Dr Chesney started his training in psychiatry as an Academic Clinical Fellow at the Maudsley Hospital and IoPPN in 2016. In 2020, he was awarded a Doctoral Research Fellowship by the NIHR to study the acute effect of high doses of cannabinoids in people with schizophrenia. After completing his PhD in 2023, he was awarded an Academic Clinical Lectureship in General Psychiatry and Addictions.

He led the first ever study to administer high doses of inhaled cannabis (THC) to patients with schizophrenia (https://classic.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04605393), comparing the effect of CBD pre-treatment with placebo.

He has had a significant role in several other psychopharmacology studies and clinical trials, including:

• Inhaled THC & CBD in healthy volunteers
• Clinical trials of CBD in psychotic disorders
• Intravenous diamorphine overdose in a clinical population
• Developing novel formulations of cannabidiol and naloxone
• Intravenous ketamine in depression

Research Interests:

• Psychopharmacology
• Clinical trials
• Addiction comorbidity in schizophrenia and other severe mental disorders
• Cannabinoids and the endocannabinoid system
• Cannabis withdrawal
• Drug development and novel formulations

Dr Chesney collaborates with Dr Marta Di Forti and Professor Robin Murray (cannabis and psychosis), Professor Philip McGuire (University of Oxford; clinical trials of CBD and psychotic disorders); Professor John Strang (diamorphine and naloxone); Professor Ann McNeill and Dr Debbie Robson (tobacco use in schizophrenia); and Dr Nicky Kalk (methamphetamine associated psychosis).