Scientific Committee

Dr. Aisha Mohamed Al Dhufairi is a Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Director of Adult services at Maudsley health, with over 15 years of clinical experience in psychiatry, patient care and hospital management.

She completed her Psychiatry residency in Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi in 2014. She attained certification from the Arab Board of Health Specialization in Psychiatry. She is a Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists since 2015. She holds a Master’s degree in Health Care Management.

Before joining Maudsley Health, Dr. Al Dhufairi served as a Senior Consultant Psychiatrist and Core Faculty member of the psychiatry training program. She worked at the institution for 15 successful years, beginning in 2010.

She has held several leadership positions, including Medical Director, Deputy-Medical director, and Division Head of Outpatient Clinic. Dr. Al Dhufairi is a member of several medical and psychiatric committees within government health entities, where she serves as a subject matter expert contributing to the development and enhancement of mental health plans and services.

Dr. Al Dhufairi is specialized in general adult psychiatry, with extensive experience in the assessment and management of a broad range of mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, and psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. She has a particular focus on medical disability assessments and rating, including determinations related to medical retirement, work capacity, and eligibility for social support benefits for individuals experiencing significant mental health conditions.

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Dr Bruce Clark is a senior Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Clinical Director for the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Directorate at the Maudsley Hospital, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. He leads the National and Specialist OCD, BDD and Related Disorders Service and is internationally recognized for his expertise in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), Autism Spectrum Disorders, ADHD, anxiety disorders, depression, and complex behavioral challenges in children and adolescents. Dr Clark has extensive experience in developing comprehensive treatment plans, including advanced pharmacological interventions for young people with mental health conditions. Alongside his clinical responsibilities, Dr Clark is Clinical Director for Child at Adolescent Mental Health at Maudsley Hospital. He has a range of national roles including for NICE and NHS England.

Professor George Tadros is a Consultant Psychiatrist and Geriatric Psychiatrist at Maudsley Health, Abu Dhabi, UAE, bringing over 35 years of extensive clinical experience in psychiatry and patient care.

He became a Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych), London, in 1998 and was awarded the Fellowship (FRCPsych) in 2016 in recognition of his contributions to the field. He qualified as a psychiatrist and neurologist in 1993 and earned his Doctor of Medicine (MD) from Keele University, UK, in 2004.

He completed his specialist training in the UK and holds the Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training (CCST). He worked as consultant psychiatrist in Birmingham, UK, from 2001 till 2020. He remains a registered Consultant Psychiatrist with the General Medical Council (GMC), UK. He is widely recognized for pioneering psychiatric liaison models in the UK and provided exceptional clinical care for over 25 years. His outstanding service was acknowledged with two prestigious national honors: the Bronze Clinical Excellence Award in 2012 and the Silver Clinical Excellence Award in 2016.

In parallel with his clinical work, Professor Tadros has built a distinguished academic career. He became a Full Professor at Aston Medical School in 2016, was appointed Visiting Professor at the University of Chester in 2014, and currently serves as Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at Cairo University since 2019. He also held significant leadership roles, including Clinical Director and Deputy Medical Director at Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Trust until 2020.

Before joining Maudsley Health, Professor Tadros served as Senior Consultant Psychiatrist, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, and Head of the Psychiatry Department at the American Center for Psychiatry and Neurology (ACPN), where he worked for five successful years beginning in 2020.

Professor Tadros is highly skilled in both general and geriatric psychiatry, with a special interest in managing patients with complex medical and psychiatric conditions. He is particularly experienced in the care of older adults with psychiatric disorders and dementia, and is trained in a wide range of memory assessment and management techniques.

He is widely respected for his compassionate and open-minded approach, his commitment to patient autonomy, and his dedication to holistic, integrated, and patient-centred care.

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Dr. Giles Berrisford is a Consultant Psychiatrist trained in the UK and Medical Director of Maudsley Health Hospital Abu Dhabi. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and has held a number of elected leadership roles within the College, including Vice Chair of the Faculty of Perinatal Psychiatry. He remains an elected member of the Faculty Executive Committee and is Co-Chair of the International Marcé Society Special Interest Group for Mother and Baby Units. He has contributed to a range of scientific, academic, and policy-related mental health publications and has completed the prestigious Nye Bevan Leadership Programme for NHS England. He graduated in medicine from the University of Birmingham.

Dr. Berrisford is a trained General Adult Psychiatrist with specialist expertise in perinatal psychiatry, including the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental health difficulties before conception, during pregnancy, and following birth. He works with women experiencing a broad range of conditions including depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), bipolar affective disorder, schizophrenia, postpartum psychosis, tokophobia, bonding disorders, and perinatal depression and anxiety.

He is committed to providing high-quality, evidence-based psychiatric care using a collaborative and holistic approach. He works closely with patients and families to develop personalised treatment plans that reflect individual priorities and promote recovery, wellbeing, and early intervention through a bio-psycho-social model of care.

At Maudsley Health Hospital Abu Dhabi, Dr. Berrisford is leading the development of a new specialist mental health hospital providing 138 inpatient beds across 11 wards for patients with a range of mental health conditions. The hospital includes the region’s first inpatient Mother and Baby Unit and specialist Eating Disorder Unit.

Dr. Berrisford has worked within the NHS in England for more than 25 years. Prior to relocating to the UAE in 2024, he served for eight years as National Specialty Advisor for Perinatal Mental Health to NHS England, supporting the national expansion of specialist perinatal mental health services across England. He is also the Founding Chair of the Perinatal Mental Health Chapter of the Emirates Medical Association (EMA), under the Emirates Society for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ESCAM).

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Jennifer Meehan is an experienced mental health nurse leader with more than 18 years of clinical, operational, and leadership experience across Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates. She serves as Service Manager for the Mental Health of Older Adults Clinical Academic Group at Maudsley Health, supporting the development of specialist older adult mental health services. Jennifer holds an MSc in Advanced Care in Dementia from King’s College London and a BSc in Mental Health Nursing from the University of Limerick. Her expertise includes dementia care, workforce development, patient safety, quality improvement, reducing restrictive practices, and strengthening multidisciplinary teams within culturally diverse healthcare environments

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Jo joined the Maudsley in 2001, originally undertaking a general management role with the renowned National and Specialist child and adolescent mental health services in partnership with Professor Eric Taylor. Jo then took up the Deputy Service Director role and in 2013 became Service Director of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service Clinical Academic Group (CAG). During Jo’s time at the Maudsley, she has led numerous service changes and developments and saw a number of the CAMHS staff and services receive national and international awards recognising innovation, development, and quality.

More recently, Jo has managerially been leading the implementation of Maudsley Health, Abu Dhabi. She is now Managing Director for Maudsley Health, having relocated to the UAE in March 2018 when Maudsley Health successfully bid to work with the Ministry of Health and Prevention to develop the Al Amal Psychiatric Hospital in Dubai.

Jo has a strong interest in the development of services and has provided consultation to the development and management of adult and child mental health services, locally, nationally, and internationally.

Prior to joining the Maudsley, Jo was responsible for a national pediatric service for complex physical disabilities for children and young people and also managed CAMHS community Services. Originally Jo’s career began in Barclays Bank.

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Michelle has dedicated nearly 20 years to working in Mental Health services. She began her career with South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust in the UK in 2005, where she held a variety of senior administrative, managerial, and operational positions, with a particular focus on Child and Adolescent Services. Her responsibilities included collaborating closely with front-line staff to ensure high-quality clinical service delivery across community mental health teams, national and specialist outpatient services, inpatient services for children under 12, as well as adolescent and forensic services.

In 2017, Michelle relocated to the UAE, initially in the role of Clinic Manager supporting the development of the private clinic in Abu Dhabi. She subsequently joined the team in Dubai in 2019 as part of the Al Amal Management Contract. In this capacity, Michelle led the Training and Professional Development (TPD) department at the Psychiatric Hospital for three years, where she was responsible for overseeing workforce development planning and conducting training needs analysis. She managed the development and delivery of a structured academic program, ensuring that training was aligned with discipline and subspecialty-specific needs, facilitating over 6,200 attendances per year. In addition, devising and logistically managing the delivery of a comprehensive mandatory training programme with over 9,000 attendances per year. From her department, she coordinated a student body of over 300 students joining the hospital for placements annually from a range of clinical disciplines.

Currently, as a Project Manager, Michelle oversees the operational components of education and training activities across the Maudsley Health organisation. Her role involves overseeing the development and delivery phases of various clinical training activities and specialist programs.

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Dr. Ola Ahmed is Consultant Clinical Psychologist at Maudsley Health Abu Dhabi. Dr. Ola completed her clinical training in psychology in 2013 at the University of New South Wales, Australia where she went on to complete her PhD in 2015. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Sydney, Australia in 2009. She is a licensed Consultant Clinical Psychologist by the Australia Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), the Department of Health Abu Dhabi (DOH), and the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) in the UK.

Dr. Ola has over twelve years of experience practicing in clinical settings in Australia and the UAE. She has worked with children, adolescents, and families in private practice, hospital settings and schools. In the UAE, she has held clinical roles at centres including ACPN and Camali Clinic, and most recently led the Child Psychology team at the Priory Wellbeing Centre. With a focus on both clinical practice & academic research, Dr. Ola has held academic positions alongside her clinical work.

Dr. Ola works with children and adolescents using a strengths-based, client-centred approach, involving parents, caregivers, and teachers as part of offering holistic care to her clients. She provides assessment and clinical support for behavioural, emotional, and social difficulties during childhood and adolescence including anxiety disorders, mood disorders, emotion-regulation difficulties, conduct and behavioural disorders, OCD, tics and repetitive body focused disorders, and trauma-related disorders. She has a particular clinical interest in working with children presenting with neurodevelopmental differences including Autism and ADHD. Dr. Ola uses evidence-based therapies in both individual and group settings, including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Mindfulness-based therapies, and Attachment-Based Family Therapy. She is trained to deliver several therapeutic groups, including the Incredible Years programs. She is skilled in the use and interpretation of standardised assessments including those used as part of cognitive, academic, and neurodevelopmental assessments.

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Dr. Sarah Almarzooqi obtained her Doctoral Degree in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience at King’s College, London, and trained at the National Health Service (NHS) at Maudsley Hospital and St Thomas’ Hospital in London.

Dr. Sarah Almarzooqi is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist, with a career spanning more than 20 years in the field of mental health. She is an Adjunct Professor of Psychology at the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU). She also held positions of Head of Psychology and allied health, and a Clinical Supervisor.

While working in the UK and the UAE, Dr Almarzooqi developed skills in assessment, diagnosis, behaviour modification, Cognitive Behavioural Intervention (CBT), Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR).

She provides assessment and intervention for behavioural, and emotional difficulties. And work with children and adolescence including anxiety disorders, mood disorders, emotion-regulation difficulties, and OCD. She has a particular clinical interest and expertise in working with children presenting with trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Dr. Sarah uses evidence-based therapies in both individual and group settings.

She also established the first specialized child and adolescent PTSD clinic in Dubai at Aljalila Hospital and has special training and interest in PTSD and trauma. She has successfully published focused research papers on different mental health topics. She is also regular research reviewer at the at European Journal of Psychotraumatology and Maudsley Health Research Ethics Committee Member & researcher. Dr Almarzooqi she is also a founding member of the Emirati Psychological Association.

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Dr. Sarmad Nadeem is a Consultant Psychiatrist and Medical Director at Al Amal Psychiatric Hospital and Maudsley Health, with over 20 years of experience in mental healthcare and medical leadership. Before relocating to the UAE, he held several senior leadership roles within the NHS, including Deputy Medical Director, Associate Medical Director, and Clinical Director at Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust. He also led community mental health transformation initiatives across Greater Manchester. Dr. Nadeem holds FRCPsych, an MSc from the University of Manchester, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Medical Education. His expertise includes clinical leadership, service transformation, governance, workforce development, health inequalities, and community mental health.

Dr. Tareq Qassem is a Consultant Psychiatrist at Maudsley Health Abu Dhabi. He graduated from Ain Shams University in Egypt where he worked as a Lecturer in Psychiatry after earning his Medical Doctorate. He then pursued further training in Old Age Psychiatry in the UK before attaining a Consultant role. His responsibilities as a Consultant in Old Age Psychiatry included leading the neurocognitive clinic which assessed and managed patients experiencing cognitive symptoms. Dr. Tareq Qassem was the chairperson for the Research and Innovation Committee in one of West Midlands National Health Service Trusts (serving a population of 1.1 million) and held Honorary Fellow and Senior Lecturer positions in the University of Warwick as well as Aston University. Dr. Tareq Qassem is currently an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Ain Shams University in Cairo, Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor at the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Dubai Medical College.

Dr. Tareq Qassem has published several publications in high impact journals such as The British Journal of Psychiatry and the British Medical Journal and has authored several chapters in different books in different areas of psychiatry.

Dr. Tareq Qassem is a senior member of the Maudsley Health team at Al-Amal Hospital in Dubai. He is the lead for the Clinical Academic Group for Older Adults.

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Dr. Waleed Ahmed is a senior consultant psychiatrist, with 18 years’ experience in the United Kingdom, both in National Health Service (NHS) and private inpatient and outpatient settings. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (FRCPsych), UK.

Dr. Waleed trained in various NHS health trusts in England as a general psychiatrist. He completed his specialist training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital. He went on to complete further specialist training in Adult Forensic psychiatry across Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. Dr Waleed is uniquely trained to treat children, adolescents and adults for mental health conditions and is DOH licensed Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist with privileges for Adult Psychiatry.

Dr. Waleed has held a variety of clinical consultant roles and is experienced in treating a range of disorders. He is a consultant Child and Adolescent psychiatrist. He has also held posts in a secure adult inpatient unit and specialist Eating Disorders Unit in the UK. Recognising his expertise in psychiatry and treatment of mental disorders, Dr Waleed was appointed as a Designated Medical Practitioner by the Mental Welfare Commission of Scotland to provide second opinions regarding treatment of mental disorders. He was also appointed as a panel member of the highly esteemed Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland, UK.

Dr. Waleed is passionate about patient rights, holistic approaches to treatment and patient-centred care. As a cornerstone of his practice, he has always involved the young person or adult and their carers jointly in arriving at the best understanding of the patient’s difficulties and formulating the most appropriate treatment. Dr Waleed focuses on the strengths of the individual and family, using a bio-psycho-social model of care and treatment.

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