// Workers AI · dad joke modeWho's Dennis Ougrin? A man with a name that's "out-grin"-ing everyone.
Dennis Ougrin is a British-Ukrainian child and adolescent psychiatrist and researcher [1] known for his research on youth self-harm,[2] suicide prevention,[3] community mental healthcare,[4] and global mental health.
He is professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Global Mental Health and Director of the Youth Resilience Unit at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London.[5] He is a former editor in chief of Child and Adolescent Mental Health.[6]
Early life and education
[edit]Ougrin graduated with distinction in medicine from Lviv State Medical University, Ukraine, in 1998. After moving to the United Kingdom, he completed postgraduate psychiatric training through the Guy's–Maudsley Training Scheme and became a Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (MRCPsych) in 2005.[5]
He obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Cognitive Therapy from the University of Oxford in 2009, receiving distinction for his dissertation, and completed specialist training in child and adolescent psychiatry the same year. In 2011 he was awarded a PhD in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry from King's College London. He later completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice in Higher Education in 2017.[7]
Career
[edit]Following specialist psychiatric training at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM), Ougrin was appointed consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist in 2011.[8] At SLaM he established United Kingdom's first Intensive Community Care Services (ICCS) for adolescents experiencing acute psychiatric crises.[9]
Ougrin has held academic appointments at King's College London and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience. He joined the institution as a Research Fellow and later became a Senior Lecturer and Reader. He also served as Director of the MSc programme in Child and Adolescent Mental Health.[7]
Between 2017 and 2021, Ougrin served as Academic Director for the Middle East at Maudsley Health in Abu Dhabi.[8]
In 2021, he joined Queen Mary University of London as Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Global Mental Health and became Director of the Youth Resilience Unit at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health.[10] He simultaneously joined the East London NHS Foundation Trust as Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist within the Home Treatment Team[11] and was appointed visiting professor at King's College London.[7]
From 2018 to 2020, Ougrin served as Editor-in-Chief of Child and Adolescent Mental Health.[12]
Research
[edit]Ougrin has led clinical trials investigating interventions for adolescent self-harm, psychiatric emergencies, and community-based mental healthcare.[13] Ougrin's doctoral research focused on the development and evaluation of Therapeutic Assessment, a Cognitive Analytic Therapy-based intervention designed for adolescents who present with self-harm. He later served as Chief Investigator of the Trial of Therapeutic Assessment in London (TOTAL), a clinical study that evaluated the effectiveness of the intervention in young people receiving mental health care.[14]
He later led the Supported Discharge Service versus In-Patient Treatment Evaluation (SITE) trial, which evaluated community treatment as an alternative to psychiatric hospitalization for adolescents experiencing acute mental health crises.[15]
Ougrin has also collaborated on large international evidence synthesis projects, including RISA-IPD (Reducing Self-Harm in Adolescents), an individual patient data meta-analysis examining interventions for adolescent self-harm. His research has investigated biological mechanisms underlying self-injury, identifying pressure pain threshold as a potential clinical biomarker associated with repeated self-harm.[16]
Since 2021, his work has focused on children affected by armed conflict.[3][17] He is Chief Investigator of DAISI Ukraine (Developing and Integrating Mobile Community Mental Health Services in Ukraine), an NIHR-funded programme developing community mental health services for children and adolescents affected by the Russo-Ukrainian War.[18] He is also involved in the RE-STAR programme, which studies emotional resilience in adolescents,[19] and international collaborations including Project SOLVE and Project CALM, evaluating digital single-session psychological interventions for displaced Ukrainian children in Poland and Ukraine.[20]
References
[edit]- ↑ Tonkin, Tim (2024-06-28). "For humanity: the struggle to support Ukraine". The British Medical Association. Retrieved 2026-08-06.
- ↑ "Pain perception in looked after young people with self-harm". Medical Research Foundation. Retrieved 2026-08-06.
- 1 2 Titheradge, Noel (2025-11-06). "I wanted ChatGPT to help me. So why did it advise me how to kill myself?". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2026-08-06.
- ↑ ching Wong, Ben Hoi. "Boys twice as likely to attend hospital for self-harm during strictest lockdowns". King's College London. Retrieved 2026-08-06.
- 1 2 Zundel, Tobias (2025-05-10). "Professor Dennis Ougrin, Queen Mary University of London, UK". Retrieved 2026-08-06.
- ↑ Bentovim, Ernon (2020-06-17). "To celebrate the Child and Adolescent Mental Health 25th anniversary we take a snapshot of CAMH's past, present and future". ACAMH. Retrieved 2026-08-06.
- 1 2 3 London, King's College (2022-07-29). "Dennis Ougrin works on developing a modular psychotherapeutic intervention for self-harm and on understanding the pathophysiology of self-harm in young people". King's College London. Retrieved 2026-08-06.
- 1 2 Dosani, Sabina (2013). "Dennis Ougrin". The Psychiatrist. 37 (2): 80–80. doi:10.1192/pb.bp.112.042366. ISSN 1758-3209.
- ↑ Alis. "Nip in the bud with Professor Dennis Ougrin: How can we create solutions for children affected by trauma?". Nip in the Bud. Retrieved 2026-08-06.
- ↑ "Olena Zelenska, First Lady of Ukraine, unites key stakeholders to help deliver post-war mental health recovery for young people in Ukraine". Queen Mary University of London. 2024-03-04. Retrieved 2026-08-06.
- ↑ "Meet the Team". East London NHS Foundation Trust. Retrieved 2026-08-06.
- ↑ Ougrin, Dennis (2019). "Editorial: The job of an editor". Child and Adolescent Mental Health. 24 (1): 1–2. doi:10.1111/camh.12320. ISSN 1475-357X.
- ↑ Ougrin, Dennis; Kaess, Michael (2026). "Annual Research Review: Self‐harm in young people". Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 67 (4): 467–485. doi:10.1111/jcpp.70112. ISSN 0021-9630.
- ↑ Ougrin, Dennis; Zundel, Tobias; Ng, Audrey; Banarsee, Reetoo; Bottle, Alex; Taylor, Eric (2011). "Trial of Therapeutic Assessment in London: randomised controlled trial of Therapeutic Assessment versus standard psychosocial assessment in adolescents presenting with self-harm". Archives of Disease in Childhood. 96 (2): 148–153. doi:10.1136/adc.2010.188755. ISSN 1468-2044. PMID 21030367.
- ↑ Taylor, Eric. "Young people with severe mental illness benefit from community treatment | Website archive | King's College London". www.kcl.ac.uk. Retrieved 2026-08-06.
- ↑ Tallent, Katherine (2023-07-21). "World Suicide Prevention Day 2023: the Supporting Adolescents with Self-Harm (SASH) study". On Medicine. Retrieved 2026-08-06.
- ↑ Jonathan (2026-05-12). "New research on war-related PTSD". Children and War UK. Retrieved 2026-08-06.
- ↑ "Search - NIHR Funding and Awards". fundingawards.nihr.ac.uk. Retrieved 2026-08-06.
- ↑ -Barke, Edmund Sonuga. "Regulating Emotions - Strengthening Adolescent Resilience (RE-STAR)". gtr.ukri.org. Retrieved 2026-08-06.
- ↑ Harley, Sadie. "Digital mental health interventions found to reduce depression, anxiety in children displaced by war". Archived from the original on 2025-07-20. Retrieved 2026-08-06.