Professor Phillip Asherson

Philip Asherson, MB,BS, MRCPsych, PhD is Professor of Molecular Psychiatry at the MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP) Research Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London in the United Kingdom. Prof. Asherson earned his medical degree from The Royal London Hospital and his doctoral degree from the University of Wales. He was an MRC Clinical Research Fellow in the Department of Psychological Medicine & Institute of Medical Genetics at the University of Wales College of Medicine in Cardiff where he worked on molecular genetic studies of schizophrenia with Professors Mike Owen and Peter McGuffin.

Prof. Asherson works on clinical, quantitative genetic and molecular genetic studies of ADHD in adults and children; and clinical assessment and treatment of ADHD in adults. He is a lead clinician in the national Adult ADHD Clinic at the Maudsley Hospital, since 1998; which was established by Brian Toone and Susan Young in 1994. He has published several articles on the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD in adults, with a particular focus on approaches that are relevant to clinical services in the UK. He was a member of the NICE Guideline Development Group for ADHD (2008); main contributions being to sections on the validity of the diagnostic construct of ADHD across the lifespan and the clinical procedures and services required for the clinical management of ADHD in adults.

Current research projects include the International Multi-centre ADHD Gene (IMAGE) project. IMAGE is a multi-site European study that has collected over 1,000 families with one or more individuals with combined type ADHD. He works closely with Jonna Kuntsi on family and twin studies that are identifying neuropsychological processes that share aetiological influences with ADHD. He is the author and co-author of more than 160 articles and book chapters on genetics of psychiatric conditions including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and ADHD, as well as idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE).

 

Declaration of Interest

• Prof. Asherson has been a consultant for Jannsen-Cilag
• He has been a consultant for Eli-Lilly, Shire and Flynn Pharma.
• Prof. Asherson has received a research grant from Shire.
• He has received grants related to ADHD from Wellcome Trust, The Medical Research Council, US National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of Health Research.
• He has received an educational grant from Janssen-Cilag.
• Prof. Asherson has developed educational programs for Janssen-Cilag.
• He has given educational talks at meetings sponsored by Janssen-Cilag, Shire and Flynn-Pharma.
• Prof. Asherson has been a member of the NICE guideline development group for ADHD.