NCMD Research Seminar Series 9th January 2026

NCMD Research Seminar Series 9th January 2026

NCMD/DeManDS Data Science.

Speakers: Soraia Sousa, Hamish McAllister-Williams, Victoria Wing, Niraj Ahuja

Discussant: Judith Harrison, NIHR Clinical Lecturer & Akrivia Health Consultant

Presentation title: Clinical Records Interactive Search (CRIS): Case studies from CNTW NHS Trust

Soraia Sousa, Consultant in Liaison Psychiatry (CNTW) Soraia is a Consultant in Liaison Psychiatry and has an interest in the interface of mental and physical illness, as well as big data analysis. Currently working on several projects including, the AI MULTIPLY project which focus on the use of AI and Machine Learning methods in the study of long-term conditions and polypharmacy.

Judith Harrison, NIHR Clinical Lecturer & Akrivia Health Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist & Researcher (NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer).  Researching how to harness Large Language Models to improve patient care in dementias/mental health. Clinical Advisor at Akrivia Heath (Clinical research & NLP function development). Expert Reviewer for MHRA (for Medical Devices, including Software). Research background in dementias, including Doctoral Fellowship in Alzheimer’s genetics and brain imaging (Wellcome Trust).

Electronic healthcare records (EHRs) are rapidly becoming one of the most powerful tools in contemporary research, and CRIS provides a secure, ethical platform for accessing de-identified patient data. Through CRIS, researchers can draw on structured clinical information such as demographics and diagnoses, as well as apply Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to extract insights from unstructured clinical notes. The potential applications are vast, and in this session, we will hear a snapshot of how CRIS has been used across four different projects. We will explore both the advantages of using EHR data for research and the challenges that arise when records designed for clinical care are transformed for analytical use.

Programme:
"Building a multimorbidity cohort using structured and unstructured CRIS data" - Dr Soraia Sousa (10min), Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist, CNTW, and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer, Newcastle University. "How CRIS can be used to extract therapeutic drug monitoring data from electronic health records" -Dr Victoria Wing (10 min), Clinical Lecturer at the Northern Centre for Mood Disorders (NCMD), Newcastle University.

"Using CRIS to study real work effectiveness of treatments: Lessons from looking at TMS provision" - Prof Hamish McAllister-Williams (10 min), Professor of Affective Disorders, Newcastle University, and Deputy Medical Director for Research & Innovations, CNTW

"Searching for catatonia over 15 years: Using CRIS to look for diagnostic categories and clinical patterns"- Dr Niraj Ahuja (10 min), Consultant Psychiatrist, CNTW, and Associate Clinical Lecturer, Newcastle University and Lauren Wall, Research Associate, Newcastle University

Discussion (~20 min) - Discussant: Judith Harrison, NIHR Clinical Lecturer & Akrivia Health Consultant