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Dr Jenny McCleery
Name:
Dr Jenny McCleery
Job title:
Consultant Psychiatrist
Joint co-ordinating editor of Cochrane Dementia Group
Place of work / study:
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust & Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford
Area of Research:
Evidence-based dementia care (specifically writing and editing systematic reviews relevant to dementia and other cognitive disorders)
How is your work funded?
NIHR
Tell us a little about yourself:
I am first and foremost a clinician. I have been a Consultant Psychiatrist in a community team for older adults with dementia and other mental health problems for 17 years. I have been involved with the Cochrane Dementia Group for the last 12 years – first as an author and contributor, then also as an editor, and finally as joint co-ordinating editor. Before going into medicine at all, I had a brief career in publishing, working on non-fiction books for children, so I have a long-standing interest in communicating information well, which is the mission of Cochrane in the healthcare field.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself:
My standing New Year’s resolution is to learn (or develop) a new skill every year. This year, I am embracing middle-age: 2021 is the year of knitting.
Why did you choose to work in dementia?
I didn’t start training in psychiatry with dementia particularly in mind, but working with older people was what I enjoyed most in my training. Obviously, having chosen that route, dementia has been a big part of my working life and I am constantly seeing the devastation it brings at close quarters. Like most people, I also have experience in my own family. My work for Cochrane is motivated by wanting the best possible information about how to diagnose and treat dementia to be available to patients, their families and my colleagues who care for them. More personally, it allows me to combine my pleasure in writing with my medical knowledge.
