James Maccabe BSc, MBBS, MRCPsych, MSc, PhD

Dr MacCabe MSc FRCPsych PhD has been Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at the National Psychosis Unit since 2005. He is responsible for treating inpatients with in complex, co-morbid or treatment refractory schizophrenia, where treatment has not been successful despite following the best available evidence and guidelines. In such circumstances, there is by definition no clear evidence on which to base treatment decisions, and specialist experience and expertise is called for. Dr MacCabe and his highly experienced team take a careful, informed, systematic, multidisciplinary approach to achieving the best possible outcomes for their patients and their carers. This often involves seeking advice from colleagues in other disciplines and pioneering new approaches. Dr MacCabe and his team contribute to the evidence base wherever possible, by publishing case reports, audits, clinical trials and population-based studies in the field of treatment resistant psychosis. They also share their experience with colleagues through workshops, teaching sessions, online teaching materials and individual consultations throughout the UK and internationally.

Dr MacCabe qualified in medicine at the University of London (MBBS 1995) and completed his basic and higher specialist training in Psychiatry at the Bethlem and Maudsley NHS Trust (later SLaM) from 1997 to 2004, focussing particularly on treatment refractory schizophrenia. He obtained a joint MRC/Department of Health Special Training Fellowship in Health of the population research in 2004, an MSc in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2006 and a PhD in 2008. In 2009 he was awarded a Clinical Senior Lectureship by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, and in 2015 he was promoted to Reader in the Epidemiology of Psychosis. He has published over 100 academic papers on the causes, consequences and treatment of schizophrenia and other psychoses. Dr MacCabe is special advisor on psychosis to the mental health charity, SANE. He is Director of the Maudsley Debates, which open up debates on controversial issues within the field of mental health into the public arena.