Dr Benjamin I. Perry
Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
Dr Ben Perry is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Birmingham, and Consultant Psychiatrist in the Birmingham Early Intervention Services.
Operating Division: PsyMetRiC
Supporting shared decision-making with young people with severe mental illness, in real-world healthcare settings.
People living with mental illness face a significantly elevated risk of physical health issues, dying an average of 10-15 years sooner than those without, with 67% of deaths caused by heart disease and cancer.
At the same time, these patients are less likely to receive adequate treatment for physical concerns due to a phenomenon known as diagnostic overshadowing, when symptoms of the physical illness are misattributed to the previously diagnosed mental illness and the patient is denied additional care.
PsyMetRiC is the first physical health risk calculator that is tailored and accurate for young people at the onset of severe mental illness
As a result, over half of the NHS’s total spend on psychotic disorders is attributable to physical morbidity, says Dr Ben Perry, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Birmingham. “Young people with psychosis experience a 10-15-year reduction in life expectancy due to physical health conditions, and that gap is widening as life expectancy in the general population increases,” he says. “The tools we currently use under-predict risk, and as a result, lots of people aren’t getting the kind of interventions they need.”
As a practicing clinician, Dr Perry has witnessed firsthand the paucity of tools tailored to people living with psychosis. To fill this gap, he created PsyMetRiC, a clinician-facing tool designed to accurately predict the risk of young people with psychosis developing physical health problems. Now an Operation Division (OD), PsyMetRiC aims to provide clinicians and patients with individualised risk assessments for future physical health issues, encouraging shared decision-making toward better long-term health outcomes.
Originally conceived as an open-source data visualisation tool, PsyMetRiC has evolved into a clinically-ready application, redesigned to support shared decision-making in real-world healthcare settings.
Enterprise has played a critical supportive role. Predictive health tools in the UK must gain regulatory approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), but the system, originally intended for physical medical devices that usually arise from industry, presents hurdles for digital tools arising from academia.
"There have been next to no prediction models in psychiatry that have actually made it into clinical practice under the MHRA framework, and that held us back from getting the tool into clinicians’ hands,” says Dr Perry. “But now, Enterprise is looking at becoming the legal manufacturer.” PsyMetRiC is now preparing to be approved for use by clinicians, rather than just to display the results of a research project.
Birmingham’s unique OD model is helping Dr Perry’s team explore business opportunities, providing mentoring and connections with a network of founders.
My team and I are strong in research and clinical practice, but we’ve got no experience running a business. That’s why I think the OD model is so valuable. It offers guidance and support that helps me build the skills I need in that area.
Regulatory approval isn’t a one-time achievement; it demands ongoing compliance, maintenance, and funding to remain available for clinical use in the long term. That’s why the project is now focused on identifying sustainable business models that align with its goals. There is also potential for international adoption, as initial testing of the tool in countries like Canada, which shares a similar regulatory landscape, has laid the groundwork for approval.
“In order to survive within the current regulatory framework, you need ongoing resources, not just to meet the initial regulatory requirements, but also to maintain regulatory approval over time,” says Dr Perry. “The tool is only ever going to stay available if it’s self-sustaining, and that’s what’s going to keep it in clinicians’ hands in the long term.”