Our people
Dr Joseph Tay Wee Teck
DigitAS Project Lead and Senior Lecturer in General Practice, University of St Andrews
Joe Tay is Clinical Services Director for Forward Leeds, one of the largest addiction services in England. He is a primary care physician by training, an ISAM certificant, and is the DigitAS project lead at St Andrews University.
His areas of interest include the digitalisation of addiction services, systems science and complexity, harm reduction, quality improvement, participation of people who use drugs in decision making, telemedicine and digital health interventions and implementation science.
Prof Alexander Baldacchino
Chair in Medicine, University of St Andrews
Alex is Professor of Medicine, Psychiatry and Addictions at the University of St Andrews and recently retired as Consultant Psychiatrist with NHS Fife Addiction Services, Scotland, United Kingdom. He has been principal investigator in biological, neuropsychological, neuroimaging, clinical and policy related research portfolios when working with the Universities of London, Cambridge, Dundee and St Andrews for the last 27 years. In the last 20 years he has been the UK principal investigator to several European Union funded projects. These include looking at barriers and challenges faced by individuals with substance misuse related problems accessing treatment (IATPAD Study), a cross-cultural multicentre study to determine the nature, extent and management of drug related mental health problems in Europe (Drugs and Psychosis and ISADORA Studies), internet and drug addiction (Psychonaut 2002) and Overdose Risk InfOrmatioN Project (ORION) amongst others.
His research portfolio has a common thread of understanding the comorbid conditions (physical and psychological) arising as a result of chronic abuse of pharmacological agents with dependence potential especially opioids, nicotine and alcohol. He has around 150 peer reviewed publications. Post COVID he has been involved in exploring further the role of digitalised based intervention in the field of substance use disorder He is the Immediate Past President and Distinguished Fellow of the International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM).
Dr Susannah Galea-Singer
Clinical Lead & Consultant Psychiatrist, NHS Fife Addiction Services
Susanna is a specialist consultant psychiatrist, leading the NHS Fife Addiction Services. Galea-Singer has led a number of Addiction Services and Mental Health Services, both nationally and internationally, with her most recent position prior to joining NHS Fife being a strategic lead within the Institute for Innovation and Improvement, Waitemata District Health Board, Auckland, New Zealand. Galea-Singer holds expertise on Strategy and Innovation in healthcare.
Dr Alberto Oteo-Perez
Research Fellow
Alberto is a postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of St Andrews working on digital technologies for drug treatment and harm reduction. He is also lead for Research and Surveillance at the Addiction and Inclusion directorate of the Office for Health improvement and Disparities at the UK Department of Health. He is the coordinator of the UK Drugs Early Warning System and the National Intelligence Network on Drug Harms and Harm Reduction. He is also the lead reporter on the UK drug situation to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and World Health Organisation (WHO). He is a clinical psychologist and holds a PhD in Criminology with the University of Amsterdam, where he conducted research on the population of crack cocaine users in the Netherlands. He has also worked at the Scientific Division of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) in Lisbon.
Ms Xujun Tan
Research Fellow
Dr Giedre Zlakute
Research Fellow
Mr Joe Schofield
Research Fellow
Joe is a postgraduate reseracher at University of St Andrews, undertaking a PhD in Addiction Medicine, supervised by Professor Baldacchino, that aims to generate mechanistic insights into the development of cardiovascular disease among people with chronic opioid exposure. He is a postgraduate Research Fellow on the DigitAS project with an interest in the role of digital technologies in expanding acess to patient-centred health and social care and support for people who use drugs.