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  Biography: Alex J Mitchell MD    Google scholar link |  departmental link | e-interview

 Professor of Liaison Psychiatry & Psycho-oncology, University of Leicester

Synopsis

Alex J Mitchell MD is an award winning NHS consultant in psycho-oncology at Leicestershire Partnership Trust (full time NHS) and Professor at the University of Leicester. In 2004 he published the BMA award winning book “Neuropsychiatry & Behavioural Neurology Explained” (2/e due 2018) and in 2009 was co-editor of “Screening for Depression: An Evidence based Approach” (link) from OUP. His research interests include the scientific approach to screening and clinical diagnosis, physical-mental inequalities (parity) and comorbidity, improving quality of care in mental health and all aspects of psycho-oncology. His research and clinical practice includes expertise in depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, dementia and mild cognitive impairment. He has over 300 peer reviewed publications (see below), a H-index of 55 and has been cited over 10,000 times. In 2009 he was awarded the Hiroomi Kawano New Investigator Award for best international researcher psycho-oncology. He maintains the successful websites www.psycho-oncology.info and recently launched the new  ehealth innovation www.cancerstories.info which offers the worlds largest collection of patient based cancer experiences online. In 2017 and 2018 he was named as one of the top 1000 most cited scientists worldwide according to clarivate.

Background

Alex was an undergraduate in Newcastle (UK) and had early experience in liaison psychiatry as a medical student in Toronto (Ca) with Gary Rodin. He also worked with an inspirational clinician Dr Fuad Hassanyeh in St Nicholas hospital. He undertook an intercalated year with Nicol Ferrier. After graduation Alex trained in biological psychiatry and neuropsychiatry in Cambridge with Professors Berrios and Paykel. He developed an early interest in mood disorders particularly neuroendocrine aspects (HPA and HPT axis). He then moved to Leeds as lecturer in liaison psychiatry with Professors Mindham and House. During this time he undertook training in evidence based medicine – later put to good use with considerable expertise in large database studies and meta-analyses. Alex met Manoj Kumar then new consultant in psycho-oncology in Leeds (Manoj is now consultant psycho-oncologist in Kerala, India). Alex trained in psycho-oncology with Manoj and completed additional training in neuropsychiatry of brain injury with Vera Neumann / Anne Chamberlain. This experience proved valuable. 

In 2002 he wrote the single author textbook “Neuropsychiatry and Behavioural Neurology Explained”, in 2003 awarded the prize for Psychiatry book of the year by the British Medical Association. In 2002 Alex completed his training in Liaison Psychiatry and Psycho-oncology and in 2003 began work in Leicester as consultant in Psycho-oncology (initially part time with liaison psychiatry). At that time the he was the only staff member in psycho-oncology in Leicester but he was later successful in facilitating the appointment of 12 staff members/volunteers before NHS cuts hit. The department has attracted visitors and students from many parts of the world eg Malaysia and Australia. In 2010 Alex became full time consultant (attending) in psycho-oncology. In 2012 he completed his MD thesis on implementation of screening in routine clinical care. Alex is well regarded as being a "team player," always supporting the needs of the team. He is also an open and honest consultant, known to speak out when needed indeed his evidence on whistleblowing has been heard by the CQC and parliamentary select committee. 

In 2013 Alex became interested in the power of peer support from patients. He began developing www.CancerStories.info an innovative video diary programme for cancer patients on DVD and online. This was recently launched and widely acclaimed in the press, both locally and nationally. He has recently developed innovative multimedia resources for teaching and education (see mentalhealthpodcasts). He is passionate about high quality clinical care and tries to reduce inequalities in provision of mental health services. Though his widely cited work on quality of care he can be considered a champion for patient experience in healthcare settings especially physical health for patients with mental health.

Research

As a full time NHS consultant Alex has shown remarkable productivity. According to google scholar he has over 300 peer reviewed publications (172 of which have been cited over 10 times "i10-index") and a H-index of 68 (Nov2018). Further he has been cited over 10,000 times. But there is more to Alex than research stats. As a clinician Alex been interested in researching evidence based answers to important clinical questions. From 2003 Alex helped conduct several studies in communication, ethnicity and later coping in cancer care. From 2007 much of his work has been on screening, scales and recently quality of care. He has been a research and clinical champion highlighting deficiencies in medical care of psychiatric patients. In terms of diagnosis Dr Mitchell has conducted definitive studies of prevalence and diagnostic accuracy of depression, alcohol, dementia and bipolar disorder. Regarding scales he has conducted meta-analyses of the Distress Thermometer, PHQ2, PHQ9, HADS, MMSE and most recently validated a new innovative "Emotion Thermometer" visual-analogue tool. In 2008 Alex set up a new website for health professionals (www.psycho-oncology.info) which lists numerous valuable educational resources and is highly ranked on google. In 2009 Alex co-authored a new textbook with Jim Coyne “Screening for Depression in Clinical Practice: An Evidence based Guide” from Oxford University Press. Alex’s work has had considerable impact in a short period of time. His publication record makes him the most productive full time NHS psychiatrist in the UK according to Web of Science/Google scholar. He has published peer reviewed papers in Lancet, Lancet Oncology, Lancet Neurology, JAMA, Arch Gen Psychiatry, Am J Psychiatry, Br J Psychiatry, Psychological Medicine and many other journals. He is an active reviewer for more than 50 scientific journals and on the editorial board of several journals. He has been collaborator on high impact NIHR grants. More important, his innovative research is widely regarded as uniting clinical and research domains and focusing attention of deficits in quality of care and overlooked psychiatric diagnosis.

Innovations

2005 - Author of SH10 self harm tool (free download)

2006 - Author of PACT self-help programme for emotional complications of cancer (preview)

2007 - Author of Emotion thermometers (preview) see www.emotionthermometers.com

2007 - Author of Depression thermometer and Help thermometer (preview)

2008 - Developer of the "Clinical Ultility Index" a method to grade screening/diagnosis both quantitatively and qualitatively see www.clinicalutility.co.uk

2008 - Developer of the real world index of screening accuracy

2009 - Creator of meta-depression symptom inventory (a four-in-one) tool for rating depressive symptoms (available by request only)

2010 - Author of www.psycho-oncology.info

2011 - Author of joint PHQ9/GAD7

2012 - Creator of GA-DSMIV - a pair of scales for identification of DSMIV defined generalized anxiety disorder (see www.anxietyscale.co.uk)

2013 - Creator of CancerStories.info 

2014 - Creator of "mentalhealthpodcasts" channel on youtube

2015 - Co-Creator of CancerStories APP (with Dr James Coleman)

2016 - Creator of CHiMP scale, a checklist to identify unmet needs

2018 - Creator of ET mini-booklet (printed version of the emotion thermometers)

E-Interview 

Interview with Royal College of Psychiatrists here