Dr Vanessa Crawford MB.BS, MRCPsych Qualified St Bartholomew’s Hospital, University of London 1988. Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Director, East London and the City Specialist Addiction Services based in Hackney, East London.

Most of my working life as a doctor has been spent in the East End of London with 2 years at St George’s Hospital as Clinical Lecturer in Addictive Behaviour, prior to holding my first substantive Consultant post in Bermuda. I worked for 2 years as a Consultant in General Adult Psychiatry and Addiction in Cambridgeshire prior to returning to East London.

I have had a long-standing interest in the field of addiction and the related consequences. My first connection with the unit I currently work in was as a chosen 2-week elective placement as a medical student. My interest in HIV started prior to my medical student elective in San Francisco and 18 months of my Specialist Registrar training was in HIV psychiatry.

One of most successful new projects we have is a unique in-house Hepatitis C treatment service. This is a collaboration between the Professorial Department of Hepatology, Royal London Hospital led by Professor Graham Foster and our nurse-led Blood Borne Virus (BBV) team. I have just been appointed Director of Undergraduate Medical Education for psychiatry at Bart’s and the London and hope to be able to influence the attitudes and training of future doctors to provide a better service to all, especially those traditionally stigmatised.

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