Skip to main content
James MacCabe
James MacCabe

Professor James Hunter MacCabe

Professor of Epidemiology and Therapeutics

Research interests

  • Psychiatry
  • Psychology

Biography

I apply the techniques of epidemiology and population research to study the causes, consequences and treatments of psychoses, particularly in treatment resistant schizophrenia and personalized medicine.  I lead STRATA, an MRC-funded multi-centre consortium developing stratified medicine for schizophrenia. 

I remain an active clinician and spend 50% of my time working in the NHS as Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at the National Psychosis Unit, at the Bethlem Royal HospitalSouth London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.  This is the only national tertiary referral centre for treatment-resistant psychosis in the UK.   

I qualified in Medicine at Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School (MBBS, 1995) (having obtained an Intercalated BSc in Psychology and Basic Medical Sciences at UCL in 1992), and completed my specialist training in Psychiatry on the Maudsley rotation from 1997 to 2004. I obtained an MRC/DoH Special Training Fellowship in Health of the Population Research in 2004, an MSc in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2006 and a PhD in 2008.  

Prizes and Awards: 

2019 Best Original Research Paper, British Journal of Psychiatry 

2014 Fellowship of the Royal College of Psychiatrists 

2010 Research Prize, European Psychiatric Association 

2009 Clinical Senior LectureshipHigher Education Funding Council for England 

2007 BMA Medical Book Competition - Commendation in the Mental Health category for Beyond Nature and Nurture in Psychiatry 

2006 Research Prize and Bronze Medal, Royal Coll. Psychiatrists 

2005 Young Investigator Fellowship, 6th Int’l Conference on Bipolar Disorder, Pittsburgh, PA, USA 

2003 Lilly Fellowship, Schizophrenia Global Medical Conference, Rome, Italy 

2003 Travel Award, Guarantors of Brain 

2002 Young Investigator Award, Winter Workshop on Schizophrenia Research, Davos, Switzerland 

2002 Morris Markowe Public Education Prize, Royal Coll. of Psychiatrists 

    Research

    neuron-communication-receptor-STRATA-Schizophrenia-hero
    STRATA - Schizophrenia: Treatment Resistance and Therapeutic Advances

    People with schizophrenia suffer from a range of symptoms including hallucinations (such as hearing voices), delusions (false beliefs) and thought disorder (thoughts not flowing in a logical way).

    News

    'When the drugs don't work: the challenge of treatment resistant psychosis'

    Professor James MacCabe delivered the ninth inaugural lecture of the 2022/23 IoPPN Inaugural Lecture Series, entitled 'When the drugs don’t work: the...

    James MacCabe Inaugural

    IoPPN and SLaM receive awards at 2020 RCPsych Awards Ceremony

    Several colleagues working across IoPPN and South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) received awards at the Royal College of Psychiatrists virtual...

    Photos of award winners Prof James MacCabe and Dr Emmert Roberts

    Events

    30Apr61 Maudsley Debate

    61st Maudsley Debate

    Motion: High Time: This house believes that cannabis should be legalised in the UK within 5 years.

    04Dec100-Years-is-more-that-enough

    60th Maudsley Debate

    Motion: 100 years is more than enough: This House believes that psychiatric hospitals should be consigned to the history books

    Please note: this event has passed.

    04JulProfessor James MacCabe inaugural lecture

    Professor James MacCabe - Inaugural Lecture

    Join us in celebrating Professor James MacCabe's inaugural lecture on 'When the drugs don't work: the challenge of treatment resistant psychosis'

    Please note: this event has passed.

    23Feb59 Maudsley Debate 2023

    59th Maudsley Debate

    Join us for a topical mental health debate on self-binding directives.

    Please note: this event has passed.

    Features

    Maudsley Debates - 31st to 40th

    The Maudsley Debates take place three times a year at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN). Topics generally focus on issues that...

    Maudsley Debates 1800x500

    I teach and examine on several MSc courses including the MSc in Psychiatric Research, MSc in Neuroscience, MSc in Early Intervention in Psychosis and the MSc in Mental Health Studies.  

    I am co-leader of the MSc Module on Social and Community Psychiatry in the MSc in Mental Health Studies  

    I supervise several PhD students and am deputy chair of the PhD Subcommittee for Psychosis Studies 

    I interview and examine medical students at KCL Medical School  

    I am regularly invited by the Royal College of Psychiatrists Training Unit and other organisations to give workshops and lectures to clinical psychiatrists and other mental health professionals on the management of treatment resistant schizophrenia.  

    I regularly host medical elective students and clinical MSc students on our clinical unit 

      Research

      neuron-communication-receptor-STRATA-Schizophrenia-hero
      STRATA - Schizophrenia: Treatment Resistance and Therapeutic Advances

      People with schizophrenia suffer from a range of symptoms including hallucinations (such as hearing voices), delusions (false beliefs) and thought disorder (thoughts not flowing in a logical way).

      News

      'When the drugs don't work: the challenge of treatment resistant psychosis'

      Professor James MacCabe delivered the ninth inaugural lecture of the 2022/23 IoPPN Inaugural Lecture Series, entitled 'When the drugs don’t work: the...

      James MacCabe Inaugural

      IoPPN and SLaM receive awards at 2020 RCPsych Awards Ceremony

      Several colleagues working across IoPPN and South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) received awards at the Royal College of Psychiatrists virtual...

      Photos of award winners Prof James MacCabe and Dr Emmert Roberts

      Events

      30Apr61 Maudsley Debate

      61st Maudsley Debate

      Motion: High Time: This house believes that cannabis should be legalised in the UK within 5 years.

      04Dec100-Years-is-more-that-enough

      60th Maudsley Debate

      Motion: 100 years is more than enough: This House believes that psychiatric hospitals should be consigned to the history books

      Please note: this event has passed.

      04JulProfessor James MacCabe inaugural lecture

      Professor James MacCabe - Inaugural Lecture

      Join us in celebrating Professor James MacCabe's inaugural lecture on 'When the drugs don't work: the challenge of treatment resistant psychosis'

      Please note: this event has passed.

      23Feb59 Maudsley Debate 2023

      59th Maudsley Debate

      Join us for a topical mental health debate on self-binding directives.

      Please note: this event has passed.

      Features

      Maudsley Debates - 31st to 40th

      The Maudsley Debates take place three times a year at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN). Topics generally focus on issues that...

      Maudsley Debates 1800x500

      I teach and examine on several MSc courses including the MSc in Psychiatric Research, MSc in Neuroscience, MSc in Early Intervention in Psychosis and the MSc in Mental Health Studies.  

      I am co-leader of the MSc Module on Social and Community Psychiatry in the MSc in Mental Health Studies  

      I supervise several PhD students and am deputy chair of the PhD Subcommittee for Psychosis Studies 

      I interview and examine medical students at KCL Medical School  

      I am regularly invited by the Royal College of Psychiatrists Training Unit and other organisations to give workshops and lectures to clinical psychiatrists and other mental health professionals on the management of treatment resistant schizophrenia.  

      I regularly host medical elective students and clinical MSc students on our clinical unit