lives of people with eating disorders.

Professor Janet Treasure has been involved in the training of medical practitioners, psychologists and clinical academics. A key focus of her research has been working with people with lived experience of an eating disorder (patients and carers) to co-design and co-develop and co-deliver new treatments with a particular focus on people with a severe enduring illness or comorbidities such as diabetes.

She has had a particular interest in the biological, psychological and social risk and maintaining factors and how these may be targeted in treatment. This has led to the development of the Maudsley Model of Anorexia Nervosa Treatment for Adults and its various adaptations in an international programme of research and development.

She has coauthored with people with lived experience several academic and self-help texts on eating disorders which have been translated into several languages. In 2024 she was a guest on the BBC Radio 4’s “The Life Scientific” and has received numerous awards for her work.

Professors Fiona Gaughran and Derek Tracy awarded President’s Medals

Professor Fiona Gaughran was awarded a President’s Medal, one of eight to receive the prestigious award, alongside Professor Derek Tracy, Senior Lecturer at King’s IoPPN. Professor Tracy will take up the role as Chief Medical Officer at South london and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust in December 2024. Dr Rajesh Mohan, Consultant Psychiatrist at the Trust, also received a Medal.

The President’s Medals recognise an individual’s special contribution to the profession. They are selected by the President, Dr Lade Smith CBE, and approved by the College’s Nominations Committee.

Professor Gaughran graduated from University College Dublin and completed her psychiatry training in Ireland before moving to her first consultant post in Lewisham “for a couple of years”. She has actively contributed to the Royal College since joining the Collegiate Trainees Committee in her first year in training.

As part of her clinical role in the National Psychosis Service, she is responsible for implementing new, evidence-based approaches to help people who have difficult to treat psychotic illnesses.

She has published well over two hundred peer reviewed papers and is a Clarivate Web of Science Highly-cited Researcher, an accolade awarded to the 1 in 1,000 scientists “who have demonstrated significant and broad influence”, reflected by the publication of multiple papers among the top one per cent most cited in their field.

Professor Derek Tracy has worked for IoPPN for 14 years. At the Royal College of Psychiatrists Derek is an elected member of the executives of the academic, evolutionary psychiatry, and occupational health faculties. He has a particular interest in the role that organisational culture has in improving patient care and health outcomes. His PhD was in relational interpersonal elements that underpin integrated care and services and he remains an active researcher and educator.

Professor Tracy is also Honorary Professor for Brunel University Medical School, Honorary Senior Lecturer at Imperial and University College London, and Editor for Public Engagement with the British Journal of Psychiatry.

Dr Toby Pillinger receives Early Career Academic Researcher of the Year

Dr Toby Pillinger is an Academic Clinical Lecturer at the IoPPN and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. He led and edited a sister volume to the Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines focusing on management of physical comorbidity in people with serious mental illness entitled ‘The Maudsley Practice Guidelines for Physical Health Conditions in Psychiatry’ (Wiley Blackwell, 2020). He has worked at South London and Maudsley since 2015, predominantly specialising in the care of patients with psychotic disorders.

What his nominator said:

“Dr Pillinger is an outstanding clinical academic. In the last five years he has made internationally leading contributions to advance the physical health care of people with mental illness with wide-reaching clinical impact. He is passionate educator, delivering post-graduate education at an international level.”

Other King’s researchers and teams shortlisted for awards

• Psychiatric Team of the Year: Digital Mental Health – The CAMHS Digital Lab

• Core Psychiatric Trainee of the Year – Dr Laith Alexander, Academic Clinical Fellow in Translational Psychiatry, King’s IoPPN