Henrietta Bowden-Jones

Henrietta Bowden-Jones OBE (born 27 April 1964) is a British medical doctor, psychiatrist, honorary professor at University College London and honorary senior visiting fellow, Department of Psychiatry at Cambridge University.

In 2008 she founded and became director of the National Problem Gambling Clinic, the first centre to treat gambling disorder. This clinic remained the only centre of its kind for 12 years and has been inundated by thousands of referrals since its opening in 2008. Now it holds an extensive national database on pathological gambling.

In 2019 she was advisor to NHS England on the 10-year Long-Term Plan for Gambling Disorder. The original clinic she had founded and run for over a decade was commissioned as the template for another 15 NHS-funded clinics designated to the treatment of gambling disorder. One of these became the Young People's Gambling services, also run from the same central site under Bowden-Jones's leadership.

In 2019 with NHS funding, she founded the National Centre for Gaming Disorders, the first NHS centre to treat Gaming Disorder following the inclusion of this addiction in the new International Classification of diseases (ICD 11). The National Centre for Gaming Disorders, part of CNWL NHS Trust, treats people as young as 13 and in its first year significantly over-performed the planned commissioning targets set by NHS England.

In 2019 Bowden-Jones was appointed as honorary professor at University College London Division of Psychology and Language Sciences.

Immediate past president of the Medical Women's Federation ( 2018–2020).

Current president of the Royal Society of Medicine Psychiatry Section. 2020–2022 and Royal Society of Medicine trustee 2021–2024.

Royal College of Psychiatrists spokesperson for Behavioral Addictions.

Bowden-Jones was appointed as a board member of the Howard League Crime and Problem Gambling Commission 2019–2022

Bowden-Jones was appointed as a board member on the Board of Science Committee British Medical Association (2021–2024).

Early life and education Bowden-Jones was born in Turin, Italy to an Italian mother and British father. She studied medicine at the University of Pavia.

Her approach has been described as "innovative and experimental" as she trialed the use of Naltrexone and group cognitive behavioral therapy. The National Centre for Behavioural Addictions also supports family members who struggle with the results of problem gambling and gaming disorder.

In 2021 she has been called on as an expert in the field to advise the All Party Group on Reducing Harm Related to Gambling in Northern Ireland and the Welsh Task and Finish Group on Gambling Harm.

In December 2023, Bowden-Jones was appointed by the Crown to support the Lord Lieutenant of Greater London Sir Kenneth Olisa OBE and assigned to serve in the Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Awards 2023 Appointed by the Crown to support the Lord Lieutenant of Greater London Sir Kenneth Olisa OBE and assigned to serve in the Borough of Kensington and Chelsea 2020 Psychiatrist of the Year, Royal College of Psychiatrists 2019 Order of the British Empire 2018 National Health Service Women Leaders Award 2015 National Council on Problem Gambling Joanna Franklin Gambling Treatment Award 2014 Women of Achievement Award in Health Category, Women in the City 2014 Royal College of Psychiatrists Public Educator of the Year Award (finalist) 2010 The Times Best Doctors in Britain 2006 Specialist Clinical Addiction Network Award 2003 Imperial College London Hallinan Young Researcher Award 2017 Problem Gambling in Women: An International Female Perspective on Treatment and Research - Routledge 2017 Are We All Addicts Now? - Liverpool University Press 2015 A Clinician's Guide to Working With Problem Gamblers - Routledge