Dr Cookson undertook his medical training in Oxford and worked as a junior doctor at St Bartholomews Hospital, working at the German Hospital and in Homerton.
During his four decades, Dr Cookson has seen enormous change - in the structure and development of mental health services, in health policy, in pharmaceutical breakthroughs, and in funding for services. He has an enduring appreciation of the local people who have been his patients over the years, and their families.
He said, “It has been extremely rewarding to work with people in the east end. So friendly and supportive despite the difficulties that bring them into contact with mental health services. Tower Hamlets has historically had high health and social needs and in the early years, was chronically underfunded. My main focus has always been to help people to overcome difficult symptoms and to have better lives. I leave with many good memories of colleagues I have worked with and the patients and families I have known.”
Dr Cookson did not set out to become psychiatrist. He first studied biochemistry in Oxford but realised that his interests lay in medicine and changed courses. He developed a life-long interest in the workings of the brain, specialising in research into mania, bi-polar disorder and schizophrenia, as well as providing direct care and treatment to service users. He has authored and co-authored books on mental health practice, many of which are key reading for psychiatry trainees today.
He said, “I have always been curious about what is going on in the mind when it becomes disturbed. Trying to understand what is going on in the nervous system that is influencing a person’s thinking and behaviour - and how can we make sense of it psychologically and physically.”
Although Dr Cookson is leaving Tower Hamlets and ELFT, he will to continue to practice as a psychiatrist and as a lecturer.