Professor Simon Gilbody
University of York
Professor Simon Gilbody is a psychiatrist and clinical epidemiologist. He established mental health research as a focus at the University of York in the 2000s. He has gone on to design and lead some of the largest primary care trials of brief scalable psychological therapies. He is an NIHR Senior Investigator, Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences [FMedSci] and Doctor of Science [DSc].
In the first months of the 2020 COVID pandemic Simon established the BASIL [Behavioural Activation for Social Isolation & Loneliness] C-19 trials & evidence synthesis programme. This was the only mental health trial adopted by the NHS’ Urgent Public Health trials programme and is the largest trial ever undertaken to combat loneliness. Simon is an honorary Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners and among the top 1% of most highly cited scientists in the world.