Max said:

“It is a great honour – especially when you see what the other shortlisted candidates have done!”

Max is an Academic Clinical Fellow within the Department of Psychiatry at University of Oxford and Senior Research Fellow with NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre.
He has done the majority of his medical placements with Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, gaining clinical experience from a great variety of services. Right now he is working in Aylesbury within a Community Learning Disability Team and will return to Oxford in February to work with the CAMHS Neurodevelopmental Conditions Service.
Prior to his medical career, Max was an engineer and gained a PhD in brain imaging technologies. His keen interest in complex systems and the brain drove his career move to medicine and specialisation in psychiatry.

“It is a the most fascinating of all medical disciplines and tackles the biggest health burden, on a global level,” Maxime says.
“As clinicians, we psychiatrists still have time to listen to the patient and their life story (although not enough at times). That allows us to get a deeper understanding of the person as whole.”
“And from a scientific point of view, it is the complexity of mental health that makes psychiatry so interesting. We need to look at biological, psychological, and social factors, and their interaction.”

Max is grateful that he’s been allowed to combine his medical training with his research fellowship at NIHR Oxford Health BRC.
“It’s been fantastic. I work 80% as a clinician and do research one day a week.”
Max’s current research focuses on mental health consequences of COVID-19 infection, with a specific focus on brain fog, the study of which he finds hugely important.

Outstanding skills

Max’s outstanding skills as a researcher, innovator and clinician were recognised by RCPsych Award judges who said:

“As a researcher, Max has published seven high-impact first-author papers including in Lancet Psychiatry (x2), JAMA Psychiatry, PLoS Medicine, and BJPsych, and a prestigious invited editorial in The Lancet.
As a professional, he innovated in electronic health records data analysis, by writing software and advising two mental health start-ups. He developed an online system to manage ward jobs, increasing safety and efficiency. He initiated international collaborations with researchers from different disciplines.

“As a clinician, he has been praised by senior colleagues for his “exceptional knowledge” and “outstanding skills”. He successfully treated a patient using CBT and delivered ECT independently at high clinical standards.”

The judges noted that Max remains remarkably personable, down-to-earth, and a pleasure to work with.