Professor Else Guthrie

Profile

I am  Professor of Psychological Medicine and an Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at Leeds and York Partnership Foundation Trust. I was formerly based in Manchester, holding both academic positions at the University of Manchester and a clinical position in Liaison Psychiatry at Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Partnership. I ran the liaison psychiatry service at Manchester Royal Infirmary from 1994 to 2017. I was Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry at the University of Manchester from 1994-2001 and then Professor in Psychological Medicine from 2001 to 2004. I then became a full-time Consultant Psychiatrist with an honorary chair at the University of Manchester from 2004 to 2017, before I took up my appointment in Leeds. I work one day per week for Leeds and York Partnership NHS Trust.  I oversee  and supervise the academic clinical fellows for mental  health.  I am a former Chair of the Faculty of Liaison Psychiatry, Royal College of Psychiatrist, former Vice-President of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, former programme director for the North West Higher Psychiatric Training Scheme. 

I collaborate widely with other researchers worldwide, with over 110 original articles. My original and review articles have been cited over 11,000 times, to date, and my h-index on Google Scholar  is 52. 

I am principal investigator (PI) or co-investigator  on six NIHR-funded research programmes (5 trials). I have been awarded >£9 million of grant income as PI  or co-investigator in the last 6 years (>£7.5 milion since coming to Leeds) .I currently supervise 1 PhD student, 5 academic clinical fellows, and 1 pre-doctoral fellow.  I  also provide formal and informal academic mentorship to 5 university colleagues with honorary contracts. I am Editor of the EAPM pages for the Journal of Psychosoatic Research and have served on NICE guidelines groups.

Research interests

My main research interests include liaison psychiatry, psychological treatments and medically unexplained symptoms/long term conditions. I have completed several trials of psychological treatment for medically unexplained symptoms, and am particularly interested in researching a form of treatment called psychodynamic-interpersonal therapy or the conversational model of psychotherapy. I recently completed a programme grant which investigated the role of depression in long term conditions and the link to use of urgent care  (Guthrie E, Afzal C, Blakeley C, Blakemore A, Byford R,  et al. CHOICE: Choosing health options in chronic care emergencies. Southampton (UK): NIHR Journals Library; 2017 Jul. PMID:28767210). I am currently involved in several large trials of psycholgical treatment for self-harm. 

Current research projects include:

1. Liaison Psychiatry: Measurement And Evaluation of Service Types, Referral patterns and Outcomes LP- MAESTRO  Lead PI. NIHR HS&DR project ref: 13/58/08 £1,246,989.80 2014-2021.
2. Function REplacement in repeated Self-Harm: Standardising Therapeutic Assessment and the Related Therapy: FReSH START  Co-Lead PI. RP-PG-1016-20005- t £2,475,223.00-PfAR- This is a programme grant that leads to a definitive trial of psychological treatment (one of 3 therapies PIT, ACT or BA) for people with multiple self harm.   2018-2024. https://freshstart.leeds.ac.uk
3. Low-dose antidepressants for the treatment of irritable bowel Syndrome  £1,787,887.99 16/162    co-applicant  HTA. RCT of amitriptyline for IBS in primary care. 2018-2022;
4. Management of diarrhoea in patients with stable ulcerative colitis  17/33  £1,501,813.01   co-applicant HTA. RCT of   a) diet b) antidepressant c) odansetron 2018-2022
5. Community Outpatient Psychotherapy Engagement Service for Self-harm (COPESS): A feasibility trial NIHR200543. Co-applicant. £253,707.00  2020-2022. 
6. The Self-harm, Assessment, Formulation, Engagement Trial of Psychodynamic Interpersonal Therapy (SAFE-PIT). 19/102  £2,030,552. Lead PI. HTA. RCT of Psychodynamic Interpersonal Therapy for Self-Harm.  2021-2025 

Qualifications

• M.B. Ch.B.
• MSc.
• M.D.

Professional memberships

• FRCPsych

Research groups and institutes

• Leeds Institute of Health Sciences
• Mental health
• Psychological and Social Medicine

Current postgraduate researchers

• Shaista Meer