Dr Lucy Stirland (MBChB PhD MRCPsych)
Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer in Old Age Psychiatry
- Division of Psychiatry
- Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre
- Institute for Neuroscience and Cardiovascular Research
Contact details
Background
Dr Stirland is an Old Age Psychiatrist and epidemiological researcher interested in multiple long-term conditions (multimorbidity) and complexity in dementia.
She trained in psychiatry in South-East Scotland and undertook a PhD in the epidemiology of multimorbidity and polypharmacy with mental and brain health. After completing academic clinical training, she spent a year as an Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), University of California San Francisco.
Since 2023, she has been working as a Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist in NHS Lothian and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh.
Qualifications
Certificate in Equity in Brain Health, University of California San Francisco 2023
Certificate of Completion of Training in Old Age Psychiatry with Liaison Psychiatry, General Medical Council 2022
PhD in Psychiatric Epidemiology, The University of Edinburgh 2020
Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (MRCPsych) 2014
MBChB, The University of Edinburgh 2010
Responsibilities & affiliations
- Founding co-chair, Comorbidity and Multimorbidity Work Group within the Alzheimer's Association International Society to Advance Alzheimer's Research and Treatment (ISTAART)
- Co-lead, Multiple Long-Term Conditions workstream, NIHR Dementia Translational Research Collaboration
- Elected Member, Royal College of Psychiatrists Academic Faculty Executive Committee
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
No
Current PhD students supervised
Kieran Sweeney - Wellcome Multimorbidity PhD programme for Health Professionals
Nicola Crowe - Advanced Care Research Centre Academy
Sam Andres - Advanced Care Research Centre Academy
Research summary
Dr Stirland studies the interactions between dementia and multiple long-term conditions (multimorbidity). She integrates person-centred perspectives with applied data science to identify targets for interventions.
Current project grants
Pilot Award for Global Brain Health Leaders: Global Brain Health Institute, Alzheimer's Association and Alzheimer's Society (2024-2026)
Project title: "Exploring the priorities of people with dementia and other conditions"
https://www.gbhi.org/projects/exploring-priorities-people-dementia-and-m...
NIHR Team Science Award (2025-2026)
Project title: "EquiTech-MLTC: Advancing Equitable Digital Self-Management For Multiple Long-Term Conditions"
Past project grants
NES/CSO Postdoctoral Clinical Lectureship (2020-2022)
Project title: "Temporal dynamics of multimorbidity and medication use with mental illness and dementia: an investigation in NHS Scotland routinely collected data and the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936"
MRF/MRC PsySTAR (Psychiatry: Scottish Training in Academic Research) Clinical Research Fellowship (2015-2019)
Thesis title: "Epidemiology of multimorbidity and polypharmacy in ageing: a complementary analysis of mental and brain health in three datasets" (PhD awarded June 2020)
Supervisors: Dr Graciela Muniz Terrera, Dr Tom Russ, Prof Craig Ritchie