PESHAWAR: Prof Saeed Farooq, a former psychiatrist at Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar, has been given the academic researcher award for year 2024 by Royal College of Psychiatrists UK.

He is the only Pakistani to be selected for this prestigious global research professorship. As a part of the research professorship, he will lead a team of researchers to establish and evaluate an early intervention in psychosis (EIP) service in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Prof Saeed Farooq won the award in mid-senior academic category. This is a challenging category considering that leading academic from centres of excellence in institutions like Cambridge, Oxford and other top universities in UK would be nominated in this category.

A resident of Haripur, Prof Saeed is currently National Institute for Health and Care Research Global Research Professor, Professor of Psychiatry and Public Mental Health at Keele University and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust. He received the prestigious award for extensive research.

Prof Saeed Farooq wins global academic researcher award in UK

He has more than 250 publications and lead studies on improving treatment adherence, optimising treatment for severe mental illness and early detection of treatment resistant schizophrenia. A graduate of Khyber Medical College, Peshawar, he won a grant worth around £10 million as principal investigator.

Prof Saeed’s work impressed judges greatly as it was innovative and international in nature with great potential for improving care for mental ill-health worldwide.

He was also awarded UK’s Global Health Professorship Award by National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) earlier this year. He was selected for the ward after a competitive peer review of research plan submitted by applicants from UK and globally, followed by interview by a panel of world leading researchers.

The early intervention in psychosis (EIP) is mostly available in developed countries like UK and Australia. The research programme will aim at detecting and treating psychosis -- a severe mental disorder in which people lose contact with reality -- at the earliest possible stage. There is a large gap between somebody experiencing a first symptom of psychosis and receiving appropriate treatment.

On average, this gap is around two years in low and middle income countries like Pakistan. This often results in poor outcomes for the patient, including more severe symptoms, worse quality of life and lower levels of recovery from psychosis.

Due to the huge impact of the delayed treatment on young people suffering from psychosis, his team at Keele University, UK, is starting research programme that will establish and evaluate EIP services in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. This research programme called ‘Translate’, which stands for translating evidence for early intervention in psychosis, will be first of its kind in developing countries. Two doctors from Pakistan spent four weeks in UK during September to see how the service works in UK. They are now adopting the service for Pakistan under the supervision of Prof Saeed.

He told Dawn that about 90pc of all those, who were likely to suffer from psychosis, would be living in low and middle income countries including Pakistan. Psychosis mostly affects young people. “The early intervention in psychosis service will be first offered in Peshawar and Abbottabad districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Faisalabad in Punjab, Quetta in Balochistan and Hyderabad in Sindh, and Sri Lanka’s Galle district,” he added.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2024