Raj Persaud

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Rajendra Persaud

Raj Persaud at Humber Mouth, 30 June 2007.
Born 13 May 1963 (1963-05-13) (age 45)
Flag of England Reading, England
Occupation Psychiatrist,
TV and radio presenter
Website
http://www.rajpersaud.com

Prof. Rajendra (Raj) Persaud (born 13 May 1963 in Reading, Berkshire) is a British consultant psychiatrist, broadcaster, and author of popular books about psychiatry. He is a well known for his contribution to the public awareness of psychiatric and mental health issues; according to Dr Phil Hammond, writing in The Independent, "he can do what most consultants can't – translate medspeak into plain English".

He pronounces his surname IPA: /pɚˈsɔːd/ "per-SAWED". He is married to an eye surgeon, and has one son and one daughter.

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[edit] Academic career

Persaud was educated at the Haberdashers' Aske's School (a private school in Elstree, just north of London) and at University College London. As well as his medical degree, he has a first class honours degree in Psychology (1984), a Diploma & MPhil in Philosophy, an MSc in statistics, and a degree in the history of medicine. In 2000 he was awarded by being made a UCL Fellow, and in 2005 made Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

He is a consultant psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust and Gresham Professor for Public Understanding of Psychiatry. In 2002 he was voted one of the top ten psychiatrists in the UK by a survey of the Institute of Psychiatry and the Royal College of Psychiatrists, published in the Independent on Sunday newspaper.

[edit] Media career & Popular Culture

Raj Persaud is a prolific broadcaster; presenting the BBC Radio 4 psychology and psychiatry programme All in the Mind. He also is presenter for Travels of the Mind for BBC World Service. He frequently appears on radio and TV programmes, as either interviewee or presenter, and was resident psychiatrist on the well-known daytime television programme This Morning. In addition to writing regularly for The Daily Telegraph and The Independent, he also has columns in Times Educational Supplement, Cosmopolitan and Canary Wharf CityLife magazine.

He has appeared on numerous talk-shows such as Richard & Judy and Anne & Nick as a voice of expert opinion on psychological and health-related issues. With the GP Mark Porter, he co-presented the live medical-talk and phone-in TV program Doctor, Doctor on channel Five

He has written several books, and in 2007 was the consulting editor of a book produced by The Royal College of Psychistrists called The Mind: A user's guide.

Dr Raj Persaud does a great deal of charity work; he recently became a patron of a leading charity for people affected by Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), OCD-UK. He also works with ActionAid, and recently visited Bangladesh with them. He has also made visits to many other countries to assist with their approach to mental health.

[edit] Awards

  • Denis Hill Prize, 1991
  • Osler Medal, 1991
  • Fellow of University College London, 2000
  • Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2004
  • Tony Thistlethwaite Award Commendation for Excellence (Medical Journalists' Association), 2005
  • Morris Markow Prize Royal College of Psychiatrists 2005

[edit] Criticisms - plagiarism

Persaud's critics claim that with so many media appearances on top of his research and teaching commitments, "Britain's most ubiquitous psychiatrist" (The Guardian) is spreading himself too thin.

In 2005 Persaud was accused of plagiarism. Thomas Blass, professor of psychology at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, alleged that a large proportion of Persaud's article in Progress in Neurology and Psychiatry (Volume 9, Issue 2) had been taken word for word from Blass's work on Stanley Milgram's 1963 "obedience" experiments, as had an earlier article in the Times Educational Supplement. Persaud claimed this had been due to an error, and offered to apologise for not crediting Blass.

An article about Scientology's relationship to psychiatry in The Independent of June 30, 2005 was found to have used parts of a publication of the Canadian Professor Stephen A. Kent without attribution [1]. The paper blamed a "production error" and altered the article in its web archives to properly attribute Kent. [2]

In December 2005, it was announced that two of his articles would be retracted from the British Medical Journal and Progress in Neurology and Psychiatry publications, while his work is reviewed by a panel from the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College.

In April 2006, he resigned as host of the BBC Radio 4 programme All In The Mind because of the controversy [3], but returned in April 2007 [4].

In December 2007, the issue of alleged plagiarism emerged once more, with Persaud being summoned to appear before the General Medical Council [5].

[edit] Publications

  • Staying Sane: How to Make your Mind Work for You, September 1997 (Metro), ISBN 1900512386
  • From the Edge of the Couch, March 2003 (Bantam Press), ISBN 0553813463
  • The Motivated Mind, March 2005 (Bantam Press), ISBN 0553813455
  • Simply Irresistible: The Psychology of Seduction - How to Catch and Keep Your Perfect PartnerJan 2007 (Bantam Press), ISBN 0593055888
  • The Mind: A User's Guide July 2007 (Bantam Press), ISBN 0593056353

[edit] See also

[edit] External links