Professor Robert Stewart
Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology & Clinical Informatics
Research interests
- Mental Health
- Psychiatry
Biography
Rob Stewart is Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Clinical Informatics, and is Deputy Lead of the Informatics Theme in the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre. He has been Academic Lead for the Maudsley’s Clinical Record Interactive Search (CRIS) platform since its development in 2007-8.
CRIS is an internationally unique data resource comprising de-identified full electronic mental health records from the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (over 500,000 patients) with extensive enhancement through multiple data linkages and natural language processing (‘text-mining’) algorithms. CRIS has been used extensively for research to improve the understanding of mental health conditions and mental healthcare services, and has supported over 250 peer-reviewed publications.
Rob Stewart gained his degree in medicine (MB ChB 1991) from the University of Leeds and worked for 2 years in Yorkshire before training in psychiatry in north London. He joined the Institute of Psychiatry as a junior researcher in 1996 and has worked on the epidemiology of dementia and other late-life mental disorders and on a range of International Mental Health initiatives, as well as his more recent role in supporting mental health data science. He is a practising Consultant in Liaison Old Age Psychiatry.
Research Interests
- Clinical informatics and mental healthcare data science
- Mental health in older adults
- Dementia epidemiology
- Physical-mental health interface
Rob Stewart’s work on CRIS has focused particularly on the physical health inequalities faced by people with mental disorders, as well as longstanding interests in the physical health impact of dementia and its implications for safer prescribing. He directs several programmes of work to improve the quantity and quality of data from routine electronic health records through natural language processing.
Research Groups
NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre
Expertise and Public Engagement
Rob Stewart is Co-Director of DATAMIND, the MRC-funded HDRUK hub for mental health data science.
Rob Stewart has served as Academic Secretary for the Royal College of Psychiatrists Faculty of Old Age Psychiatry, and as Chair of the European Psychiatric Association Section of Epidemiology and Social Psychiatry.
Research
Understanding Factors that Influence Why People with Dementia Make Transitions from the Community to Acute Hospital Care Settings in the Last Months of Life
Utilising routine data to understand why people with dementia move between healthcare settings in the months preceding their death.
Project status: Ongoing
Empowering Better End of Life Dementia Care
Empowering Better End of Life Dementia Care (EMBED-Care) is a joint programme between King’s College London and University College London.
Project status: Ongoing
COVID-19 Ethnic Inequalities in Mental health and Multimorbidities: COVE-IMM study
Informed by perspectives of people with lived experience, this study will look to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated ethnic health inequalities
Project status: Ongoing
Social and Economic Predictors of the Severe Mental Disorders: The SEP-MD Data Linkage Study
Linking health records and census data to advance understanding of mortality, in-patient admissions and worklessness among people with severe mental illness.
Project status: Ongoing
eLIXIR, Born in South London
Addressing relationships between maternal and child physical health and investigating interactions with mental health
Centre for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP) London
CUSP London is a collaboration between King’s College London and New York University, which brings together researchers, businesses, local authorities and government agencies, to apply data science and visual analytics to challenges in and for London.
Centre for Translational Informatics (CTI)
The Centre for Translational Informatics (CTI) is finding new ways to improve healthcare through digital technologies and accelerating their delivery to patients.
News
£1.68m Wellcome funding to explore impact of extreme heat on mental health of urban communities
Wellcome Climate Impacts Award will fund IoPPN-led research aimed at understanding the relationship between extreme heat and mental wellbeing, particularly...
Critical care admissions for people with dementia are increasing for those in their last year of life
A study led by the Cicely Saunders Institute at King’s College London has found that whilst critical care admissions for people with dementia are going down,...
Exposure to air pollution is associated with increased use of psychiatric services in people with dementia
New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at king's College London has found exposure to air pollution is associated...
Professor Robert Stewart awarded 'Collaborate to Innovate' project
Professor Robert Stewart, who is part of the Centre for Translational Informatics leadership team, has been selected to be part of a new £2m programme to...
Antidepressants prescription associated with a lower risk of testing positive for COVID-19
New research led by the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) and supported by NIHR Maudsley BRC has found that community mental health...
Higher rates of HIV diagnoses found amongst mental health service users
New research has found HIV is 2.5 times more frequent in people who use mental health services than the general population in South London.
King's to participate in partnership for improved mother and infant data
The partnership will improve maternal and infant health, particularly among disadvantaged groups, by developing new resources and tools for research that use...
Researchers review impact of pre-existing mental health disorders on received cancer treatment
A new systematic review from scientists at King’s explores the disparities in cancer treatment for people with and without pre-existing mental health...
New study highlights need for investment in better dementia end-of-life care
Research from King’s College London found that people living with dementia experience high levels of unplanned hospital admissions towards the end of life....
Exposure to air pollution linked with increased mental health service-use, new study finds
Exposure to traffic-related air pollution is associated with increased mental health service-use among people recently diagnosed with psychotic and mood...
Research
Understanding Factors that Influence Why People with Dementia Make Transitions from the Community to Acute Hospital Care Settings in the Last Months of Life
Utilising routine data to understand why people with dementia move between healthcare settings in the months preceding their death.
Project status: Ongoing
Empowering Better End of Life Dementia Care
Empowering Better End of Life Dementia Care (EMBED-Care) is a joint programme between King’s College London and University College London.
Project status: Ongoing
COVID-19 Ethnic Inequalities in Mental health and Multimorbidities: COVE-IMM study
Informed by perspectives of people with lived experience, this study will look to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated ethnic health inequalities
Project status: Ongoing
Social and Economic Predictors of the Severe Mental Disorders: The SEP-MD Data Linkage Study
Linking health records and census data to advance understanding of mortality, in-patient admissions and worklessness among people with severe mental illness.
Project status: Ongoing
eLIXIR, Born in South London
Addressing relationships between maternal and child physical health and investigating interactions with mental health
Centre for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP) London
CUSP London is a collaboration between King’s College London and New York University, which brings together researchers, businesses, local authorities and government agencies, to apply data science and visual analytics to challenges in and for London.
Centre for Translational Informatics (CTI)
The Centre for Translational Informatics (CTI) is finding new ways to improve healthcare through digital technologies and accelerating their delivery to patients.
News
£1.68m Wellcome funding to explore impact of extreme heat on mental health of urban communities
Wellcome Climate Impacts Award will fund IoPPN-led research aimed at understanding the relationship between extreme heat and mental wellbeing, particularly...
Critical care admissions for people with dementia are increasing for those in their last year of life
A study led by the Cicely Saunders Institute at King’s College London has found that whilst critical care admissions for people with dementia are going down,...
Exposure to air pollution is associated with increased use of psychiatric services in people with dementia
New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at king's College London has found exposure to air pollution is associated...
Professor Robert Stewart awarded 'Collaborate to Innovate' project
Professor Robert Stewart, who is part of the Centre for Translational Informatics leadership team, has been selected to be part of a new £2m programme to...
Antidepressants prescription associated with a lower risk of testing positive for COVID-19
New research led by the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) and supported by NIHR Maudsley BRC has found that community mental health...
Higher rates of HIV diagnoses found amongst mental health service users
New research has found HIV is 2.5 times more frequent in people who use mental health services than the general population in South London.
King's to participate in partnership for improved mother and infant data
The partnership will improve maternal and infant health, particularly among disadvantaged groups, by developing new resources and tools for research that use...
Researchers review impact of pre-existing mental health disorders on received cancer treatment
A new systematic review from scientists at King’s explores the disparities in cancer treatment for people with and without pre-existing mental health...
New study highlights need for investment in better dementia end-of-life care
Research from King’s College London found that people living with dementia experience high levels of unplanned hospital admissions towards the end of life....
Exposure to air pollution linked with increased mental health service-use, new study finds
Exposure to traffic-related air pollution is associated with increased mental health service-use among people recently diagnosed with psychotic and mood...