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Jon Arcelus

Emeritus Professor in Mental Health and Wellbeing,

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Biography

Jon Arcelus is a Professor in Mental Health and Wellbeing. After completing his undergraduate degree in Medicine in Spain, Prof. Arcelus undertook clinical and academic training in Psychiatry in the United Kingdom. As a Social Psychiatrist, he is particularly interested in the role of society in the wellbeing of the individual. His clinical and academic interests are in the field of mental health and wellbeing in vulnerable populations, particularly the LGBTQ+ population and those at risk of developing eating disorders.

He trained in psychotherapy, including Sexual and Relationship Therapy, Systemic Therapy and Interpersonal Psychotherapy.

In 1998 he undertook a Master's degree in Sexual and Relationship Therapy at Sheffield Hallam University where he worked with the Trans population for the first time. During his clinical training in child and adolescent mental health, he gained further experience in trans health when working at the Gender Identity Development Service in London for one year and he maintained his interest in the area of Transgender Health throughout his career. He became a Clinical Lecturer in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Leicester University where he obtained his PhD. Following the completion of his training, he took the post of consultant at the Nottingham Adolescent Regional Unit, part of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

He subsequently moved to the Leicester Adult Eating Disorders Service, where he worked with young adults. During his 11 years at the Leicester service, he worked closely with Loughborough University, where he became a Visiting Professor. He has worked with national sport and dance organizations, including The Royal Ballet at Covent Garden, developing policies and training for the prevention of eating disorders in this population.

While working with eating disorders patients he started to explore the role that society, interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships play in mental health and wellbeing. He became a trained Interpersonal Psychotherapists (IPT) and provided IPT training to different audiences including in China where he started to collaborate in different research projects. In 2013 he became an Honorary Professor at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, China.

In 2014 he moved back to Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust to work fulltime with trans people, particularly young adults, as part of one of the largest national trans health clinics in Europe, the Nottingham National Centre for Transgender Health, where he works as a medical doctor, providing not only psychological support when needed, but also endocrinological treatment as well as referrals for gender affirming surgery.

In 2016 he moved to the University of Nottingham where he was appointed to the only Chair in Transhealth in the country as a Professor in Mental Health and Trans Health. He leaded various research projects in the field of sexuality and gender while working at the University and he developed the Managed Innovation Network(MIN) in Gender Diversity and Wellbeing at the Institute of Mental Health, which is part of the Centre for Social Futures.

He left the University of Nottingham in 2021, where he remains as an Emeritus Professor in Mental Health and Weelbeing. He continues to be research active working closely with the Nottingham Centre Transgender Health network where he co-leads the development of a research structure of the newly developed network. He works with different trans related charities, such as Mermaids and Gendered Intelligence and he is one of the academic representatives at Trans Learning partnership.

Prof. Arcelus is a Member of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) and the European Professional Association for Transgender Health (EPATH). He is co-chair of the Standards of Care- 8thEdition for WPATH, the Global guidelines for transgender health services. Prof. Arcelus is an elected member of the Eating Disorders Research Society.

Although over the last 8 years he has clinically mainly worked in the area of trans health, academically he has continued to work in the field of eating disorders collaborating with colleagues as the Institute of Psychiatry, London. Professor Arcelus has over 130 publications, including books and chapters. He is an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Transgenderism and part of the editorial board of the European Eating Disorders Review. He works closely with international collaborators, primarily in Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden.

Professor Arcelus is interested in the interpersonal, social and cultural context of mental health and wellbeing in people and the role of society in the development and prevention for mental health problems.

Expertise Summary

Mental health, Wellbeing, Transgender Health, Gender Diversity, Sexuality, LGBTQ+, Eating Disorders, Body Image, Prevention, Young people

Research Summary

Prof. Jon Arcelus is particularly interested in social psychiatry, exploring the role of society in mental health and wellbeing. Social psychiatry can be most effectively applied in preventing mental… read more

School of Medicine

University of Nottingham
Medical School
Nottingham, NG7 2UH

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