Nick (Nicandros) Bouras is a Greek professor (emeritus) of psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience[1] King's College London, United Kingdom. and Programme Director of Maudsley International that promotes developments in mental health around the world.
He was born in Patras, Greece and studied medicine at the University of Athens. Subsequently, he trained in Neurology and Psychiatry in Athens, Oxford and London and obtained a PhD from the University of London in 1979. Between 1982 and 1999 he was a Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry at the Department of Psychiatry Guy's Medical School and United Medical and Dental Schools Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals, London. From 1982 to 2008 he was Consultant Psychiatrist for the South London and the Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and from 1999 to 2008 he held a Chair in Psychiatry at the Health Service and Population Research Department, at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London.
His research has centered on the psychiatric ward environments, community psychiatry and the mental health of people with intellectual disabilities. He led the research programme in one of the first community mental health centres in the UK and played an important role in the development of the first community based mental health service in the UK for people with intellectual disabilities. He systematically studied the re-provision of services, following the closure of institutions. In 1999 he initiated and developed the Estia Centre, an innovative concept combining clinical services, training and research. He chaired the Research & Development Group of the Daedalus Trust that provided a focal point for current thinking on hubris behaviour and the ways that exercising power may affect personality and decision making. He also chaired the Research Advisory Group of Thrive a UK-based Charity that uses horticultural therapy to bring about profound transformations in the lives of people with disabilities or mental ill health.
He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists of the UK, the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disability and has been Chairman of the World Psychiatric Association, Section of Intellectual Disabilities, President of the Psychiatry Section of the Royal Society of Medicine and Vice President of the European Association of Mental Health in Intellectual Disabilities.
He was the editor of the journal Intellectual Disability Research – Mental Health and of special papers of the British Journal Psychiatry – International.He has published extensively in community psychiatry and mental health aspects of people with intellectual disabilities.