Home » Our Cognitive Specialists

Dr Emer MacSweeney
Consultant Neuroradiologist

Dr Emer MacSweeney

Consultant Neuroradiologist

Bio

Dr Emer MacSweeney is a leading London neuroradiologist with experience in both the NHS and the independent sector. Currently, she is the CEO and Medical Director of Re:Cognition Health, where she was awarded the KPMG Entrepreneur of the year award in 2016. Her previous posts include Director of Neuroradiology at Atkinson Morley’s Hospital, St George’s Healthcare Trust and Managing Director at MedTel UK. Dr MacSweeney has a special interest in neuroradiology of cognitive impairment disorders with considerable experience in imaging of neurovascular diseases and traumatic brain injury.

Education

Dr MacSweeney trained in neuroradiology at The Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen's Square, specialising in interventional vascular neuroradiology, and spent time on a scholarship at Harvard University.

Dr Gianetta Rands
Consultant Psychiatrist

Dr Gianetta Rands

Consultant Psychiatrist

Bio

Dr Gianetta Rands is dual registered in general and old age psychiatry. She retired from the NHS in 2015 after 34 years, mostly as a consultant psychiatrist specialising in cognitive impairments due to dementias and delirium, mental capacity assessments and management, and the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric illnesses presenting in older people. Throughout her career she has had major roles in postgraduate training, as Membership examiner, and on several Committees of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. These continue as she develops her private practice and medic-olegal work. She is approved as s12 assessor for the Mental Health Act and medical assessor for the Mental Capacity Act.

Education

Throughout her career she has had major roles in postgraduate training, as Membership examiner, and on several Committees of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. These continue as she develops her private practice and medicolegal work.

Dr Steven Allder
Consultant Neurologist

Dr Steven Allder

Consultant Neurologist

Bio

Dr Allder is a Consultant Neurologist at Re:Cognition Health. He is is currently using his clinical expertise to focus on the assessment of patients with traumatic brain injury. Dr Allder has also established the first emotion-focused service for medically unexplained neurological symptoms. Alongside this clinical work, Dr Allder is embarking on a research project looking at the long term impact of autonomic responses provoked by acute traumatic injuries; specifically, how certain autonomic responses to acute trauma set up changes in underlying brain networks that create and maintain long term neurological and pain syndromes. Dr Allder worked most recently within the NHS for Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He previously worked at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust from 2004 – 2015, where he held a series of clinical leadership positions, including Assistant Medical Director, in addition to his clinical workload.

Education

He trained in Nottingham in general medicine and carried out his specialist neurology training at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Dr Allder’s main interests are the management of acute neurological emergencies, in particular cerebrovascular disease and traumatic brain injury. Dr Allder ran a general neurology outpatient practice during his NHS work and had specific sub-specialist interest in neuro-otology (assessment of dizzy patients), neurological pain syndromes and medically unexplained symptoms.

Dr Julius Bourke
Consultant Neuropsychiatrist

Dr Julius Bourke

Consultant Neuropsychiatrist

Bio

Dr Julius Bourke is a consultant neuropsychiatrist and has a special interest in the assessment and management of neuropsychiatric disorders such as Parkinson's disease, brain injury and concussion, depression, anxiety (including PTSD and OCD) and stress-related conditions. He is an expert in the diagnosis and management of somatic disorders such as chronic fatigue and chronic pain syndromes, which lie at the interface between general medicine, surgery and psychiatry. He is frequently instructed in the provision of expert medicolegal opinion on psychiatric disorders, head injury and post-concussion syndromes. His NHS clinic is in East London, outside of which he serves as a clinical senior lecturer in neurophysiology and clinical psychiatry at Queen Mary University London.

Education

Dr Bourke's specialist research interests are in the neurophysiology of chronic pain, the somatic syndromes and stress-related disorders. He has given numerous talks and presentations on both a national and an international basis. Dr Bourke has been widely published on an array of field-related topics. He has co-authored a text book on psychiatry and has contributed chapters to numerous others, including for a world leading textbook on internal medicine and on chronic pain, fatigue and neuropsychiatric disorders.

Dr Sarah Griffiths
Consultant Neuropsychologist

Dr Sarah Griffiths

Consultant Neuropsychologist

Bio

Dr Griffiths, D. Clin. Psy, PGDip (Neuropsych.), is a Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist and full practitioner member of the British Psychological Society Division of Neuropsychology. She is currently the Lead Consultant Neuropsychologist for the Memory Assessment Service, Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, where she directs the specialist assessment of, and post-diagnostic intervention programmes for, dementia sufferers. During 8 years working as a Senior Neuropsychologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neuropsychology, Queens Square she gained extensive experience in diagnostic neuropsychology assessments and rehabilitation with a wide range of patients with neurological impairment, including those with dementia, stroke, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury and brain tumours. During that time, she was also the Lead Psychologist for the Neuro-oncology Service. She has expertise in carrying out assessments of capacity and fitness to work following neurological injury.

Education

She completed her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, and achieved a distinction in her post-graduate diploma in Neuropsychology from the University of Glasgow.

Dr Wojtek Rakowicz
Consultant Neurologist

Dr Wojtek Rakowicz

Consultant Neurologist

Bio

Dr Wojtek Rakowicz MB BS, BSc, PhD, FRCP has been consultant neurologist since 2003. He provides a comprehensive consultant-led outpatient & inpatient service covering the whole of adult neurology as well as a regional specialist neuromuscular service. Dr Rakowicz has been preparing medicolegal reports covering all aspects of neurology since 2005. Early on he worked on personal injury claims and also developed a specialist portfolio of neurological problems arising from pharmacy dispensing errors, particularly in Parkinson’s disease. In the last 4 years he has been developed a wide portfolio covering epilepsy and cognitive dysfunction following head injury, stroke prevention (TIAs), and neuromuscular disorders – diseases of the diseases of the spinal cord (including nerve roots and cauda equina), motor neurones, peripheral nerves and muscles.

Education

MB BS, BSc, PhD, FRCP

Dr John Janssen
Consultant Neurologist

Dr John Janssen

Consultant Neurologist

Bio

Dr Janssen was appointed to the consultant staff at The Chelsea and Westminster, Royal Brompton and Charing Cross Hospitals in 2005. He has set up a specialist emergency TIA service and been closely involved with the introduction and provision of stroke thrombolysis in West London in conjunction with the North West London Stroke and Cardiac Network.

Dr Janssen was appointed service director for neurology and stroke in 2016 at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and leads an expanding and busy department of 15 consultants. He is a keen teacher of medical students and a GMC recognized trainer.

Dr Janssen specialist interests include headache, migraine, stroke, TIA, dementia, memory, Parkinson's, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and general neurology.

Education

Dr John Casimir Janssen qualified from Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School (one of the founding medical schools of Imperial College School of Medicine) and subsequently trained as a neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and the Royal Free Hospital.

He was a Research Fellow in the Dementia Research Group and was awarded his MD from The Institute of Neurology, University of London. As a senior registrar he was a Visiting Fellow to the Alzheimer Research Centre at The Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam.

Dr Karren Towgood
Consultant Neuropsychologist

Dr Karren Towgood

Consultant Neuropsychologist

Bio

Dr Towgood is a HCPC registered Clinical Psychologist. She is a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society (BPS) and a full member of the BPS Division of Neuropsychology. Dr Towgood has worked for over a decade in the field of neuropsychology within both the private and public sector in the UK and internationally. She has specialist experience in neuropsychological assessment with adults and older adults, including patients who present with stroke, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, HIV and other neurological conditions. She also has extensive expertise working within a neuro-rehabilitation setting where she has developed expertise in conducting capacity assessments, applied behavioural management and working therapeutically with clients and their carers who present with a range of cognitive and emotional difficulties.

Dr Towgood has been involved in conducting medico-legal assessments since 2013.

Education

Dr Towgood was awarded her BPsych (1st Class Honours) from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia before completing her PhD and Clini-cal Psychology Training at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She is an experienced researcher having completed post-doctoral posts with world leading experts at the ICN, University College London, and the IOP, Kings College London. Dr Towgood's research interests include individual case study approaches to profiling neuropsychological conditions and assessment of memory using fMRI in neurological conditions. She has presented her work at a number of international conferences and in journal articles and has received awards for her research contributions.

Dr Dimitrios Paschos
Consultant Psychiatrist in Intellectual Disabilities

Dr Dimitrios Paschos

Consultant Psychiatrist in Intellectual Disabilities

Bio

Dr Paschos is a Honorary Research Fellow at King's College London and since 2004 he has been lecturing regularly at the MSc in Mental Health Studies (Learning Disabilities module) at the Institute of Psychiatry and has published in peer-reviewed journals. He served on the board of medical and scientific charities and is currently President of the Hellenic Medical Society of the UK. He regularly teaches Psychiatry of Learning Disabilities to medical students at University College London. He is currently research collaborating investigator in a study of the genetics of learning disability and a clinical trial of a novel psychotropic medication. Since 2008 he worked as Consultant Psychiatrist for the following organisations: South London & Maudsley NHS FT, The Cambian Group and Camden and Islington NHS FT. Dr Paschos currently works for the NHS part-time where he focuses on the mental health of adults with learning and developmental disabilities. He has a special interest in ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorders and the mental health of people with Learning Disability. He leads the Blue Sky Adult ADHD Clinic.

Education

Dr Dimitrios Paschos completed his basic medical training in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He graduated in 1998 and started his specialist training as a psychiatrist in England in 1999. He trained at the South London and Maudsley. He gained experience in General Psychiatry, Old Age Psychiatry, Rehabilitation, Liaison Psychiatry, Substance Misuse, Learning Disabilities and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. During his training he worked at Lewisham, Lambeth, Maudsley, Royal Bethlem and Guy's Hospitals.

Dr Paschos continued his higher specialist training (SpR) in South London and Maudsley and completed his specialisation in the Psychiatry of Learning Disabilities. This included training at the National Adult ADHD Centre at the Maudsley Hospital. He holds certificate of completion of specialist training (CCT) and is on the GMC specialist register.

Dr Maite Ferrin
Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist

Dr Maite Ferrin

Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist

Bio

Dr Maite Ferrin (MD, MSc, PhD) is a Consultant Psychiatrist with with extensive expertise in treating children and adolescents with all types of mild and more severe psychiatric conditions, including anxiety/depression, psychosis, bipolar disorder, PTSD, ASD/ADHD, eating disorder, and emerging Personality Disorder. Dr Ferrin has been providing tailored medical treatments and non-pharmacological approaches including CBT and psychoeducation to these patients and their families.

Dr Ferrin has published more than 40 international peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in the field of child psychiatry. She is part of the steering committee of the Continuum ADHD Project, an expert-led pan-European educational initiative in the ADHD field. Dr Ferrin is also one of the few UK members of the Eunethydis Group (European Network for Hyperkinetic Disorders) and the European ADHD Guidelines Group (EAGG), independent international leading groups with special clinical and research interest in the ADHD/ADD field

Education

Dr Ferrin graduated from University of Navarre (Spain) in 2001 and subsequently completed her training in General Psychiatry in Pamplona, Spain, and then undertook specialist fellowship training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Imperial College in London. In 2005-2006 Dr Ferrin completed her MSc training in Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Institute of Psychiatry, King´s College London. In 2010 she completed her European PhD in Neurosciences at the University of Granada/King´s College London, and she was qualified with the prestigious Cum Laude (equivalent to Distinction grade). During these years Dr Ferrin continued working as CAMHS Consultant Psychiatry, specialising in diagnosis and treatment of ADHD/ASD and comorbid conditions throughout the lifespan.

Dr Ferrin is Honorary Clinical Lecturer at the Brain and Behaviour Laboratory, at the University of Southampton

Dr Claudia Wald
Consultant Psychiatrist

Dr Claudia Wald

Consultant Psychiatrist

Bio

Dr Claudia Wald is a Consultant Psychiatrist specialising in the mental health of older adults. She has had a wide range of experience in overseeing services including older adult in-patient wards, an NHS-funded continuing care home for people with mental illness and associated challenging behaviours, an older adult community mental health team and older adult liaison services at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital and St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington.

Dr Wald established the Westminster Memory Service in 2009 and the Kensington & Chelsea Memory Service in 2011 which have both repeatedly been nationally accredited with excellence by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and which were awarded The Royal College’s Older Adult Team of the Year in 2015.

She has extensive experience in the diagnosis and management of cognitive disorders and the psychiatric and behavioural symptoms which commonly accompany these conditions. In addition, Dr Wald has extensive experience in the diagnosis, treatment and management of functional mental illnesses such as mood disorders and psychosis as well as capacity assessments.

Education

Dr Wald gained dual accreditation in adult and older adult psychiatry from the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 1998 and has been a Consultant Psychiatrist for Older Adults in Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust since 2003.

Dr Richard Perry
Consultant Neurologist

Dr Richard Perry

Consultant Neurologist

Bio

Dr Richard Perry is a Consultant Neurologist with a specialist interest in memory disorders and dementias. He has been running memory clinics at Charing Cross Hospital in London since 2005 and specialises in early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.

Education

Dr Perry completed his medical degree at the medical college of St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1990. His specialist experience in memory disorders and dementia was gained in Cambridge from 1995 to 1999 and in San Francisco from 1999 to 2000.

Deborah Colson
Cognitive Nutritional Therapist

Deborah Colson

Cognitive Nutritional Therapist

Bio

Deborah Colson has been specialising in nutritional support for cognitive and neurological health and well-being since 2002.

Nutritional Therapy is an evidence-based therapy, which is complementary to medicine and other therapies and involves managing nutritional and biochemical factors which impact health. Deborah provides detailed assessment of nutritional status that can contribute to psychiatric and neurological symptoms including cognitive decline, ADHD and autistic spectrum disorders, mood disorders including depression, anxiety and bipolar, and psychotic disorders including schizophrenia. She develops a practical, personalised plan for each individual which takes into account their unique lifestyle and dietary preferences, and their current nutritional status and genetic predisposition.

Deborah is a full member of the British Association for Applied Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy (BANT) and is registered with the CNHC (Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council).

Education

Deborah completed her initial training at the Institute for Optimum Nutrition in London (DipION) in 2002 and completed an MSc in Nutritional Therapy at the University of Westminster in 2014. She lectures regularly to a variety of audiences including corporates, medical and other health professionals, students and the general public. She is co-author of The Alzheimer's Prevention Plan, Optimum Nutrition for Your Child and Optimum Nutrition for your Child's Mind.

Dr Alberto Cifelli
Consultant Neurologist

Dr Alberto Cifelli

Consultant Neurologist

Bio

Dr Alberto Cifelli is a Consultant Neurologist at Queen’s Hospital in Romford and King George Hospital in Ilford.

Education

He gained his doctorate in Clinical Neurology at the University of Oxford, undertaking research on multiple sclerosis.

Dr Cifelli carried out his specialist neurology training at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham and previously was a Neurology Consultant at King’s College Hospital and Darent Valley Hospital.

Lisa Harris
Speech and Language Therapist

Lisa Harris

Speech and Language Therapist

Bio

Lisa Harris is Senior Specialist Speech and Language Therapist who has 18 years of experience working in the rehabilitation of adults with communication, cognitive and swallowing difficulties resulting from neurological injury or disease.

Lisa provides detailed assessment of cognitive and communication disorders that can result from a stroke, head injury (TBI), Parkinson's Disease, Motor Neurone Disease, brain tumours, Alzheimers disease and Multiple Sclerosis (MS).Once an assessment is completed Lisa will work closely with a client looking not only at developing a suitable treatment plan, but how to support and enable the client and their family to communicate effectively and manage any cognitive difficulties such as memory or processing problems.

Lisa also provides a paediatric service alongside her neurological work which specialises in Language Processing Disorders (difficulty understanding and using language successfully). Lisa uses both the traditional paediatric forms of treatment and those developed from her cognitive, neuroscience background to develop strategies to enable children with language and cognitive difficulties to process and understand information more successfully

Education

Since graduating from City University in 1995 she has held several specialist posts in London NHS hospitals (St George's Hospital; Atkinson Morley's Hospital, London; Harrowlands and The Wolfson Medical Rehabilitation Centre) and has been head of department for two neurological rehabilitation units (Unsted Park Neurological Rehabilitation centre and The Brain Injury Centre, The Queen Elizabeth Foundation, Banstead.) She has also been a post graduate clinical tutor at The City University, London.

Dr Amod Dalvi
Consultant Psychiatrist

Dr Amod Dalvi

Consultant Psychiatrist

Bio

Dr Dalvi is a Consultant Psychiatrist at Re:Cognition Health. He has experience in developing Memory & Liaison Services in London & Derbyshire. His international experience in Drug trials includes the the SCAB 2009 Lamotrigine Mania Study in India. He has worked as an expert medical member on the Charing Cross Research & Ethics Committee. Dr Dalvi also works for the Clinical Equivalence committee at the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Education

Dr Dalvi trained at the Charing Cross basic and higher specialist Psychiatric scheme and obtained his MRCPsych in 2003. Following this he worked as a Specialist Registrar in Old Age, General Adult and Liaison Psychiatry at the Chelsea& Westminster Hospital. Dr Dalvi worked as an Academic SpR & Honorary Research Fellow with Professor Barnes and Professor Joyce in Imperial College School of Medicine on the West London First Episode study. He obtained his CCT in General Adult& Old Age Psychiatry with a Liaison sub speciality in October 2007 following which he worked as a Consultant within the Central and North West London Foundation Trust.

Dr Paul Butler
Consultant Neuroradiologist

Dr Paul Butler

Consultant Neuroradiologist

Bio

Dr Butler specialises in diagnostic neuroradiology and interventional vascular neuroradiology and works with patients affected by cerebrovascular disease and stroke.

Dr Butler first became a consultant neuroradiologist in January 1986. He has been director of imaging at King Edward VII Hospital, a private hospital in London, since 2004.

Education

Dr Paul Butler graduated from Westminster in 1976.

Dr Andre Strydom
Consultant Psychiatrist in Intellectual Disabilities

Dr Andre Strydom

Consultant Psychiatrist in Intellectual Disabilities

Bio

Dr Andre Strydom, Consultant Psychiatrist in Learning Disabilities at C&I, focuses on recognising and treating mental disorders in adults with neurodevelopmental conditions − including people with intellectual disabilities, Down Syndrome, Autism and Asperger Syndrome, and ADHD.

His particular interest is in research on how to diagnose and manage the memory problems some people experience as they get older and the mechanisms that underlie associations between genetic conditions such as Down Syndrome and Alzheimer’s Disease, and which could help us to identify new treatments.

Education

Dr Strydom, who also mentors young researchers in UCL’s Division of Psychiatry, is involved in developing and trialling complex interventions in adults with ID, such as CBT for anxiety and depression, positive behaviour support for problem behaviours, and health checks for people with intellectual disabilities in primary care.

Dr Emma Reynolds
Consultant Neuropsychologist

Dr Emma Reynolds

Consultant Neuropsychologist

Bio

Dr Reynolds currently works in private practice and in the NHS as a Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist. In her NHS role, she is the lead in managing and developing neuropsychology rehabilitation services for patients across a number of London boroughs including Hammersmith & Fulham, Westminster, and Kensington & Chelsea. She provides clinical supervision and training for a team of clinical neuropsychologists. She has extensive experience in carrying out neuropsychological assessment of patients with acquired brain injury and neurological conditions. This includes but is not limited to traumatic brain injury, stroke, brain tumour, neuro-degenerative disorder and epilepsy.

Dr Reynolds is experienced in carrying out medico legal work and receives instructions from claimants (75%) and defendants (25%). She has completed the Cardiff University Law School Bond Solon Civil Expert Certificate (CUBS) and is a member of the Expert Witness Institute.

Education

She completed her training at University College London and Royal Holloway, University of London. She then undertook further specialist training in clinical neuropsychology at the University of Glasgow and was awarded a Distinction. Following this, she obtained the Qualification in Clinical Neuropsychology, which is viewed as the gold standard qualification for clinical neuropsychology within the UK. She was then offered a place on the Specialist Register in Clinical Neuropsychology, regulated by the British Psychological Society.

Dr Stephen Pearson
Consultant Psychiatrist

Dr Stephen Pearson

Consultant Psychiatrist

Bio

Dr Stephen Pearson FRCPsych, is a Consultant in Old Age Psychiatry based in Plymouth. He works for Re:Cognition Health at the Plymouth Science Park where he leads a clinical research team who deliver world class clinical dementia research trials. He describes these research trials as bringing hope to people with dementia, and offer an opportunity for patients and volunteers to get involved in research. He also offers a My Memory Service at the research centre for assessments of patients concerned about early memory problems.

Dr Pearson also works in NHS services in a memory clinic, and in local community services. He is the lead for the South West Peninsula Huntington’s Disease Clinic and offers advice and support to professionals and patients.

Education

Dr Christopher Symeon
Consultant Neuropsychiatrist

Dr Christopher Symeon

Consultant Neuropsychiatrist

Bio

Dr Christopher Symeon is a Consultant Neuropsychiatrist in liaison and neuropsychiatry. He has experience in the assessment and treatment of neuropsychiatric conditions including: functional neurological disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, brain injury, as well as general psychiatric disorders. Dr Symeon is part of Re:Cognition Health's team of Medico-Legal experts.

Education

He undertook his medical training in Bart's and The London medical school before going on to his specialist psychiatric training at the South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. In addition, he has completed a masters in neuroscience at Kings College London.