Prof Julia Sinclair
MB BS, FRCPsych, DPhil, FHEA
Professor of Addiction Psychiatry; Honorary Consultant in Alcohol Liaison; National Specialty Advisor for Alcohol Dependence NHSE
Profile page(s)
Prof Julia Sinclair's priority is to improve outcomes for patients with alcohol use disorders (AUD) and co-morbid physical and mental health conditions by research, teaching, policy, and clinical practice.
Julia conducts clinically relevant, collaborative research into the harms of alcohol use, specifically the impact on clinical outcomes in terms of prevention, engagement and response to treatment. AUD cause significant harm to the individual, their circle of concern and society, and yet remains a marginalised area for clinical and research funding, which she is trying to change.
Landmark publications:
Dutey-Magni, P.F., Brown, J., Holmes, J. and Sinclair, J.M.A, (2022). Concurrent validity of an Estimator of Weekly Alcohol Consumption (EWAC) based on the Extended AUDIT. Addiction; 117,(3) 580-589 https://doi.org/10.1111/add.15662
Sinclair JMA, McCann M, Sheldon E, Gordon I, Brierley-Jones L, Copson E (2019). The acceptability of addressing alcohol consumption as a modifiable risk factor for breast cancer: a mixed method study within breast screening services and symptomatic breast clinics. BMJ Open. 2019;9(6):e027371. DOI:10.1136/bmjo-2018-027371
Agabio R, Sinclair JMA, et al (26 authors) (2018). Baclofen for the treatment of alcohol use disorder: The Cagliari statement. Lancet Psychiatry; 5(12):957-960
Chambers, S.E., Canvin, K., Baldwin, D.S., Sinclair, J.M.A. (2017). Identity in recovery from problematic alcohol use: a qualitative study of online mutual aid. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 174, 17-22
Major grants:
Programme of Research for Alcohol Care Teams: Impact, Value and Effectiveness (ProACTIVE) October 2022-25
Older Adults, Loneliness and Alcohol (OLA) - Applied Research Collaborative (ARC) funded project as part of the NIHR funded Mental Health Hub infrastructure Grant (Role Co-PI) 2021-2024.
Substance use, Alcohol and Behavioural Addictions in Autism (SABA-A). (Role CI) Society for the Study of Addictions £30,000 (2020-2022)
The effectiveness of adjunctive Medication Management and Contingency Management to enhance adherence to medications for relapse prevention in alcohol dependence (ADAM) (Role: Co-app and Site PI) NIHR HTA £2,7M (2015-2020)
Brain network based stratification of reinforcement-related disorders (STRATIFY) (Role: Site PI) ERC Advanced Grant €3,500,000 (2016- 2019)
‘Abreast of Health’ exploring the teachable moment for alcohol reduction in breast clinics: Formative work to inform intervention design, development and process evaluation (Role: Co-CI). MRC PHIND Scheme £151,503 (2017-2018)
Impact example:
The British Association of Psychopharmacology (BAP) guidelines are internationally recognised as an authoritative review of the evidence for the pharmacological treatment of psychiatric conditions. I was responsible for the sections on comorbid substance use disorder in the updated bipolar guidelines (Goodwin et al 2016) and schizophrenia Guidelines (Barnes et al 2019). Each guideline has been cited in the academic literature over 400 times since publication; in addition the schizophrenia guidelines (2019) has had over 5000 downloads, and the bipolar guidelines (2016), over 10,000 downloads since they were published (1. 10.22).