Gabriel Abotsie trained as a mental health nurse at the University of Dundee's School of Nursing and Midwifery in Scotland from 2002-2005. He immediately joined the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), where he worked in various settings, including medium secure and acute mental health wards. Earlier in his nursing career, he established a keen interest in research and evidence-based practice. This led to a pioneering role as a research nurse in NSFT, where he recruited participants into studies and managed commercial and NIHR-funded research projects.

Fuelled by his passion for learning more about health research, after completing an MSc in Health Sciences at UEA in 2011, Gabriel went on to become a CLAHRC fellow in 2014 (Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care), where he completed a project on physical health care for people with Serious Mental Health Illness (SMI). This programme propelled him into his PhD study, a mixed methods approach to researching a multidisciplinary approach to physical health care in SMI in Early Interventions Services for Psychosis.

Gabriel has taught in higher education since 2017 as an associate lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University and the University of Suffolk. He has also worked in leadership roles at NSFT, including the Men's Wellbeing Project Lead and the Professional Lead for Reducing Restrictive Interventions (RRI).

As the Professional Lead for RRI, he was responsible for implementing NSFT's strategy on RRI. He developed strong governance structures and delivered projects using Quality Improvement methodology to promote RRI. He represented the Trust regionally and nationally and provided expert opinions and advice on inpatient care. His work on RRI received recognition locally and nationally. Gabriel is an Improvement Advisor who has received formal training from the Institute of Health Improvement. As the RRI lead in NSFT, he coached various QI projects with positive outcomes.

His main research interests and expertise are in: 

• Physical Health inequalities among people with serious mental health illness
• Engaging and promoting men's mental health
• Reducing restrictive interventions in mental health wards
• Health inequalities among minority ethnic groups

Gabriel holds the position of module lead and organiser for the Advanced Practice in Mental Health course at the University of East Anglia, comprising 40 credits and at level 7. Additionally, Gabriel devotes 0.2 WTE to the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust research department, where he lends his expertise to research various research work.