There is a really friendly, relaxed atmosphere
at Emma. A home where you feel comfortable
and supported
Dr Muzaffer Kaser
MD, PhD (Cantab), MPhil (Cantab), MRCPsych
Bye-Fellow
Consultant Psychiatrist at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust
Biography
Dr Muzaffer Kaser is a consultant psychiatrist at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust and affiliated assistant professor at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge. He has been the lead consultant for the establishment of the Staff Mental Health Service, an innovative service providing rapid access mental health care for healthcare workers across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
Having qualified in medicine in Istanbul, Dr Kaser trained in psychiatry in Istanbul and in Cambridge. He specialises in general adult psychiatry and liaison psychiatry. He did his MPhil in Translational Medicine and his PhD at the University of Cambridge where he also has worked as NIHR clinical lecturer in psychiatry. He is a member of the Wellbeing Committee at the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Teaching Interests
Dr Kaser supervises Neurobiology of Human Behaviour module for pre-clinical students at Emmanuel College. He has extensive experience with clinical teaching. He introduced a novel teaching session in clinical school where the students in psychiatry placements had the opportunity to hear from people with lived experience and discuss various aspects of mental health conditions. The module has then been adopted for all clinical students in Cambridge. Dr Kaser is an examiner for the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ practical examination (MRCPsych CASC). He completed formal teaching training (Integrated Foundations of Medical Education) and is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Research
Memory and concentration difficulties in depression are common and affect the daily functioning of millions of people. However, most currently available treatments do not address this important aspect of depression. Dr Kaser’s research aims to understand the mechanisms underlying cognitive problems in depression and seek new treatment options. His work involves identifying candidate medications to improve cognition and investigating inflammation as a potential underlying factor for cognitive problems in depression. More recent work is aimed at teasing out the complex relationship between psychiatric conditions and the impact of Covid-19 on memory.
An additional area of Dr Kaser’s research is in the field of applied mental health. At the Staff Mental Health Service, they are running a health economics study to understand how effective the service is, the value for money that it provides, and its affordability. The research has implications to inform stakeholders about the development of similar services elsewhere.
Subject
Spotlights
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Dr Tobias Wauer
It’s 8pm and I’m about to start a 12-hour shift at the national COVID-19 testing centre in Milton Keynes. Truckloads of boxes with transparent plastic bags just arrived and a brief announcement is made: 15,000 patient swabs. For now, the mood among the team is cheerful and enthusiastic, but I know it will have morphed into exhaustion and fatigue by the end of the night.