As a NIHR clinical lecturer Adam divides his time between clinical, teaching, and research activities. Under the supervision of Professors Lennox and Irani, he completed a Wellcome DPhil fellowship on NMDAR-antibody encephalitis. This yielded a well cited demonstration of characteristic mental state changes and supported by the BMA Margaret Temple award, he pioneered the use of cervical lymph node (CLN) sampling to understand immunobiology.
He is now extending CLN sampling more broadly in neuropsychiatry to understand brain drainage in health, ageing, and cognitive impairment. Having been awarded starter grants from the Academy of Medical Sciences and MSD pump-priming, together with Professor Klenerman's group, he is defining the proteomic and transcriptomic features of these samples. He is the Chief Investigator on the ANIMATE neuro-immune mechanisms in cognitive and mental health study within the Oxford Health BRC which is building local infrastructure in psycho-immunology.
In 2022 he co-founded the Royal College of Psychiatrists autoimmune encephalitis working group in which diverse collaboration of clinicians and lived experience representatives are synthesising evidence and experience to provide national guidance to improve early diagnosis in UK frontline services. He is a member of the Thames Valley joint neurology-psychiatry encephalitis multi-disciplinary team.
He is active in medical education, leading a joint neurology-psychiatry teaching seminar on autoimmune encephalitis and functional neurological disorder for 5th year medical students, and is a member of the RCPsych Paper A panel.
Adam Al-Diwani
MA BMBCh DPhil MRCP MRCPsych
NIHR Clinical Lecturer
- Honorary psychiatry specialist registrar (general and older adult)
- Tutor Oxford medical school brain and behaviour rotation
Translating neuroimmunology for innovation in clinical research and services
Websites
Collaborators
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Belinda Lennox
Head of Department
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Paul Harrison
Professor of Psychiatry
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Ivan Koychev
Senior Clinical Researcher
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Vanessa Raymont
Senior Clinical Researcher, R&D Director Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
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Amedeo Minichino
Senior Clinical Research Fellow
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Matthew Nour
NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Psychiatry
Research groups
Key publications
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Journal article
Al-Diwani A. et al, (2022), Brain, 145, 2742 - 2754
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Journal article
Al-Diwani A. et al, (2019), Lancet Psychiatry, 6, 235 - 246
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Journal article
Al-Diwani A. et al, (2022), Lancet Psychiatry, 9, 11 - 12
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Journal article
Galovic M. et al, (2022), JAMA Neurol
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Journal article
Ramanathan S. et al, (2021), J Neurol, 268, 1689 - 1707
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Journal article
Damato V. et al, (2022), Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 119
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Journal article
Zandi MS. et al, (2015), J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry, 86, 708 - 713
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Journal article
Blackman G. et al, (2022), J Neurol, 269, 5302 - 5311
Recent publications
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Journal article
Cullen AE. et al, (2023), Curr Neuropharmacol