An NHS Forth Valley doctor who specialises in eating disorders, Dr Shridevi Gopi-Firth, is in the running to become Specialty Doctor / Associate Specialist of the Year in the Royal College of Psychiatrists Awards for 2022.
Her nomination included an impressive list of achievements. These included raising the faculty’s social media profile by creating and managing a social media account to liaise with other faculties and update relevant news.
She also helped frame national recommendations for the National Review of Eating Disorder Services set up by the Scottish Government and been a reviewer on the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network on Eating Disorders as a representative for Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) issues, providing valuable feedback to frame policy at a national level.
Dr Gopi-Firth is passionate about equity of healthcare access to minority communities, especially BAME and LGBTQ+ and is also on the board of Trustees of Saheliya, a BAME refugee women’s mental health charity that collaborates with the NHS and Scottish Government on providing support, increasing awareness and access for women and children.
In addition, she was invited to the Scottish Parliament for a discussion on eating disorders and is now setting up a series of podcasts to help colleagues use a common empathetic language when speaking to people with eating disorders, without feeling anxious about dealing with complex issues.
During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr Gopi-Firth worked with British doctors of Asian origin and international clinicians to support colleagues in India and Middle East with physical and psychological issues related to Covid pressures, utilising her extensive experience as a medical and surgical doctor amongst Asian populations. Holding a medical licence in India, Dr Gopi-Firth has continued to run free medical clinics in India which are then followed up by colleagues consulting remotely or by herself digitally, when clinically safe.
