Dr Alan Thomas
Clinical Senior Lecturer/Consultant

  • Email: alan.thomas@ncl.ac.uk
  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 445 5212
  • Fax: +44 (0) 191 445 6685
  • Address: Wolfson Research Centre
    Institute for Ageing and Health
    Newcastle University
    Campus for Ageing and Vitality
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE4 5PL

Present Appointment

Clinical Senior Lecturer in Old Age Psychiatry at Newcastle University and Honorary Consultant in Old Age Psychiatry at Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust

 

Other Appointments

Clinical Director for Research and Development, Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust

Clinical Director of the Newcastle Human Brain Tissue Resource, Newcastle University

Executive Lead for Mental Health and RMG on Executive Committee of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear CLRN

Co-chair International College of Geriatric Psychopharmacology Scientific Committee

Regional Organiser of MRCPsych Course and Lead for School of Psychiatry on Teaching

Main Research Interests:

 

i) The neuropathology of late-life depression

 

I continue with neuropathological studies in depression utilising our brain tissue from the Newcastle ‘Brain Bank’ and applying stereological and microarray techniques to explore the impact of vascular and inflammatory brain disease in late-life depression

 

ii) Clinical studies on imaging and cognition in depression

 

We are extending our neuroimaging investigations in late-life depression using multimodal imaging techniques, in particular examining the role of white matter disease. A novel treatment study will investigate whether modifying vascular disease can improve outcome in late-life depression

 

iii) Clinical studies in dementia with Lewy bodies

 

We are developing clinical instruments for improving the detection and assessment of key features of DLB and will be examining their utility in standard NHS settings

 

Medical Students: I teach formally in seminars and informally in clinical settings and am an OSCE and MOSLER examiner in finals examinations

 

Postgraduate: I teach and examine on the MRes Course (Module: Ageing and Health) and am the Organiser of the Northern Deanery MRCPsych Course, on which I also run a module (Introduction to Psychiatry) and teach lectures on this module and the Old Age Psychiatry module.

 

External: I lecture on the British Association of Psychopharmacology modules on Affective Disorders and Old Age Psychiatry