Rajendra Persaud

Who is Rajendra Persaud?

Rajendra Persaud, also known as Raj Persaud, born 13 May 1963, in Reading, Berkshire is an English consultant psychiatrist, broadcaster and author of popular books about psychiatry.

He is the son of Trinidad-born author Dr. Lakshmi Persaud and Professor Bishnodat Persaud. He is well known for raising public awareness of psychiatric and mental health issues in the general media. He has published five popular books and has received numerous awards.

On 16 June 2008 Persaud admitted to inadequately acknowledging articles mentioned in his book From The Edge of the Couch, but denied deliberate plagiarism when he faced the General Medical Council's "fitness to practise panel". Passages of Professor Richard Bentall's work had been copied without quotation marks or other adequate reference on the corresponding pages of one of Persaud's popular books, although Persaud had obtained the author's permission to include the material.

On 19 June 2008 he was found guilty of dishonesty and bringing the profession into disrepute by the GMC, but it was accepted that there was no financial incentive at work. On the following day it was announced by the GMC that his fitness to practise was impaired and he was suspended from practising for three months.