The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) is a leading centre for mental health and neuroscience research, education and training in Europe. It is dedicated to understanding, preventing and treating mental illness, neurological conditions, and other conditions that affect the brain. The IoPPN is a faculty of King's College London, England, and was previously known as the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP).
The impact of the institute's work was judged to be 100% 'world-leading' or 'internationally-excellent' in the Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014).[2] The research environment of the institute was also rated 100% 'world-leading'.[2] King's College London was rated the second for research in Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience in REF 2014.[3] According to the 2021 US News Ranking, King's College London was ranked second in the world in Psychiatry and Psychology.[4]
History
The IoPPN shares a great deal of its history with the Maudsley Hospital, with which it shares the location of its main building. It was part of the original plans of Frederick Mott and Henry Maudsley—inspired by the Munich institute of Emil Kraepelin—that the hospital would include facilities for teaching and research in 1896.[5] In 1914, London County Council agreed to establish a hospital in Denmark Hill and Mott’s plan began to take shape. The Maudsley Hospital was opened in 1923 as a result of a donation by Henry Maudsley.[5]
Originally established as the "Maudsley Hospital Medical School" in 1924, it changed its name to the Institute of Psychiatry in 1948, with Aubrey Lewis appointed to the inaugural Chair of Psychiatry (which he held until his retirement in 1966). The main Institute building was opened in 1967 and contains lecture theatres, administrative offices, library and canteen.
In 1959 a group of genetic researchers led by Eliot Slater were given Medical Research Council funding to establish themselves as the 'MRC Psychiatric Genetics Unit'. Although this closed down in 1969, psychiatric genetics continued, eventually as the MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre (SGDP Centre) which moved into new purpose-built building in 2002.
In 1997, the institute had split from the Maudsley and become instead a school of King's College London.[5] The Henry Wellcome building was opened in 2001 and houses most of the IoPPN's psychology department. In 2004, a new Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences (CNS) was opened which provides offices, lab space, and access to two MRI scanners for neuroimaging research. In 2014 the institute was renamed to the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), as the remit of the institute was broadened to include all brain and behavioural sciences.[6]
The Addictions Department specialises in research into tobacco, alcohol and opiate addiction policy and treatment. In March 2010 the addiction research unit and the sections of alcohol research, tobacco research and behavioral pharmacology were brought together to form the current The Addictions Department, also known as the National Addiction Centre (NAC).[7]
Biostatistics
This department provides advice in the interpretation and use of statistical techniques in psychological research. They work closely with members of the Neuroimaging section in their work using brain scanners.
The Biostatistics department opened in 1964, then as the Biometrics Unit. The department holds particular expertise in multivariate statistical methods for measurement, life-course epidemiology and the analysis of experimental, genetic and neuropsychiatric data.
The department provides both introductory and advanced training in applied statistical methodology, collaborate on studies of mental health based here and internationally, and undertake research in relevant applied methodology.
The department also hosts the UKCRN accredited King's Clinical Trials Unit which provides randomisation, data management, analysis and trial management - all of which are available to researchers across King's Health Partners. The CTU provides support to both medicinal and non-medicinal clinical trials assisting researchers in the conduct of carrying out clinical trials.
Forensic Mental Health Science is the study of antisocial, violent, and criminal behaviours among people with mental disorders. The department's research focuses on antisocial behaviour as it appears in people with either major mental disorders or personality disorders. The department is closely allied to the Forensic Psychiatry Teaching Unit.
Neuroscience
Researchers in this department carry out a range of studies into diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and motor neuron disease. The Institute of Psychiatry now houses the Medical Research Council Centre for Neurodegeneration Research, where pioneering research is conducted investigating disease of the CNS. The Department of Clinical Neuroscience in Windsor Walk also contains the MRC London Neurodegenerative Disease Brain Bank.
Department of Neuroimaging and Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences
The Maudsley Hospital is the site of the institute's Clinical Neuroimaging Department.
The Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences (CNS) is a joint venture of the King's College London Institute of Psychiatry and the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust (SLAM). Completed in early 2004, the centre provides an interdisciplinary research environment.
The Clinical Neuroimaging Department, situated at the Maudsley Hospital, provides a full range of neuroradiographic imaging services, including Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Within the CNS, the academic Department of Neuroimaging's[8] Major Research Facility (MRF) manages a range of MRI facilities for research studies. The Department of Neuroimaging also runs an EEG laboratory, re-launched in 2010.
Psychology
Entrance to the Henry Wellcome Psychology Building
The Department of Psychological Medicine, headed by Professor Trudie Chalder, addresses many of the commonest mental disorders which affect adults including depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, somatoform disorders, and medically unexplained symptoms and syndromes. Its research spans basic science, experimental medicine, epidemiology and public policy. It includes the King's Centre for Military Health Research, led by the department's former chair, Professor Sir Simon Wessely, and is responsible for studying the psychological impacts of the 2003 Iraq War. The department also contains a programme of work on liaison psychiatry and studies the many complex interactions between mental and physical illness.
Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry
Entrance to the SGDP building
The SGDP centre is a multi-disciplinary research centre devoted to the study of the interplay between “nature” (genetics) and “nurture” (environment) as they interact in the development of complex human behaviour. Research at the SGDP acknowledges that there is no simple solution to the "nature versus nurture" debate; instead, expertise is combined across fields such as social epidemiology, child and adult psychiatry, developmental psychopathology, development in the family, personality traits, cognitive abilities, statistical genetics, and molecular genetics. In this way it is hoped that a greater understanding can be achieved in risk factors that might predispose an individual to depression, ADHD, or autism.
History
The MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP) Centre was founded in 1994 by the Medical Research Council, in partnership with the Institute of Psychiatry (now a school of King’s College London).[5][9]
The research in social, genetic and developmental psychiatry have already existed at the Institute of Psychiatry since its establishment in 1948. However, the streams of research were not integrated and there have even been times when genetic researchers and social psychiatrists were in a state of hostility.[9] The intellectual warfare between nature and nurture reached its peak in the 1960s and 1970s.
Aubrey Lewis, who was the first Professor of Psychiatry at the institute and the director of the MRC Social Psychiatry Research Unit (first MRC unit at the institute), noticed that social psychiatry was a broad field that included both biological substrate of disorders and social causes. Eliot Slater, the ‘founding father’ of psychiatric genetics in the United Kingdom,[9] was encouraged by Lewis to study genetics in 1930s. In 1959, Slater established another MRC unit at the institute (MRC Psychiatric Genetics Unit), but the unit was closed in 1969 on Slater’s retirement. In 1984, MRC Child Psychiatry Unit was established at the Institute of Psychiatry by Michael Rutter, a member in the MRC Social Psychiatry Research Unit led by Lewis. The unit brought together experts in many overlapping fields, and the mix proved highly successful as the unit had a major impact on child psychiatric research throughout the world.[9]
The MRC Social Psychiatry Research Unit was closed in 1993. The MRC and the institute found that there was a need for refocusing and reintegration with other strands of research including psychiatric genetics and disorders of adult life.[9] Rutter and David Goldberg discussed with the MRC about the establishment of an interdisciplinary research centre that could comprehensively study the interplay of nature and nurture in the development of psychiatric disorders. In 1994, MRC SGDP Centre was established in Denmark Hill, and Rutter was appointed as the first director of the centre.[9] The SGDP Centre has moved into its new purpose-built building in 2002.
Psychosis Studies
The department is the most highly cited group of scientists working on schizophrenia and related disorders. Work focuses on integrating cognitive measures and multimodal neuroimaging techniques, with perinatal, genetic and developmental data. The central aim is to characterize the core pathophysiological dimensions of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The section has initiated or participated a number of such treatment studies of new atypical antipsychotics and potential mood stabilising medication and is also developing computerised and web-based applications for disease self-management.
Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute
Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute
The Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute is a centre for neuroscience research opened by The Princess Royal in 2015.[10] It is one of the leading neuroscience institutes in the world.[10][11] The centre is named after British philanthropist Maurice Wohl, who supported many medical projects and had a long association with King’s College London,[10] and was funded by several philanthropic donors, organisations and King's Health Partners.[12]
The current three major goals of the institute is to determine the underlying genetic and environmental risk factors for disease, to identify tests for early diagnosis and biomarkers that measure disease progression, and to develop informative cellular and animal disease models of disease to accelerate drug discovery.[11]
Funding
Approximately 70% of the IoPPN's income comes from the research it conducts. Approximately 20% is from clinical work performed for the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Approximately 10% of gross income is from taught courses offered to postgraduate students.[13]
The IoPPN and the pharmaceutical company Lundbeck are led one of the largest ever academic-industry collaborations in research, known as NEWMEDS - Novel Methods leading to New Medications in Depression and Schizophrenia. The project is part of the Innovative Medicines Initiative developed by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations and the European Commission. NEWMEDS aims to facilitate the development of new psychiatric medications by bringing top scientists and academics together in partnership with nearly every major global drug company.[15]
Another key project is the KCL and Janssen led pre competitive public private consortium RADAR-CNS[16] (Remote Measurement of Disease and Relapse in Central Nervous System Disorders), which uses smartphones and wearable devices to track clinical outcomes in disorders like depression, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy.
Notable staff and students
Amongst notable staff of the institute are the following:
GKT School of Medical Education is the medical school of King's College London. The school has campuses at three institutions, Guy's Hospital (Southwark), King's College Hospital and St Thomas' Hospital (Lambeth) in London – with the initial of each hospital making up the acronymous name of the school. The school in its current guise was formed following a merger with the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals on 1 August 1998. As of 2023, the medical school is ranked 5th best in the UK for clinical medicine by U.S. News & World Report, and 10th best worldwide by Times Higher Education.
Professor Christos Pantelis is an Australian professor of medicine who is the Director of the Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre.
Sir Michael Llewellyn Rutter CBE FRS FRCP FRCPsych FMedSci was the first person to be appointed professor of child psychiatry in the United Kingdom. He has been described as the "father of child psychiatry". Rutter was professor of developmental psychopathology at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London and consultant psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital, a post he held since 1966, until retiring in July 2021. A survey published in Review of General Psychology in 2002 ranked Rutter as the 68th most cited psychologist of the 20th century. He died of cancer on October 23, 2021, aged 88.
The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences is a medical institution in Bangalore, India. NIMHANS is the apex centre for mental health and neuroscience education in the country. It is an Institute of National Importance operating autonomously under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. NIMHANS is ranked 4th best medical institute in India, in the current National Institutional Ranking Framework.
Dan Joseph Stein is a South African psychiatrist who is a professor and Chair of the Dept of Psychiatry and Mental Health at the University of Cape Town, and Director of the South African MRC Unit on Risk & Resilience in Mental Disorders. Stein was the Director of UCT's early Brain and Behaviour Initiative, and was the inaugural Scientific Director of UCT's later Neuroscience Institute. He has also been a visiting professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in the United States, and at Aarhus University in Denmark.
Peter McGuffin is a psychiatrist and geneticist from Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Eliot Trevor Oakeshott Slater MD was a British psychiatrist who was a pioneer in the field of the genetics of mental disorders. He held senior posts at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Queen Square, London, and the Institute of Psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital. He was the author of some 150 scientific papers and the co-author of several books on psychiatric topics, notably on disputed 'physical methods'. From the mid-50s to his death, he co-edited Clinical Psychiatry, the leading textbook for psychiatric trainees.
Nick (Nicandros) Bouras is a Greek professor (emeritus) of psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience King's College London, United Kingdom. and Programme Director of Maudsley International that promotes developments in mental health around the world.
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, also known as SLaM, is an NHS foundation trust based in London, England, which specialises in mental health. It comprises four psychiatric hospitals, the Ladywell Unit based at University Hospital Lewisham, and over 100 community sites and 300 clinical teams. SLaM forms part of the institutions that make up King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre.
The National Psychosis Unit is a national treatment centre for patients with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, in the United Kingdom. The unit is a tertiary referral centre in the National Health Service. It is located at the Bethlem Royal Hospital, part of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. It is closely affiliated to the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, and forms part of the Psychosis Clinical Academic Group of King's Health Partners.
Sophia Frangou is a professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai where she heads the Psychosis Research Program. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and vice-chair of the RCPsych Panamerican Division. She is a Fellow of the European Psychiatric Association (EPA) and of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). She served as vice-president for Research of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders from 2010 to 2014. She has also served on the Council of the British Association for Psychopharmacology. She is founding member of the EPA NeuroImaging section and founding chair of the Brain Imaging Network of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology. She is one of the two Editors of European Psychiatry, the official Journal of the European Psychiatric Association.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to psychiatry:
Thalia Catherine Eley is a Professor of Developmental Behavioural Genetics at the Institute of Psychiatry's MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, King's College London. Her work focuses on the interplay between genetic and environmental factors on the development and treatment of anxiety and depression.
Katya Rubia is a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre and Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, both part of the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London.
Anne Farmer is emeritus professor of psychiatric nosology at the Institute of Psychiatry and was formerly lead consultant in the Affective Disorders Unit at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and the trust's director of medical education. Farmer's focus is on genetic research in affective disorders. Farmer was previously professor of psychiatry at the University of Wales College of Medicine.
Cathryn Lewis is Professor of Genetic Epidemiology and Statistics at King's College London. She is Head of Department at the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience.
Sir Michael John Owen FRCPsych FMedSci FLSW is a Welsh research scientist in the area of psychiatry, currently the head of the Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences at Cardiff University.
Shitij Kapur is a medical doctor and administrator; he is the 21st president and principal of King's College London since 1 June 2021. Previously, he was the dean of the Faculty of Medicine Dentistry and Health Sciences and assistant vice-chancellor (health) of the University of Melbourne from 2016 to 2020.
Hugo Critchley is a British professor of psychiatry at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, a partnership of the University of Brighton and the University of Sussex.
Gemma Modinos, born 1980 in Castellar del Vallès, is a Spanish neuropsychologist. She works as a Reader of Neuroscience and Mental Health at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience of King's College London. She is a Sir Henry Dale Fellow and a Group leader at the MRC centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders at King's College London. She is the Chair of the Young Academy of Europe, where she directs European efforts to optimise science policy from a youthful perspective; and Junior Member of the Executive Board of the Schizophrenia International Research Society. She is known for her work revealing the role of emotion-related brain mechanisms in the development of psychosis and investigating how targeting these mechanisms can help design new therapeutic strategies.
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