Arun Dhandayudham and Devon De Silva

Dr Arun Dhandayudham is WDP’s Medical Director, leading on medical practice across the organisation. Dr Dhandayudham is a Consultant in Addictions Psychiatry and trained in Oxford and Cambridge. Dr Dhandayudham has extensive experience setting up community drug and alcohol services, prison services and dual diagnosis services. He has an interest in online shopping addiction, PTSD and chronic arousal states such as pain and anxiety.

Devon De Silva manages WDP’s Innovation and Research Unit (IRU) which aims to bridge the gap between academia and service delivery. The IRU achieves this by designing and contributing to research within the addictions sector, whilst also developing and evaluating innovations that enhance service delivery. Devon’s primary research focus is the evaluation of pilot programmes launched within WDP e.g. WDP’s Buvidal pilot, GLOVES Programme, Capital Card, and Open Dialogue.

Dr Della Santhakumar and Dr Vivienne Gosnell are highly experienced Clinical Leads involved in the successful delivery of Buvidal within WDP. They have also been integral in the collection of quantitative and qualitative data during the Pilot.