Dr Dregan current research is concerned primarily with understanding the etiology, patterning, and management of complex mental and physical  multimorbidity across the life-course. He has conducted longitudinal studies in multiple populations, such as the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), the UK Biobank, the English Longitudinal Study of Aging, and the 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS). These studies have contributted novel insights into the moderators and mediators of variation in the patterning and patient-centred outcomes for complex mental and physical multimorbidity over time. He made a notable contribution to the implementation of the first remotely-delivered cluster randomised pragmatric trials leveraging electronic health records (CPRD) within the UK primary care setting. His methodological interests lies in the application of machine learning methods to extract meaningful insights from linked electronic health records with the aim to more comprehensively capture the multidimensional and transitional nature of psychiatric multimorbidity and its treatment.  He is a member of the methodologies workstream of the NIHR Multiple Long-Term Conditions (CNC) programme and the NHS Mental Health Equalities Data Quality and Research Taskforce. 
Dr Dregan substantive research has been supported through competitive funding from the UKRI MRC, NIHR, NIH (USA), and charitable organisations, as well as a growing network of national and international collaborators. Dr Dregan was principal investigator on an MRC-funded grant that leveraged pooled data across three UK birth cohorts (BCS70, NCDS58, and NSHD46) to evaluate the etiology, patterning, and functional consequences of depression-related multimorbidity across the life-course. He is currently leading on the epidemiological work of an NIH-funded (PI Dr Glover, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill) award evaluating the epidemiology and management of hereditary angioedema, a rare inerited disease, using the CPRD data. He is also a co-investigator on the UKRI-funded Population Health Improvement Network (PROMISE) award where he shares leadership on a work programme that evaluates the impact of public health interventions on mental health multimorbidity. Dr Dregan is also a co-investigator an NIHR Team Science award identifying common clusters of multiple long-term conditions and their trajectory in LGBTQ populations using linked EHRs datasets. Dr Dregan is also part of a multidisciplinary team led by Southampton University (Prof Fraser) collaborating on an NIHR-funded award evaluating life-course determinants and prevention of early-onset multimorbidity (MELD-B). 
   

Dr Alex Dregan is a Reader in Psychiatric Epidemiology at the Department of Psychological Medicine, at the IoPPN, King’s College London. He obtained his PhD from the Institute of Education (University College London)  where he trained in life course epidemiology and population health. Using prospective data from the British Birth Cohort Study (1970), he documented persistent adult mental and behavioural problems associated with suboptimal placements within the UK local authority care system during 1970s and 1980s. He was also awarded an MSc in Applied Psychology from Cardiff University.