Professor Daniel Smith
Chair of Psychiatry and Head of Division of Psychiatry

- Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences
- Division of Psychiatry
Contact details
- Tel: 0131 537 6696
- Email: d.smith@ed.ac.uk
Address
- Street
-
Kennedy Tower, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park
- City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH10 5HF.
Background
I trained in medicine at the University of Edinburgh (BSc, 1994 and MB ChB, 1996) and completed a clinical research training fellowship in Edinburgh (MD, 2006) alongside an International Masters in Affective Neuroscience in Maastricht (MSc, 2006). After clinical training in psychiatry, I held a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) at Cardiff University (2006-2012). I moved to the University of Glasgow as Reader in Psychiatry in 2012 and was promoted to a personal chair in 2014. I joined the University of Edinburgh in April 2021.
Clinically, my main interests are bipolar disorder and post-partum psychosis and I work as an honorary consultant perinatal psychiatrist with NHS Lothian at the Mother and Baby Inpatient Unit, St John's Hospital.
Qualifications
Qualifications:
2013 FRCPsych, Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, UK.
2006 MD, Doctor of Medicine, University of Edinburgh.
2006 MSc Affective Neuroscience, Maastricht University.
2002 MRCPsych, Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, UK.
1996 MB ChB, Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, University of Edinburgh.
1994 BSc (Hons) Biochemistry, University of Edinburgh.
Awards and prizes:
- Lister Institute Prize Fellowship 2016
- BMJ Innovation Team Award 2014
- Brain and Behaviour Research Foundation Independent Investigator Award 2014
- National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Postdoctoral Fellowship 2007
- American Psychiatric Association Young Minds in Psychiatry Award 2007
Responsibilities & affiliations
- Head of Division of Psychiatry
- Convenor for Undergraduate Psychiatry
- MRC Neurosciences and Mental Health Board
- MRC Population Health Sciences Group
- Medical Research Foundation Review Panel for Launchpad Grants in Mental Health
- Co-Lead for Education, Chronobiology Task Force of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD)
- Medical Advisor for Bipolar Scotland
- Bipolar UK Clinical Advisory Panel
- Chair of the Trial Steering Committee for RCT of Cognitive Remediation in Bipolar Disorder (CRiB2)
- Mental Health Research, Development & Innovation Leadership Group, The Scottish Government
Undergraduate teaching
- Convenor for Undergraduate Psychiatry on the MB ChB programme, University of Edinburgh.
Postgraduate teaching
Postgraduate Psychiatry MRCPsych Course.
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Current PhD students supervised
- Reesha Zahir (PhD): Investigating the mechanisms underlying sleep problems and mental ill health in autistic children and adolescents. Wellcome Trust Translational Neuroscience Doctoral Training Programme. Co-supervisor.
- Natasha Sanghu (PhD): Integrating circadian, genomic and imaging data to understand mood disorders. MRC Precision Medicine Doctoral Training Programme Studentship, 2019-2021, co-supervisor.
- XingXing Chen (PhD): Imaging genomics of physical and mental health comorbidity. Chinese Government PhD Scholarship, 2019-2022.
- Hannah Casey (PhD): Genetic epidemiology of chronic pain and depression. MRC Precision Medicine Doctoral Training Programme Studentship, 2020-2023, co-supervisor).
- Charlotte Greene (PhD): Antidepressant and antipsychotic drug use and microvascular morbidity, cardiovascular morbidity, and all-cause and cause-specific mortality in mental illness comorbid with diabetes (MRC Precision Medicine Doctoral Training Programme Studentship, 2018-2021, co-supervisor).
Past PhD students supervised
- Joey Ward (PhD) Genomic Investigations of Psychiatric Conditions via Research Domain Criteria Traits (main supervisor). Passed 2021.
- Nick Graham (PhD): The genetic interface between mood and cardiometabolic disorders (Aitchison Family Fellowship, 2015-2019, main supervisor).
- Natalie Chalmers (PhD): Developing a lifestyle intervention for adults with bipolar disorder (MRC SPHSU PhD Studentship, 2015-2019, co-supervisor).
- Keira Johnson (PhD): Genetic epidemiology of chronic pain and major depression (MRC Precision Medicine Doctoral Training Programme Studentship, 2018-2021, co-supervisor).
- Karl Ferguson (PhD): Diagram based analysis of Causal Systems for understanding the causes of alcohol problems (MRC Doctoral Training Programme PhD Studentship, 2015-2019, co-supervisor).
- Sumit Mistry (PhD): Polygenic profile scores and features of bipolar disorder (MHRUK PhD Studentship, 2015-2019, co-supervisor with Prof S Zammit at Cardiff University).
- Amy Ferguson (PhD): Identification of novel endophenotypes for bipolar disorder using genetic risk score analysis (MRC Doctoral Training Programme PhD Studentship). Passed 2019.
- Moira Hansen (PhD): "Melancholy and low spirits are half my disease": Physical and mental health in the life and works of Robert Burns (Lord Kelvin Adam Smith Interdisciplinary Studentship). Passed 2019.
- Breda Cullen (PhD): Cognitive outcomes in people with behavioural and brain disorders within UK Biobank (Chief Scientist Office Research Training Fellowship, 2014-2017, co-supervisor). Passed 2018.
- Daniel Martin (MD): Investigating the causes and outcomes of cardiometabolic diseases in bipolar affective disorder. Passed 2018.
- Aikaterini Kavalidou (PhD): Multimorbidity and suicidality (ESRC Studentship and self-funding, 2014-2017, co-supervisor). Passed 2018.
- Rhys Bevan Jones (PhD): Developing and evaluating an online psychoeducation package for adolescent depression. Passed 2017.
- Julie Langan Martin (MD): Identifying health inequalities in individuals with major mental illness using routine data. (Mason Medical Research Foundation Fellowship, 2013-2015, main supervisor). Passed 2016.
- Ria Poole (PhD): Therapeutic mechanisms of psychoeducation for bipolar disorder (2010-2013, main supervisor). Passed 2014.
- Andrew Smith (DClinPsy): Scottish Transgender and Autistic Traits Study. Passed 2014.
- Naomi Swift (DClinPsy): Barriers to early diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Passed 2012.
Research summary
I am a clinical academic psychiatrist with research interests in four main areas:
- The genetic epidemiology of mood disorders (particularly bipolar disorder)
- Data science and mental health informatics research
- Understanding comorbidity between mental and physical health disorders
- Sleep and circadian health as they relate to mood disorders
I have recently established an interdisciplinary Chronopsychiatry Research Group at the University of Edinburgh, to drive forward research at the interface between mental health and sleep/circadian science. Members of this group include: Amy Ferguson, Giulia Gaggioni, Andrew Millar, Tomasz Zieliński, Maria Gardani, Laura Lyall, Cathy Wyse, Aleks Stolicyn, Breda Cullen, Heather Whalley, Donald Lyall, David Breen, Thanasis Tsanas, Sarah Gregory, Amber Roguski, Nikolaj Høier, Niamh MacSweeney, Reesha Zahir, Natasha Sangha, Sarah Harris, Emily Holian and external collaborators Cathy Wyse (Maynooth, Dublin), Lorna Lopez (Maynooth, Dublin), Laura Lyall (Glasgow), Donald Lyall (Glasgow), Malcolm von Schantz (Northumbria), Michael McCarthy (UCSD), Alice Gregory (London), Manuel Spitschan (Max Planck).
I was PI for one of nine UK MRC Mental Health Data Pathfinder Awards (2019-2021) and I am a co-investigator on the recently established UKRI/HDR-UK Mental Health Data Hub “DATAMIND”. I lead the MRC-funded SCRAMS Network (Sleep, circadian rhythms and mental health in schools) and I co-lead the Schools Health and Wellbeing Improvement Research Network (SHINE).
I am part of several global research collaborations, including the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium and the Consortium for Lithium Genomics, and I work on the Chronobiology Task Force of the International Society for Bipolar Disorder.
Current project grants
Wellcome Trust (2023-2028) Lithium's mechanism in bipolar disorder: investigating the light hypersensitivity hypothesis. PI D Smith, Co-Is: B Dhillon, R Riha, I Campbell, J Martinovic. Value: £3.5m
MRC (2023-2026) UK Mental Health and Circadian Science Network. PI D Smith. Value £780,756.
MRC (2022-2025) Brain sulcal folding and mental illness: investigating causal associations and stratification approaches for psychosis. PI G Murray (Cambridge), Co-I D Smith. Value £1m.
Chief Scientist Office (CSO) (2022-2024) Severe mental illness and receipt of acute cardiac care and mortality following myocardial infarction. PI C Jackson, Co-I D Smith. Value £350k.
Baszucki Brain Research Fund. Pilot study to assess the effectiveness of the ketogenic diet on the symptoms of bipolar disorder (2021-2023). Co-PIs DJ Smith, H Campbell and I Campbell. Value $320k.
MRC Mental Health Data Platform "DATAMIND" (2021-2023). PIs John and Stewart plus 10 UK co-investigators, including Smith DJ. Value £2m.
Past project grants
MRC Mental Health Data Pathfinder Award (2018-2020). PI: DJ Smith, Co-applicants: J Pell, L Moore, SA Cooper, C McCowan. Value: £1m.
MRC Adolescent Mental Health Engagement Award (2020-2021). PI: DJ Smith, Co-applicants: M von Schantz, A Gregory, C Wyse, B Cullen, J Inchley, L Lyall, H Sibley, S Chan, S Simpson. “Sleep, circadian rhythms and mental health in schools (SCRAMS)”. Value: £100,000.
MRC (2019-2022) Understanding the relationship between depression and trajectories of physical multimorbidity accrual: longitudinal analysis of UK Biobank data. PI: B Guthrie, Co-investigators: DJ Smith, C Sudlow, S Mercer, C Jackson, D Morales, J Norrie. Value: £742,089.
MRC (2018-2021) “Understanding the excess risk of cardiometabolic disease in individuals with serious mental illness.” Skills Development Fellowship (C Niedzwiedz). Value: £350k.
NIHR Health Technology Assessment grant (2018-2023): “Pramipexole for treatment resistant bipolar depression.” PI: H McAllister-Williams, Co-investigators: DJ Smith, A Young, P Stokes, J Geddes, R Morriss. Value £1.9m.
The Health Foundation (2018-2022). “Causal effects of alcohol and mental health problems on employment outcomes: Harnessing UK Biobank and linked administrative data.” PI: V. Katikireddi; Co-applicants: DJ Smith, M Green, A Leyland, E Demou, R Dundas, N Davies, M Munafo, N Bailey. Value: £449,501.
Lister Institute Research Prize Fellowship (2016-2021). “Investigating the overlap between bipolar disorder and hypertension to identify repurposed medications for bipolar disorder.” PI: DJ Smith. Value £200,000.
Chief Scientist Office Scotland Translational Clinical Studies funding (2016-2018). “Antihypertensives as repurposed treatments for mood disorders: Scottish national linkage and UK Biobank investigation.” PI: DJ Smith, co-applicants: J Pell, D Mackay, S Padmanabhan. Value £250,898.
Brain and Behaviour Research Foundation (NARSAD). Independent Investigator Award 2014-17. “Genome-wide association studies of depression and cardiometabolic disease.” PI: DJ Smith, Value: $100,000.
National Alliance for Research into Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) Young Investigator Award: ‘Identifying neural markers of bipolarity in young adults with major depressive disorder.’ 2009-2012, PI: D.J. Smith, Co-applicant: M. Phillips. Value: £37,336
National Institute of Health Research (Department of Health) Personal Award Scheme: Postdoctoral Fellowship: ‘Improving outcomes in major depression: focus on bipolarity’. 2007-2010, PI: D.J. Smith, Co-applicant: N. Craddock. Value: £434,047
Big Lottery Fund: ‘Project Clorian: Group Psychoeducation for Bipolar Disorder in Wales’. 2008-2013, PIs: D.J. Smith, I.R. Jones, Co-applicant: N. Craddock. Value: £770,862
MRC/Welsh Assembly Government Research Partnership Award: ‘Unrecognised bipolar spectrum disorders in primary care patients with depression’. 2008-2010, PI: D.J. Smith, Co-applicant: N. Craddock. Value: £121,909
National Alliance for Research into Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) Young Investigator Award: ‘Genetic Dissection of the Unipolar-Bipolar Interface’. 2007-2010, PI: D.J. Smith, Co-applicant: N. Craddock. Value: £37,336
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Factors associated with anxiety disorder comorbidity
In:
Journal of Affective Disorders (JAD)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.11.051
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Patient characteristics associated with retrospectively self-reported treatment outcomes following psychological therapy for anxiety or depressive disorders - a cohort of GLAD study participants
In:
BMC Psychiatry, vol. 22, pp. 719
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-022-04275-6
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Association of antipsychotic use with breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies with over 2 million individuals-CORRIGENDUM
In:
Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences, vol. 31, pp. e66
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796022000531
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Antidepressant use and risk of adverse outcomes: population-based cohort study
In:
BJPsych Open, vol. 8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2022.563
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Association of antipsychotic use with breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies with over 2 million individuals
In:
Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences, vol. 31
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796022000476
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Insulin signaling as a therapeutic mechanism of lithium in bipolar disorder
In:
Translational Psychiatry, vol. 12
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-022-02122-6
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Severe mental illness and quality of care for type 2 diabetes: a retrospective population-based cohort study
In:
Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, vol. 190, pp. 110026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diabres.2022.110026
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Association between polarity of first episode and solar insolation in bipolar I disorder
In:
Journal of Psychosomatic Research, vol. 160, pp. 110982
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2022.110982
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
The nosological status of unipolar mania and hypomania within UK Biobank according to objective and subjective measures of diurnal rest and activity
In:
Bipolar Disorders
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/bdi.13237
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Quantifying bias in psychological and physical health in the UK Biobank imaging sub-sample
In:
Brain Communications, vol. 4
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcac119
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Genetic analysis of the PCSK9 locus in psychological, psychiatric, metabolic and cardiovascular traits in UK Biobank
In:
European Journal of Human Genetics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41431-022-01107-9
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Effects of depression on employment and social outcomes: a Mendelian randomisation study
In:
Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, pp. jech-2021-218074
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2021-218074
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
A systematic review and meta-analysis of sleep and circadian rhythms disturbances in individuals at high-risk of developing or with early onset of bipolar disorders
In:
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, vol. 135, pp. 104585
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104585
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Review article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Incidence, characteristics and outcomes of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in patients with psychiatric illness: A systematic review
In:
Resuscitation Plus
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Review article (Accepted/In press) -
Dissecting the Shared Genetic Architecture of Suicide Attempt, Psychiatric Disorders, and Known Risk Factors
(15 pages)
In:
Biological psychiatry, vol. 91, pp. 313-327
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.05.029
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Neurobiological and behavioral mechanisms of circadian rhythm disruption in bipolar disorder: A critical multi‐disciplinary literature review and agenda for future research from the ISBD task force on chronobiology
In:
Bipolar Disorders
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/bdi.13165
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Comparison of symptom-based versus self-reported diagnostic measures of anxiety and depression disorders in the GLAD and COPING cohorts
In:
Journal of Anxiety Disorders, vol. 85, pp. 102491
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2021.102491
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Comparison of symptom-based versus self-reported diagnostic measures of anxiety and depression disorders in the GLAD and COPING cohorts
In:
Journal of Anxiety Disorders, vol. 85, pp. 102491
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2021.102491
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Association between polygenic risk for Alzheimer’s disease, brain structure and cognitive abilities in UK Biobank
In:
Neuropsychopharmacology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-021-01190-4
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
The Genetic Architecture of Depression in Individuals of East Asian Ancestry: A Genome-Wide Association Study
In:
JAMA Psychiatry
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.2099
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print)