Gordon Turnbull

Gordon Turnbull is a British psychiatrist and expert on post traumatic stress disorder. He is the lead trauma consultant at the Nightingale Hospital in London, visiting professor at the University of Chester, and Consultant Advisor in Psychiatry to the Civil Aviation Authority.

Turnbull is the author of the book Trauma: From Lockerbie to 7/7; How trauma affects our minds and how we fight back, published by Bantam Press in 2011.

Education

Turnbull grew up in Leith, Edinburgh, where he attended Lorne Street School and then George Heriot's School, before enrolling to study medicine at Edinburgh University in 1967. He graduated in 1973 and subsequently joined the Royal Air Force.

Prominent cases

In 1988, Turnbull led the team to debrief personnel involved in the Lockerbie Air Disaster, on behalf of RAF Mountain Rescue teams.

In August 1991, Turnbull was involved in debriefing John McCarthy, Terry Waite and Jackie Mann at RAF Princess Alexandra Hospital in Wiltshire on their return from Beirut, Lebanon where they had been held hostage.

Recognition

• Whittingham Prize for contribution to Aviation Medicine, 1992
• People of the Year Award, Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation, 1993