Dr David Horgan
Psychiatrist, Royal Melbourne Hospital; Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne
Dr. David Horgan was educated in Dublin, where he graduated in Medicine. He trained in psychiatry in Edinburgh. He completed his Membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in the UK, and also obtained a Diploma in Psychological Medicine from the Royal College of Surgeons & Physicians in London. He simultaneously obtained the degree of Master of Philosophy in Psychiatry from the University of Edinburgh, based on research into patients with bipolar disorder misdiagnosed as having other illnesses.
Dr. Horgan moved to Melbourne in 1980 as a Consultant Psychiatrist in the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He completed his Fellowship of the Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, and he also completed a Doctorate Thesis in the University of Melbourne in 1983, on Psychiatric Aspects of Coronary Artery Surgery. He is mainly involved in private practice in psychiatry, particularly treating resistant depression, usually on referral from other psychiatrists.
He has an intense commitment to community suicide prevention. He established an Australia-wide freecall telephone suicide prevention service in 1997, listed under Suicide in every telephone directory, which receives many thousands of calls per year. He also established the websites www.suicideprevention.com.au and www.aftersuicide.com.au as community services. He has recently established the registered Harm Prevention charity Australian Suicide Prevention Foundation. He is currently working with the Irish authorities to bring similar services into the Irish Republic.
Dr Horgan has been heavily involved over many years in teaching psychiatry to GPs, emphasising practicalities. He is currently researching, publishing and lecturing in the area of combined antidepressants in treating depression and preventing suicide.
