Current Work

Lucy Stirland is an academic geriatric psychiatrist. She has clinical experience in the diagnosis and care of dementia and mental illnesses in older people. She conducts epidemiological research on the brain health and mental health of people with multiple chronic conditions at the University of Edinburgh, UK.

Personal Hero

My patients and their carers

Words of Strength

Friendly, honest, enthusiastic and conscientious

Vision

To reduce the impact of dementia, Lucy believes we must promote proactive general healthcare at a population level. It is crucial that we include everyone in dementia prevention, regardless of socioeconomic background or country of origin.

Strategy

Lucy analyzes routine healthcare records to explore whether some conditions or prescriptions might herald a diagnosis of dementia. This could help physicians make timely diagnoses and could inform prevention strategies.

Impact

Lucy looks forward to building new international collaborations with other fellows. Working together, we can generate the knowledge needed to reduce dementia incidence worldwide and to improve care for individuals in our home countries.

Motivation

People with dementia in Scotland usually have several other health conditions. They are often disadvantaged in their access to healthcare and excluded from research.

Education & Experience

Lucy Stirland gained her medical degree from the University of Edinburgh, UK. She trained as an old age psychiatrist in the National Health Service in Scotland and has also completed a PhD. Her research uses data to understand links between having multiple physical conditions or taking multiple medicines (multimorbidity and polypharmacy) with mental illnesses and dementia.