Rate My Professor Adam Sims

Dr Adam Sims is a Clinical Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Otago, Wellington. He plays a key role in postgraduate psychiatry education as co-convenor of the Stage I Formal Education Programme. This programme consists of weekly teaching sessions every Thursday afternoon at Te Papa on the Porirua campus or via Zoom, linked to Balint group psychotherapy sessions and including monthly sessions on medical statistics. Teaching adapted to Zoom during COVID-19 Level 3 restrictions and received positive feedback. In recent years, he has continued co-convening the programme with colleagues such as Dr Gawen Carr.

With a Master's qualification, Dr Sims is a graduate member of the Suicide and Mental Health Research Group at the University of Otago, Wellington. He contributes as a psychiatrist to the Mental Health and Ageing Survey, which involves anonymous 30-40 minute questionnaires for people aged 55 and older using mental health services. His publications address critical areas in mental health care. In 2019, he co-authored 'Specialist mental health care for older adults in New Zealand: an exploration of service models and routine data' in the New Zealand Medical Journal with Ruth Cunningham and Debbie Peterson. In 2022, he published 'Psychiatrists' views on the New Zealand End of Life Choice Act' in Australasian Psychiatry with Helen Cassidy and Susanna Every-Palmer. Dr Sims has served as Psychiatric Registrar at Capital Coast District Health Board and works as Psychiatrist for Older People there. He provided personal communication input to the 2018 Stocktake Report for the Mental Health and Addiction Inquiry and is a member of the Faculty of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.