Minds meet at the Francis Crick Institute | News

The North London Mental Health Partnership (NLMHP) held its first research conference, showcasing a wide range of research topics from the clinical implications of 'camouflaging' in autism to understanding the risk predictors for dementia. Did you know that 40% of dementias can be prevented? Getting a hearing aid fitted if you have hearing loss can help increase the cognitive reserve of people at risk of developing dementia.

The day opened with Partnership Chief Executive Jinjer Kandola and Dr Vincent Kirchner explaining the importance of research in establishing the Partnership as a centre of excellence and how central this will be in the new Trust’s culture. Lynis Lewis, the Partnership’s Director of Research followed, calling everyone to get involved in research and highlighting the eight key objectives of the new research strategy.

We learned about the advancements in blood biomarker analysis in Alzheimer’s disease, reducing reliance on invasive lumbar punctures from Prof Rob Howard . Prof Angela Hassiotis and Dr Ken Courtenay stressed the importance of tailored mental health support for people with intellectual disabilities.

The afternoon saw Dr Mo Abdelghani present his research on transcranial magnetic stimulation for treatment-resistant depression – did you know that the first brain stimulation “device” was the Nile catfish used by the ancient Egyptians? We also heard about the new Partnership with the SOAS Centre for Anthropology and Mental Health Research in Action (CAMHRA).

Vincent brought the day to a close, reinforcing NLMHP's commitment to inclusive, innovative mental health research that can directly impact patient care and outcomes.

Key takeaways included:

1. Research is crucial for improving community health, with residents in NLMHP's service area living with poor health for an average of 20 years.

2. The conference emphasised that mental health research is not limited to academics - clinicians, non-clinical staff, service users, carers, and community members all have valuable contributions to make.

3. Involving people with lived experience in research is vital for developing better mental health practices and services.

4. Collaboration between different disciplines, including anthropology and technology, is opening new avenues for mental health care advancements

The Partnership’s research office, Noclor, have shared photos from the day .

 

Read more about our work on Research across the Partnership.