Sarah Dorrington

Sarah joined KCL in 2010 as an Academic Clinical Fellow. 

Sarah’s areas of expertise include: psychiatric epidemiology, life course epidemiology, mental health and trauma, occupational mental health, multimorbidity and health inequalities.  

Sarah taught on the Global Mental Health BSc at Bristol University, on the Women’s Mental Health MSc at the Institute of Psychiatry Psychology and Neuroscience and she joint runs a day course on managing conflict in hospital settings as part of the Integrating Mental and Physical healthcare (IMPARTS) course. She has also taught medical students at Newcastle University, King’s College London, University of Bristol and South London and Maudsley NHS Trust. 

Sarah has a MBBS from Newcastle University and a Masters of Research in Cultural Studies and Humanities from Birkbeck University. She completed MRCPsych in 2014 and is a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. 

Fellowships: 

2015-2019 Donald Dean Fellowship in Occupational Mental Health, Royal College of Psychiatrists, UK 

2010-2015 National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Academic Clinical Fellowship, King’s College London, UK 

2008-2010 National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Academic Foundation Doctor, University of Bristol, UK 

Awards: 

2015 Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) Mental Health Foundation Trainee Researcher of the Year Award 

2014 National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Integrated Academic Training Award for Research, King’s College London 

2014 Royal College of Psychiatrists International Congress Special Commendation for Research 

2013 Margaret Davenport Prize, Royal College of Psychiatrists 

2013 Denis Hill Prize, Institute of Psychiatry Psychology and Neuroscience 

Research Interests

• Mental health and multimorbidity 
• Health inequalities  
• Work and mental health 
• Trauma, life events and psychopathology 
• Psychotic experiences 

Research Groups

• -Health Inequalities Research Network 
• -General Hospital Psychiatry: Integrating Mental & Physical healthcare: Research, Training & Services (IMPARTS) 
• -Women’s Mental Health 

Expertise and Public Engagement

Sarah has been involved in public engagement activities including: 

• Developing a HEE funded book to raise awareness about psychiatry, Shrink Wrapped: Tales from Psychiatrists with Dr Ros Humphreys, published by Strange Barnets Press in 2016. 
• Collaborating on a Wellcome funded film about the impact of mental illness on our ability to recognise faces and emotions, We Cannot Unsee with Tanya Singh, 2015. 
• Organising a public event at South London Gallery as part of the Anxiety Festival, on work and mental health, Whistle While You Work with Dr Isabel Valli, June 2014. 
• Presenting research findings on the BBC World service program Health Check, Nov 2018. 

Publications

Trauma and psychiatric disorders 

Family functioning, trauma exposure and PTSD: A cross sectional study 

Dorrington, S., Zavos, H., Ball, H., McGuffin, P., Sumathipala, A., Siribaddana, S., Rijsdijk, F., Hatch, S. L. & Hotopf, M., 15 Feb 2019, In : Journal of Affective Disorders. 245, p. 645-652  

Contribution to journal › Article 

Trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder and psychiatric disorders in a middle-income setting: prevalence and comorbidity 

Dorrington, S., Zavos, H., Ball, H., McGuffin, P., Rijsdijk, F., Siribaddana, S., Sumathipala, A. & Hotopf, M., 3 Nov 2014, In : British Journal of Psychiatry. 205, 5, p. 383-389  

Contribution to journal › Article 

Challenges in the retrospective assessment of trauma: Comparing a checklist approach to a single item trauma experience screening question 

Frissa, S., Hatch, S. L., Fear, N. T., Dorrington, S., Goodwin, L. & Hotopf, M., 1 Feb 2016, In : BMC Psychiatry. 16, 1, 20. 

Contribution to journal › Article 

Work and Mental Health 

Systematic review of fit note use for workers in the UK 

Dorrington, S., Roberts, E., Mykletun, A., Hatch, S., Madan, I. & Hotopf, M., Jul 2018, In : Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 75, 7, p. 530-539  

Contribution to journal › Review article 

 

NIPSA: a new scale for measuring non-illness predictors of sickness absence 

Harvey, S. B., Wang, M-J., Dorrington, S., Henderson, M., Madan, I., Hatch, S. L. & Hotopf, M., Oct 2017, In : Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 75, 2, p. 98-104 

Contribution to journal › Article 

Psychotic experiences: 

Perinatal maternal life events and psychotic experiences in children at twelve years in a birth cohort study 

Dorrington, S., Zammit, S., Asher, L., Evans, J., Heron, J. & Lewis, G., Jan 2014, In : Schizophrenia Research. 152, 1, p. 158-163  

Contribution to journal › Article 

The relationship between psychotic symptoms and social functioning in a non-clinical population of 12 year olds 

Asher, L., Zammit, S., Sullivan, S., Dorrington, S., Heron, J. & Lewis, G., Nov 2013, In : Schizophrenia Research. 150, 2-3, p. 404-409 

Contribution to journal › Article