Dr Malcolm Kinnear

I graduated in medicine and surgery from the University of Aberdeen in 1990 and rapidly decided to specialise in psychiatry, becoming a Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 1995. I took a circuitous route to becoming a consultant, including time out of medicine and as a Specialty Doctor, before finally completing my higher training and entering the GMC specialist register in 2017 for General Psychiatry with Rehabilitation Psychiatry. Since then, I have held consultant posts in Tayside, Orkney and Fife and have spent three years as a Clinical Lead. I used to be consultant with the Tayside Adult Autism Consultancy Team (TAACT), so I have worked with several members of the St Andrews Practice team in the past and am delighted to be doing so again! I have been a clinical and educational supervisor for trainees and still hold an Honorary Clinical Lecturer post with the University of Dundee, teaching and examining medical students. I have also been an Honorary Teaching Fellow with the University of St Andrews in the past.
I have long been interested in neurodiversity and am a member of the Autistic Doctors International group, with whom I have co-authored several papers about autism in the medical profession. My other professional interests include doctors’ mental health, in which capacity I am Vice Chair of the Doctors’ Support Network charity, and medical history, having recently served as Honorary Treasurer of the Scottish Society of the History of Medicine.
I believe that neurodiversity is simply part of human biological diversity, and that diagnosis should be a passport to better self-knowledge and a happier life.