Professor Brian Draper
Professor Brian Draper is a Conjoint Professor in the School of Psychiatry at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. He has been the Assistant Director of the Academic Department for Old Age Psychiatry at Prince of Wales and Prince Henry Hospitals, Sydney since 1992. Dr Draper is Chair of the Australian Government’s Psychogeriatric Care Expert Reference Group and immediate Past Chair of the Faculty of Psychiatry of Old Age, RANZCP.
Professor Draper is the Chair of the International Psychogeriatric Association (IPA) BPSD Taskforce and is a Board Member of IPA. He is Deputy Editor of the IPA online website; is the Assistant Editor (Internet) of the IPA Bulletin, writing a regular column on website reviews, and is an Associate Editor for the journal Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior. He is a member of the core management group of the DCRC: Assessment and Bette Care Outcomes based at UNSW and is a member of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Panel for Alzheimer's Disease International. He has served on local, state and national committees for mental health services and provided consultations on psychogeriatric services in Australia and overseas. He is an assessor for many national and international journals, publishers and granting bodies.
Professor Draper has had a long term involvement with vocational training in psychiatry. He was the foundation Chair of the Committee for Advanced Training in Psychiatry of Old Age, RANZCP and was responsible for developing its curriculum and training program. He was also the foundation Psychiatry Clinical Chair for the NSW Institute of Medical Education and Training and foundation Chair of the NSW Psychiatry Network Oversight Committee.
Professor Draper’s research interests are diverse. He has published over 160 scientific articles and book chapters (with over 800 citations) on topics that include psychogeriatric service delivery, suicidal behaviour in old age, clinical aspects of dementia care, carer stress, depression in old age, and professional development. He is the lead author of a 2004 WHO Health Evidence Network synthesis of the effectiveness of mental health service delivery to older people. He has written a book for the general public titled ‘Dealing with Dementia’ published in 2004 and has co-edited two academic books on Geriatric Consultation Liaison Psychiatry (2001) and Psychogeriatric Service Delivery: an International Perspective (2005).
He is also the leader of the ‘Special Groups with Dementia’ node of the DCRC that covers research into dementia in persons from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, dementia in Indigenous people, and younger onset dementia.