Professor Daniel Smith

Chair of Psychiatry and Head of Division of Psychiatry

Biography

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

  1. Joey Ward (PhD) Genomic Investigations of Psychiatric Conditions via Research Domain Criteria Traits (main supervisor). Passed 2021.
  2. Nick Graham (PhD): The genetic interface between mood and cardiometabolic disorders (Aitchison Family Fellowship, 2015-2019, main supervisor).
  3. Natalie Chalmers (PhD): Developing a lifestyle intervention for adults with bipolar disorder (MRC SPHSU PhD Studentship, 2015-2019, co-supervisor).
  4. Keira Johnson (PhD): Genetic epidemiology of chronic pain and major depression (MRC Precision Medicine Doctoral Training Programme Studentship, 2018-2021, co-supervisor).
  5. 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).
  6. 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).
  7. Amy Ferguson (PhD): Identification of novel endophenotypes for bipolar disorder using genetic risk score analysis (MRC Doctoral Training Programme PhD Studentship). Passed 2019.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. Daniel Martin (MD): Investigating the causes and outcomes of cardiometabolic diseases in bipolar affective disorder. Passed 2018.
  11. Aikaterini Kavalidou (PhD): Multimorbidity and suicidality (ESRC Studentship and self-funding, 2014-2017, co-supervisor). Passed 2018.
  12. Rhys Bevan Jones (PhD): Developing and evaluating an online psychoeducation package for adolescent depression.  Passed 2017.
  13. 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.
  14. Ria Poole (PhD): Therapeutic mechanisms of psychoeducation for bipolar disorder (2010-2013, main supervisor).  Passed 2014.
  15. Andrew Smith (DClinPsy): Scottish Transgender and Autistic Traits Study. Passed 2014.
  16. 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

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.

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.

Past project grants

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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