Dr John Down

Dr John Down works with children and adolescents with mental, social and emotional problems, offering the best diagnosis and treatment when a complex set of symptoms is presented.

He has special interest in paediatric neuropsychiatry and neuroimmune psychiatry. Additional training in paediatric neurology has helped him to understand both the psychiatric and neurologic side to acute and chronic psychiatric presentations, as well as the psychiatric manifestations of neurological disease.

Dr Down treats a wide variety of psychiatric conditions but particularly early psychosis, obsessive compulsive disorder and Tourette’s syndrome. He is interested in autoimmune encephalitis and treating the psychiatric consequences of neurological disorders such as stroke, epilepsy and metabolic disorders. He also has an interest in neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism.

Having graduated with a Bachelor of Science, double major in Biology and Biomedical Science with honours (BSc) from Murdoch University in 2004, Dr Downs went on to complete a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) at the University of Queensland in 2011, and a Fellowship with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry (RANZCP) in 2019.

While part of the Paeds in a Pod team, Dr Down is a consultant at the Queensland Children’s Hospital where operates a paediatric neuropsychiatry clinic through the neurology department. He has also spent time practising at The Princess Alexandria Hospital, Brisbane, and the Cairns Hospital.

Dr Down is a Lecturer to basic and advanced Queensland psychiatry registrars and an Associate Lecturer at the University of Western Australia. He has had numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals and has been invited to present at conferences, including the Queensland Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Congress.

He takes great pride in making a difference in the lives of the children and families he sees, and particularly in identifying and treating their unmet psychiatric needs.

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