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7. Dr Zain Sikafi

With pressures mounting on mental health support in primary care and patients facing lengthy waiting times for therapy, this young GP has taken on the challenge by turning to digital tools.

Dr Zain Sikafi has worked steadfastly in the past year to develop an online therapy platform – Mynurva.com – that features live video support and enables patients to access one-to-one counselling quickly and conveniently.

Now the platform is up and running, Dr Sikafi has plans to develop it as an NHS service.

Imperial College London, where he studied medicine, has hailed Mynurva as a transformative technology in mental health, and the app has received positive attention in the media, including in The Economist.

Patients have embraced the platform, and early results demonstrate the value it offers.

‘When our first user told us they didn’t need any more therapy sessions, that’s when we knew that what we were doing would be very worthwhile,’ recalls Dr Sikafi.

As well as continuing to practise as a GP in north-west London, Dr Sikafi has worked as London representative for the RCGP’s associates in training committee.

Within that remit, he has mentored students on GP VTS at Central Middlesex and Northwick Park hospitals.

What others say ‘Dr Sikafi is a keen advocate for general practice as the most versatile and creative profession of the medical field’