Introducing our Independent Scientific Advisory Panel

The Independent Scientific Advisory Panel is a core part of the governance framework for our NIHR Maudsley BRC, providing advice and a means for scientific accountability, in parallel with the central accountability to the NIHR. The Panel is chaired by Dr Helen Munn OBE.

The members of the panel are (pictured above, left to right):

• Professor Ann John, Professor of Public Health and Psychiatry, Health Data Science, Swansea University
• Professor John Norrie, Professor of Health and Social Science Methodology, Centre for Public Health, Queen’s University Belfast
• Dr Tim Tasker,Vice President Clinical Development, Neurocrine Biosciences
• Professor Therese van Amelsvoort, academic psychiatrist and Professor in Transitional Psychiatry, Maastricht University.
• Panel Chair: Dr Helen Munn OBE

Professor Grainne McAlonan, Director of the NIHR Maudsley BRC, said:

“Our new Independent Scientific Advisory Panel bring a wealth of expertise and experience to the BRC, and valuable new perspectives to inform our future direction. I am delighted they will be supporting me as Director in shaping and delivering our world-leading portfolio of translational research in mental health conditions and brain disorders.”

About our Independent Scientific Advisory Panel

Professor Ann John

Ann John is a professor of Public Health and Psychiatry at Swansea University Medical School. She is a clinical epidemiologist with a background in public health and general practice. Her research focuses on suicide and self-harm prevention and children and young peoples’ mental health. She is PI and Co-Director of DATAMIND, the MRC funded HDRUK Mental Health Data Hub. And the National Centre for Self-Harm and Suicide Prevention.

Ann leads a research programme with a focus on mental health data science Including, the MQ funded Adolescent Mental Health Data Platform, the Suicide Information Database-Cymru. Ann also Co-leads the Data and Digital workstream of the Mental Health Translational Research Collaboration.

She is passionate about the translation of research into policy and practice. She chairs the National Advisory Group on suicide and self-harm prevention to Welsh Government, Vice President of the International Association of Suicide Prevention, and Associate Editor of Archive of Suicide Research Ann is a trustee of MQ.

Ann has led and been involved in the development of several government and NHS-commissioned reports, policy documents and community resources including those for the education sector particularly in relation to mental, self-harm, bullying and attendance.

Professor John Norrie

John Norrie is a medical statistician and clinical trialist, dedicated to improving health through randomised trials. John has led academic Clinical Trials Units in Aberdeen and Edinburgh, having started his career in Glasgow, and now continues his work at Queen’s University Belfast.

John is involved in global health initiatives and various national funding boards, and provides independent oversight for landmark trials. John was elected Fellow Society for Clinical Trials (2015) and Faculty Public Health (2018). He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE).

John studied Mathematics at King's College London and Statistics at LSE.

Professor Therese van Amelsvoort

Therese van Amelsvoort is an academic psychiatrist and Professor in Transitional Psychiatry. She currently leads the Mental Health academic research group of Maastricht University.

She trained as an academic psychiatrist at The Maudsley Hospital / Institute of Psychiatry in London.

She has obtained funding for and supervised over 50 PhD projects and has been running the National Adult 22q11DS Centre of Expertise for over 20 years.

In addition, she is co-founder of @ease (www.ease.nl), the Dutch version of the successful Australian Headspace initiative, youth mental health walk-in centres serving prevention and early detection.

Finally, she runs, and initiated, a specialised youth mental health care service bridging the gap between child & adolescence and adult services. She has more than 30 years clinical experience and is part of several international collaborative research networks including YOUTHreach, Youth-GEMS, IBBC, Genes2MH, ENIGMA, PSYSCAN, RTOC, MINDDS.

Dr Tim Tasker

Dr Tim Tasker, MBBS, BA, FRCP, FFPM is a physician and clinical pharmacologist responsible as the London based Vice President for First in Human studies and Experimental Medicine in Neurocrine Biosciences. Neurocrine is a California based biotech with marketed products in CNS applications and a research and early clinical focus in Neurology/Psychiatry/Neuroendocrinology and Neuroimmunology.

Dr Tasker qualified in Medicine in Oxford and UCHMS London. He was previously European Head of Clinical Pharmacology for GSK and responsible for all GSK’s in house Clinical Pharmacology Units worldwide from 1992-2005), including establishing the Addenbrooke’s Centre for Clinical investigation in Cambridge UK. During his career, he has almost exclusively focussed upon the early clinical development of novel molecules for Neuroscience applications including the application of advanced investigative techniques such as electrophysiology, PET and functional brain imaging.

He was Chief Medical Officer for Sosei Heptares from 2014-2022, responsible for the early clinical development of a portfolio of highly selective muscarinic agonists designed by Sosei Heptares, compounds now partnered with Neurocrine, with one of these now in phase III studies in Schizophrenia.

Panel Chair

Dr Helen Munn OBE

Helen has been a Trustee of MQ Mental Health Research since 2017. She has a particular interest in the intersection between neurodivergence and mental health. Helen stepped in to serve as CEO of MQ in 2019 before returning to the Board of Trustees and Science Council. She is also an active school Governor, specialising in welfare, safeguarding and governance. Helen was appointed by UKRI as the first chair of the UK Research Integrity Committee, establishing it as a body to promote leadership and assurance around UK research integrity. From 2009-2019 Helen served as the Executive Director of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences, delivering influential policy reports and overseeing a portfolio of innovative grant and mentoring schemes to support early career researchers. She was awarded an OBE for services to medical science in the 2020 New Year’s Honours List.