Dr Asanga Fernando FRCPsych

Dr Asanga Fernando is a Consultant Psychiatrist specialising in the care of cancer patients. He has senior clinical leadership, research, and educational roles in cancer care and psychiatry at St George’s University NHS Foundation Trust, one of the largest acute healthcare providers in the UK. He has experience and expertise in integrating mental health and physical healthcare and translating policy into practice by setting up clinical services and pathways, including leading an innovative approach to managing cancer patients with severe mental illness through better use of data. He is widely published and is an Honorary Senior Lecturer. His clinical research interests include psychopharmacology, simulation, psycho-oncology, delivery models for integrated mental health, and healthcare policy. He has previously worked on mental healthcare policy nationally. He was awarded a Fellowship by the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 2025 and has won clinical, research, and educational awards throughout his career.

He has been passionate about innovation in education for decades and has held educational roles throughout his medical career, including at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM), where he completed his psychiatry training and fellowships in leadership and simulation. Asanga has been Clinical Director for Simulation at St George’s for the last six years, where he has collaboratively established several interprofessional educational programmes encouraging a human factors and patient safety-led approach across subjects.

He is currently the Programme Director for Simulation at NHS England (London), where he is preparing simulation for the future by optimising the response to the clinical, workforce, and technological challenges facing today’s NHS in London. He is also an executive member of simulation and psychiatry professional bodies and voluntary organisations in the UK.