Dave Coghill took up post as Chair of Developmental Mental Health at the University of Melbourne in February 2016. Before this he was professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Dundee, Scotland.

He is a child and adolescent psychiatrist by training. He is actively involved in research into child and adolescent mental health problems. His research focuses on developing a better understanding of the causes of ADHD, and related disorders, the development of effective treatments and their translation into practice.

Recently he has developed a particular interest in the benefits of routine measurement of outcomes in clinical care and how best to optimise this in clinical practice. Throughout his research career Dave has maintained a strong clinical presence and has worked hard to develop clinical pathways that facilitate the rapid transfer of research evidence into routine clinical practice. In addition to his academic role at the University of Melbourne where he is Deputy Head of the Department of Paediatrics, he is part of the neurodevelopmental disorders team at The Royal Children’s Hospital and works at Orygen.