Craig Ritchie is a Scottish professor of psychiatry. He is a clinical academic and researcher specialising in neurodegenerative diseases â in particularly the early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease. He is the founder and chief executive officer of Scottish Brain Sciences and serves as the Professor of Brain Health and Neurodegenerative Disease at the University of St Andrews.
Ritchie promotes the "Brain Health Movement," which advocates for the detection of Alzheimer's disease in midlife, decades before the onset of dementia symptoms. He previously held the Chair in Psychiatry of Ageing at the University of Edinburgh and served as the inaugural Director of Brain Health Scotland, a government-funded initiative to prevent dementia.
Craig Ritchie was born in Aberdeen, Scotland. His mother, Elizabeth Ritchie, was a primary school teacher. His father, Professor William Ritchie, was a specialist in applied coastal geomorphology and vice-chancellor of Lancaster University. He has an older brother, Derek (b.1967) and a younger sister, Lynne (b.1978). He went to Aberdeen Grammar (1980âÂÂ1986) before attending the University of Aberdeen, graduating with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) in 1991.
Between 1997 and 2000, Ritchie worked as a researcher in Melbourne, Australia, in a research centre run by Professor Colin Masters at the University of Melbourne - focusing on drug discovery and development for Alzheimer's disease. He then returned to the United Kingdom in 2000, where he completed a PhD in Mental Health at University College London (UCL) between 2002-2006, funded through a Medical Research Council (MRC) Health Services Research Fellowship. Prior to his PhD, he did an MSc in Epidemiology in 2002.
In 2007, Ritchie was appointed as a Senior Lecturer in Old Age Psychiatry at Imperial College London. During this time, he also served as Honorary Consultant and Research and Development (R&D) Director at West London Mental Health Trust from 2010 to 2014 and Deputy Director of the London Northwest National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network. He served as the co-director of the London (NW) Comprehensive local research network from 2010-2014, the Clinical Lead for Frailty Theme with the Chelsea and Westminster foundation trust from 2013-2014.
In October 2014, Ritchie returned to Scotland to take up the Chair in Psychiatry of Ageing at the University of Edinburgh. In 2015, he established the Centre for Dementia Prevention at the university. He served as the elected Chair of the Scottish Dementia Research Consortium (SDRC) from 2017 to 2022. He was also the Associate Director of the Edinburgh Wellcome Trust clinical research facility from 2016-2022. Currently, he holds the position of Professor of Brain Health and Neurodegenerative Disease at the University of St Andrews.
In March 2020, Ritchie became the inaugural Director of Brain Health Scotland, a government-sponsored programme led by Alzheimer Scotland. The mission of Brain Health Scotland is to work with people of all ages to protect their brain health and reduce their risk of diseases that lead to dementia. In his role, he advocated for a distinct "Brain Health Strategy" to complement existing dementia strategies, emphasising public health, risk reduction, and early detection across the life course rather than solely on late-stage care.
In 2022, Ritchie founded Scottish Brain Sciences, a company designed to accelerate the development of diagnostics and therapeutics for neurodegenerative disease through clinical trials and research. The first Scottish Brain Sciences clinical research centre was opened in Edinburgh, and served people across Scotland. In May 2023, after working as a psychiatrist in the NHS for 33 years, he resigned from NHS Scotland. He cited frustration with the "infrastructure" available to deliver new Alzheimer's treatments. He stated in The Herald that patients were being denied life-changing drugs due to "roadblocks in the system" and that symptomatic patients were facing wait times of up to 18 months.
His resignation and comments regarding the NHS infrastructure were raised in the Scottish Parliament during First Minister's Questions, where MSP Claire Baker asked the First Minister for the Scottish Government's response to Ritchie's departure. First minister Humza Yousaf replied that '[they] share his ambition to improve interventions and support people with dementia, and [he] takes [Ritchie's] criticisms very seriously'. Following his resignation from the NHS, Ritchie transitioned to the role of full-time CEO of Scottish Brain Sciences. The company operates on a "triple helix" model, fostering collaboration between the life sciences sector, universities, and the health sector.
The BBC has reported on Scottish Brain Sciences as a "pioneering" research centre that is developing new methods for early detection. In August 2023, BBC News covered the company's partnership with Roche Diagnostics, reporting that the centre aims to create a new blood test to identify Alzheimer's disease at an earlier stage. The article quoted Ritchie stating that this work would open the door to better-targeted interventions.
In November 2025, Scotland's Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes joined for the opening of a new Scottish Brain Sciences clinical research centre at the ONE BioHub in Aberdeen.
Ritchie's research focuses on the combination of clinical trials and translational epidemiology.
Ritchie has given several appearances advocating for early testing and brain health.
The Sunday Times
The BBC