Keynotes

confirmed

The North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study: NAPLS 1-3 the development of a consortium

Abstract:  

The North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS) consortium was initiated in 2003 with eight independently National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) funded sites. Sites included the Universities of Yale, Calgary, North Carolina, Emory, Harvard, and the University of California at San Diego and at Los Angeles. In 2008, they were awarded a 5-year grant from NIMH to incorporate biological assessment approaches (neuroimaging, electrophysiological, hormonal and genetic) into a multi-site prospective study of 720 participants at clinical high risk for developing psychosis and 240 matched controls, known as NAPLS 2. Then in 2014 NAPLS was competitively renewed for a new 5-year study period (NAPLS 3) to further clarify the roles of neuroinflammation and deficient synaptic plasticity in the development of psychosis and a 9th site, the University of California, San Francisco was added. Numerous papers have been published from the NAPLS project, an overview of which will be part of the focus of this presentation. The next step for this collaboration is to work with other consortiums with the aim of moving the field to newer levels.

_0001_RP-5DB_208166-Edit--Cropped-Jean-Addington
canada

Jean Addington

University of Calgary – Canada

Reflections around the prevention of depression

Abstract:

Despite some interesting ideas and results, the prevention of emotional disorders remains an elusive concept with limited evidence to guide further developments. The limited knowledge on the aetiology of emotional disorders limits our capacity to develop better interventions.  This presentation will address some issues such as time sensitive periods to act, types of prevention intervention, and methodological and practical challenges based ons tudies conducted mostly inlow-and-middle-income counrtries.

_0002_Professor-Ricardo-Araya
uk

Ricardo Araya

King’s College London – UK

Early intervention for developing social relationships: Can we prevent bullying victimization and loneliness

Abstract:

Social relationships and interpersonal connections are fundamental to human life. Positive social relationships provide support in times of stress, while the absence or removal of these connections causes distress and presents potential long-term implications health and functional outcomes. Research reported poor mental, physical and functional outcomes associated with being bullied in childhood and with loneliness in young adulthood. Interventions aiming to reduce these phenomena are numerous but with limited results.  

This presentation will examine evidence supporting early intervention to prevent bullying victimization in childhood and loneliness in your adulthood.

_0004_Louise Arseneault_Colour_small_without hands copy
uk

Louise Arseneault

King’s College London – UK

Widening the clinical and geographical frontiers of neurodevelopment studies - the Brazilian High Risk Cohort Study

Abstract:

Most psychiatric disorders emerge during adolescence preceded by a phase during which attenuated symptoms and functional decline become apparent. The clinical presentation and course of the mental disorders is extremely variable and poorly understood. Neurodevelopment cohort studies are beginning to provide new insights about the interaction between neurobiological and environmental processes during this period. However, there is still an enormous gap in knowledge that is even more pronounce in Low and Middle Incomes Countries (LaMIC), where almost 90% of the world’s youth live. Research outputs from a large cohort study, the “Brazilian High Risk Cohort Study” (BHRCS) (https://osf.io/ktz5h/ ) that combines epidemiology and neuroscience methods to follow 2,511 6-12 years-old Brazilian children for up to 10 years now will be presented. Altered neurodevelopmental trajectories were associated with incident mental disorders using neuroimaging, genetics, cognition, and in-depth psychiatric evaluations. Analyses of baseline and 3-year follow-up data have already added to previous literature. A large treatment gap in Brazil (only 1 in 5 children with a mental disorder had received any lifetime mental health care). Research finding about reduced fractional anisotropy of the superior longitudinal fasciculus in children with poor decoding and writing skills; increased centrality of cortical brain networks during the transition to adolescence. Aberrant intrinsic connectivity within the reward network linked with new-onset adolescent depression. Early findings on high-risk stratification, and COVID mental-health impacts from the last wave of data collection (18-21 years-old) will be presented.

Rodrigo Bressan
brazil

Rodrigo A Bressan

Federal University of Sao Paulo – Brazil

Youth mental health in troubled times

Abstract: 

Youth mental health (YMH) initiatives are vital to reducing the overall impact of mental disorders in a population. A large-scale community YMH program was due to launch when social unrest broke out in Hong Kong in 2019, which saw huge increases in mental distress in the population. The subsequent emergence of COVID-19 superimposed a further layer of stressors and difficulties. Engagement with services was hampered by a lack of trust and polarization in society. Evaluation of mental health was complicated by the persistence of population-level stressors. Data from an innovative large-scale survey and conventional epidemiological approaches complement one another to provide a more comprehensive picture of the extent of the mental health sequelae, as well as their underlying triggers. We observed that compared to the rest of the population, young people were particularly affected. Exposure to pandemic-related and unrest-related factors interacted in complex ways to aggravate PTSD and depressive symptoms. Given the increasing co-occurrences of pandemic and social protests, these observations may be relevant to understand how population-level stressors impact on youth mental health in other communities.    

_0007_Eric Chen - Copy
hongkong

Eric Chen

University of Hong Kong – Hong Kong

Preventing the onset of depressive disorders: Opportunities and challenges

Abstract: 

Depression is common, costly, has a strong impact on the lives of individuals and society and has a strong association with morbidity and mortality. Preventing the onset of depressive disorders is one of the main challenges for public health in the coming decades. In this presentation an overview of the research field will be given. Why prevention is important, whether preventive interventions are effective, examples of important trials in the field will be given, and possibilities to increase the impact on public health will be discussed.

_0003_Pim Cuijpers
netherlands

Pim Cuijpers

University of Amsterdam – Netherlands

Intergenerational Psychiatry: A New Look at a Powerful Perspective

Abstract: 

The talk will start by discussing recent developments in our understanding of intergenerational processes in psychiatry, from animal studies to converging evidence among humans, expanded by new tools now available, such as neonatal brain imaging, and others (Duarte, Monk, Weissman & Posner, World Psychiatry, accepted). Specific mechanisms and the potential of an intergenerational approach for broadening our understanding of developmental processes in Psychiatry will be illustrated by ongoing studies of individuals growing up in disadvantaged contexts, particularly, the Boricua Youth Study and the Brazil Babies Study.

 

christianeduarte
usa

Cristiane S. Duarte

Columbia University – USA

Immune system as a potential target for treatment and prevention of serious mental illness and comorbid cardiometabolic diseases

Abstract:

The immune system, particularly low-grade systemic inflammation, has been implicated in pathogenesis of depression and schizophrenia. Inflammation is thought to be a clinically relevant phenotype, as immune activation is associated with poor response to psychotropic medications. Currently, a number of RCTs are testing the efficacy of novel anti-inflammatory drugs for patients with depression and schizophrenia. However, there are key unanswered questions both mechanistic and clinical. Is inflammation a causal risk factor for depression and schizophrenia? Could anti-inflammatory treatment be used to treat these disorders? If so, which patients are likely to benefit?  Dr Khandaker will present evidence from population-based longitudinal studies and Mendelian randomization genetic analysis addressing the issue of causality. These studies suggest that reverse causality or residual confounding is unlikely to fully explain the associations of interleukin 6 (IL-6), a pro-inflammatory cytokine, with depression and schizophrenia. He will present data from systematic reviews and meta-analysis on the effect of anti-inflammatory drugs, including monoclonal antibodies, on depressive symptoms. These studies have led to two proof-of-concept double blind RCTs of tocilizumab (anti-IL-6R monoclonal antibody) for patients with depression and first episode of psychosis including the ongoing Insight study (ISRCTN16942542), which will be discussed. Furthermore, Dr Khandaker will present emerging evidence from genetic and epidemiological analysis suggesting that inflammation be a shared mechanism for comorbid cardiometabolic disease in people with serious mental illness.

Golam Khandakar-802
uk

Golam Khandaker

University of Cambridge

The Next Stage for Early Intervention: Transdiagnostic, Personalized, Universal

Abstract:

Early intervention in mental health has made great progress over the past 25 years through the prototype of early psychosis. Yet real world reform remains relatively piecemeal and comprehensive upscaling has not yet occurred to enable every person with psychotic illness is to receive timely, personalised and sustained clinical care and reach their full potential. Nevertheless, the beachhead and evidence base established by the EI paradigm in psychosis creates the conditions for this principle to be extended to the full diagnostic spectrum. EI has universal value in health care and the fluidity of our syndromal approach to diagnosis both cross-sectionally and longitudinally means that we cannot focus too narrowly. The clinical staging model may provide the framework for us to translate the principles of early intervention to a wide range of mental disorders. New cultures of care appropriate to early intervention are needed and emerging. Through more refined prediction strategies and definition of underlying mechanisms we can also move towards the holy grail of a more personalized approach to treatment. Transdiagnostic research can be enabled if systems of care guarantee “soft entry” to new cultures youth-oriented culture of care, at the sub threshold stage, making stepwise expertise progressively available with functional recovery as the goal. We need to combine the power of the evidence-based paradigm with greater confidence, tenacity and much more intensive and professional advocacy in partnership with the general public.

pat
australia

Patrick D. McGorry

University of Melbourne

Tales from the frontline: understanding the impact of psychosis on families

Abstract: 

To provide optimal patient care, all health systems, including mental healthcare, need families. They rely on their support, expertise, and the ‘safety net’ they all too often provide.  To what degree, however, do these health systems understand the different ways in which families can be directly and indirectly impacted by their support and caregiving roles? To what extent do health and social care providers consider the information, support, and health needs of families, and how these might vary depending on different illness phases, family configurations, and socio-economic factors.  This talk will seek to shine a spotlight on the families of people with lived experience of psychosis. It will explore how our current understanding of families, and the specific health needs of carers, have evolved over recent decades and what evidence gaps remain. The implications for family caregiving, service provision and policy will be discussed

Juliana Onwumere-v2-min
uk

Juliana Onwumere

King’s College London

Prevention and Early Intervention in Low and Middle-Income Countries: from Neuroscience to Public Health

Abstract: 

In this presentation, I will discuss strategies for health prevention, promotion, and treatment in low and middle-income countries. I will discuss original data on strategies from neuroscience and pragmatic implementation strategies in low resource settings.

_0006_Giovanni Salum - Copy
brazil

Giovanni Salum

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul – Brazil

The Next Stage for Early Intervention:
Transdiagnostic, Personalized, Universal

australia

Professor Patrick McGorry

University of Melbourne

Early intervention in mental health has made great progress over the past 25 years through the prototype of early psychosis. Yet real world reform remains relatively piecemeal and comprehensive upscaling has not yet occurred to enable every person with psychotic illness is to receive timely, personalised and sustained clinical care and reach their full potential. Nevertheless, the beachhead and evidence base established by the EI paradigm in psychosis creates the conditions for this principle to be extended to the full diagnostic spectrum.

EI has universal value in health care and the fluidity of our syndromal approach to diagnosis both cross-sectionally and longitudinally means that we cannot focus too narrowly. The clinical staging model may provide the framework for us to translate the principles of early intervention to a wide range of mental disorders. New cultures of care appropriate to early intervention are needed and emerging. Through more refined prediction strategies and definition of underlying mechanisms we can also move towards the holy grail of a more personalized approach to treatment.

Transdiagnostic research can be enabled if systems of care guarantee “soft entry” to new cultures youth-oriented culture of care, at the sub threshold stage, making stepwise expertise progressively available with functional recovery as the goal.

We need to combine the power of the evidence-based paradigm with greater confidence, tenacity and much more intensive and professional advocacy in partnership with the general public.

Tales from the frontline:
understanding the impact of psychosis on families

uk

Dr Juliana Onwumere

King’s College London

To provide optimal patient care, all health systems, including mental healthcare, need families. They rely on their support, expertise, and the ‘safety net’ they all too often provide.  To what degree, however, do these health systems understand the different ways in which families can be directly and indirectly impacted by their support and caregiving roles? To what extent do health and social care providers consider the information, support, and health needs of families, and how these might vary depending on different illness phases, family configurations, and socio-economic factors.  

This talk will seek to shine a spotlight on the families of people with lived experience of psychosis. It will explore how our current understanding of families, and the specific health needs of carers, have evolved over recent decades and what evidence gaps remain. The implications for family caregiving, service provision and policy will be discussed

Immune system as a potential target for treatment and prevention of serious mental illness and comorbid cardiometabolic diseases

uk

Dr Golam Khandaker

University of Cambridge

The immune system, particularly low-grade systemic inflammation, has been implicated in pathogenesis of depression and schizophrenia. Inflammation is thought to be a clinically relevant phenotype, as immune activation is associated with poor response to psychotropic medications.

Currently, a number of RCTs are testing the efficacy of novel anti-inflammatory drugs for patients with depression and schizophrenia. However, there are key unanswered questions both mechanistic and clinical. Is inflammation a causal risk factor for depression and schizophrenia? Could anti-inflammatory treatment be used to treat these disorders? If so, which patients are likely to benefit? 

Dr Khandaker will present evidence from population-based longitudinal studies and Mendelian randomization genetic analysis addressing the issue of causality. These studies suggest that reverse causality or residual confounding is unlikely to fully explain the associations of interleukin 6 (IL-6), a pro-inflammatory cytokine, with depression and schizophrenia. He will present data from systematic reviews and meta-analysis on the effect of anti-inflammatory drugs, including monoclonal antibodies, on depressive symptoms.

These studies have led to two proof-of-concept double blind RCTs of tocilizumab (anti-IL-6R monoclonal antibody) for patients with depression and first episode of psychosis including the ongoing Insight study (ISRCTN16942542), which will be discussed.

Furthermore, Dr Khandaker will present emerging evidence from genetic and epidemiological analysis suggesting that inflammation be a shared mechanism for comorbid cardiometabolic disease in people with serious mental illness.

Widening the clinical and geographical frontiers of
neurodevelopment studies - the Brazilian High Risk Cohort Study

brazil

Professor Rodrigo A Bressan

Federal University of Sao Paulo

Most psychiatric disorders emerge during adolescence preceded by a phase during which attenuated symptoms and functional decline become apparent. The clinical presentation and course of the mental disorders is extremely variable and poorly understood.

Neurodevelopment cohort studies are beginning to provide new insights about the interaction between neurobiological and environmental processes during this period. However, there is still an enormous gap in knowledge that is even more pronounce in Low and Middle Incomes Countries (LaMIC), where almost 90% of the world’s youth live. Research outputs from a large cohort study, the “Brazilian High Risk Cohort Study” (BHRCS) (https://osf.io/ktz5h/ ) that combines epidemiology and neuroscience methods to follow 2,511 6-12 years-old Brazilian children for up to 10 years now will be presented.

Altered neurodevelopmental trajectories were associated with incident mental disorders using neuroimaging, genetics, cognition, and in-depth psychiatric evaluations. Analyses of baseline and 3-year follow-up data have already added to previous literature. A large treatment gap in Brazil (only 1 in 5 children with a mental disorder had received any lifetime mental health care).

Research finding about reduced fractional anisotropy of the superior longitudinal fasciculus in children with poor decoding and writing skills; increased centrality of cortical brain networks during the transition to adolescence. Aberrant intrinsic connectivity within the reward network linked with new-onset adolescent depression. Early findings on high-risk stratification, and COVID mental-health impacts from the last wave of data collection (18-21 years-old) will be presented.

Prevention and Early Intervention in Low and Middle-Income Countries: from Neuroscience to Public Health

brazil

Giovanni Salum

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul – Brazil

In this presentation, I will discuss strategies for health prevention, promotion, and treatment in low and middle-income countries. I will discuss original data on strategies from neuroscience and pragmatic implementation strategies in low resource settings.

Intergenerational Psychiatry: A New Look at a Powerful Perspective

usa

Cristiane S. Duarte

Columbia University – USA

The talk will start by discussing recent developments in our understanding of intergenerational processes in psychiatry, from animal studies to converging evidence among humans, expanded by new tools now available, such as neonatal brain imaging, and others (Duarte, Monk, Weissman & Posner, World Psychiatry, accepted).

Specific mechanisms and the potential of an intergenerational approach for broadening our understanding of developmental processes in Psychiatry will be illustrated by ongoing studies of individuals growing up in disadvantaged contexts, particularly, the Boricua Youth Study and the Brazil Babies Study.

Preventing the onset of depressive disorders:
Opportunities and challenges

netherlands

Pim Cuijpers

University of Amsterdam – Netherlands

Depression is common, costly, has a strong impact on the lives of individuals and society and has a strong association with morbidity and mortality. Preventing the onset of depressive disorders is one of the main challenges for public health in the coming decades. In this presentation an overview of the research field will be given. Why prevention is important, whether preventive interventions are effective, examples of important trials in the field will be given, and possibilities to increase the impact on public health will be discussed.

Youth mental health in troubled times

hongkong

Eric Chen

University of Hong Kong – Hong Kong

Youth mental health (YMH) initiatives are vital to reducing the overall impact of mental disorders in a population. A large-scale community YMH program was due to launch when social unrest broke out in Hong Kong in 2019, which saw huge increases in mental distress in the population. The subsequent emergence of COVID-19 superimposed a further layer of stressors and difficulties.

Engagement with services was hampered by a lack of trust and polarization in society. Evaluation of mental health was complicated by the persistence of population-level stressors. Data from an innovative large-scale survey and conventional epidemiological approaches complement one another to provide a more comprehensive picture of the extent of the mental health sequelae, as well as their underlying triggers.

We observed that compared to the rest of the population, young people were particularly affected. Exposure to pandemic-related and unrest-related factors interacted in complex ways to aggravate PTSD and depressive symptoms. Given the increasing co-occurrences of pandemic and social protests, these observations may be relevant to understand how population-level stressors impact on youth mental health in other communities.

Early intervention for developing positive social relationships:
Can we prevent bullying victimization and loneliness

uk

Louise Arseneault

King’s College London – UK

Social relationships and interpersonal connections are fundamental to human life. Positive social relationships provide support in times of stress, while the absence or removal of these connections causes distress and presents potential long-term implications health and functional outcomes. Research reported poor mental, physical and functional outcomes associated with being bullied in childhood and with loneliness in young adulthood. Interventions aiming to reduce these phenomena are numerous but with limited results.  

This presentation will examine evidence supporting early intervention to prevent bullying victimization in childhood and loneliness in your adulthood. 

The North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study:
NAPLS 1-3 the development of a consortium

canada

Jean Addington

University of Calgary – Canada

The North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS) consortium was initiated in 2003 with eight independently National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) funded sites. Sites included the Universities of Yale, Calgary, North Carolina, Emory, Harvard, and the University of California at San Diego and at Los Angeles.

In 2008, they were awarded a 5-year grant from NIMH to incorporate biological assessment approaches (neuroimaging, electrophysiological, hormonal and genetic) into a multi-site prospective study of 720 participants at clinical high risk for developing psychosis and 240 matched controls, known as NAPLS 2. Then in 2014 NAPLS was competitively renewed for a new 5-year study period (NAPLS 3) to further clarify the roles of neuroinflammation and deficient synaptic plasticity in the development of psychosis and a 9th site, the University of California, San Francisco was added.

Numerous papers have been published from the NAPLS project, an overview of which will be part of the focus of this presentation. The next step for this collaboration is to work with other consortiums with the aim of moving the field to newer levels.

Reflections around the prevention of depression

uk

Ricardo Araya

King’s College London – UK

Despite some interesting ideas and results, the prevention of emotional disorders remains an elusive concept with limited evidence to guide further developments. The limited knowledge on the aetiology of emotional disorders limits our capacity to develop better interventions. 

This presentation will address some issues such as time sensitive periods to act, types of prevention intervention, and methodological and practical challenges based ons tudies conducted mostly inlow-and-middle-income counrtries.

The North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study:
NAPLS 1-3 the development of a consortium

canada

Jean Addington

University of Calgary – Canada

Jean Addington, Ph.D. is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada where she holds the Novartis Chair for Schizophrenia Research. Her research interests are in early detection and intervention in psychosis. Currently her major research focus is the examination of predictors of conversion to psychosis and the development of psychosocial interventions for those at clinical high risk of developing psychosis. She is one of the principal investigators in the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS) and holds an NIMH grant to determine predictors and mechanisms of developing psychosis. She leads an NIMH funded RCT of Cognitive Behavioral Social Skills Training for clinical high risk. Additionally, she has received funding from Brain Canada to examine predictors of serious mental illness in youth at risk.

Reflections around the prevention of depression

uk

Ricardo Araya

King’s College London – UK

Prof Ricardo Araya is Professor of Global Mental Health and the academic lead of the Global Mental Health Research Group, in the Health Service and Population Research Department at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London. He is also director of the Centre for Global Mental Health, a research and education collaboration between the LSHTM and IoPPN which he has helped foster from the start and in 2019 is celebrating 10 years. Ricardo’s field of expertise is in the development and implementation of simple and affordable interventions to treat mental disorders, particularly in resource-poor settings. He has previously developed a model of care to treat depression and anxiety in Chile, which has been adapted and used in several middle and low-income countries. Ricardo plays a leading role in some major initiatives to increase mental research capacity in Latin America and holds strong collaborative links with a wide range of research partners in Africa.

Early intervention for developing social relationships:
Can we prevent bullying victimization and loneliness

uk

Louise Arseneault

King’s College London – UK

Louise Arseneault’s research focuses on the study of harmful behaviours such as violence and substance dependence, their developmental origins, their inter-connections with mental health, and their consequences for victims. She is taking a developmental approach to investigate how the consequences of violence begin in childhood and persist to mild-life, by studying bullying victimisation and child maltreatment. Louise also studies the impact of social relationships including social support and loneliness on mental health. Her research aims are to answer questions relevant to psychology and psychiatry by harnessing and combining three different research approaches: developmental research, epidemiological methods and genetically-sensitive designs. Louise’s work incorporates social as well as biological measurements across the life span. Louise completed her PhD in biomedical sciences at the University of Montreal and moved to the UK for a post-doctoral training at the MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre. She has been working with well-known longitudinal cohorts such as the Montreal Longitudinal Cohorts, the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study and the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally-representative sample of families with twins in England and Wales. She has also been exploring another important nationally-representative cohort, the National Child Development Survey (NCDS). Louise Arseneault was elected as Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in May 2018.

Widening the clinical and geographical frontiers of
neurodevelopment studies - the Brazilian High Risk Cohort Study

brazil

Professor Rodrigo A Bressan

Federal University of Sao Paulo

Professor of psychiatry at the Federal University of Sao Paulo (UNIFESP). PhD and visiting Professor at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN, King’s College London). Scientific Director of the National Institute of Developmental Psychiatry (INCT-CNPq, FAPESP, ERC). Leads the “Connexion – minds of the future”, a 7-year cohort of 2,500 youth investigating brain trajectories of mental disorders. He has authored more than 300 scientific publications. Was awarded with the ‘Legislative Merit Medal’ the highest honour bestowed by the Brazilian Congress to honour his work implementing policies to improve the rights and destigmatising people with mental disorders.

Youth mental health in troubled times

hongkong

Eric Chen

University of Hong Kong – Hong Kong

Eric Chen is Chi-Li Pao Foundation Chair Professor and Head in the Department of Psychiatry at The University of Hong Kong. He has been leading one of the first early psychosis intervention program in Asia (the EASY program). Eric and his team have been conducting long-term studies for early intervention as well as randomized control studies for relapse prevention, psychological and exercise intervention. They have been able to show that EASY had improved the long-term outcome for psychotic disorders in Hong Kong. They have also been studying psychopathology, brain cognitive and language processes in psychosis. More recently, they are focusing on preventative programs for specific high-risk populations, such as disadvantaged women and youth. Eric was a recipient of the Richard Wyatt Award from the International Early Psychosis Association (IEPA). Eric had served as Vice-President of the International Early Psychosis Association and the Foundation Chairman of the Asian Network for Early Psychosis (ANEP). EC has also served as a board member in the Schizophrenia International Research Society (SIRS). EC was Visiting Professor at the Harvard Medical School, and the Institute of Mental Health, Singapore.

Preventing the onset of depressive disorders:
Opportunities and challenges

netherlands

Pim Cuijpers

University of Amsterdam – Netherlands

Pim Cuijpers is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (The Netherlands), and Head of the Department of Clinical, Neuro and Developmental Psychology. Pim Cuijpers is specialised in conducting randomised controlled trials and meta-analyses on prevention and psychological treatments of common mental disorders. Much of his work is aimed at prevention of mental disorders, psychological treatments of depression and anxiety disorders, and Internet-delivered treatments. Pim Cuijpers has published more than 850 peer-reviewed papers, chapters, reports and professional publications, including more than 600 papers in international peer-reviewed scientific journals (150 as first author). He is on the Thomson-Reuter Web of Science lists of the ‘highly cited researchers’ since the first edition of this list in 2014 (http://highlycited.com/). According to Expertscape, an organisation that ranks researchers by their expertise in biomedial topics, professor Cuijpers is the world’s number one top expert on depression (http://expertscape.com/ex/depression).

Intergenerational Psychiatry: A New Look at a Powerful Perspective

usa

Cristiane S. Duarte

Columbia University – USA

Lambert Professor at Columbia University – New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI); Co-Director, New York Presbyterian Washington Heights Youth Anxiety Center Clinic. Dr. Duarte is an expert in the development of mental disorders in children, adolescents and young adults. Her research seeks to generate population-based knowledge of relevance to diverse, often underserved and understudied groups. For the past 10 years, she has been leading the Boricua Youth Study, the only source of information about how mental disorders develop over the course of almost 20 years, from childhood to young adulthood, and, more recently, across generations in a Latino subgroup (Puerto Ricans). With a focus on investigating the role of intergenerational processes in the development of psychiatric disorders, Dr. Duarte aims to inform new prevention strategies targeted to break the cycle of disadvantage among vulnerable children. Leading the Youth Anxiety Center Clinic in Washington Heights, Dr. Duarte facilitates bringing state of the art knowledge about effective interventions to underserved youth in a predominantly Latino neighbourhood in the USA. She is also part of collaborations focused on global mental health aiming to improve child mental health services and implement interventions in low-resource settings. Dr. Duarte’s work has been supported by the US National Institute of Health, private donors and foundations.

Immune system as a potential target for treatment and prevention of serious mental illness and comorbid cardiometabolic diseases

uk

Dr Golam Khandaker

University of Cambridge

Dr Khandaker is Head of the Inflammation and Psychiatry Research Group and Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine. He is Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust.

Dr Khandaker’s research focuses on identifying and validating novel immunological mechanisms and potential treatment targets for major psychiatric disorders particularly depression and schizophrenia using epidemiological cohort studies, genetic analysis, and early phase clinical trials. The key impetus for this work is to move immunotherapies closer to psychiatric practice through innovative translational research. He is also interested in the aetiology, early detection and prevention of cardiometabolic diseases in people with serious mental illness.

Notable work includes cohort and Mendelian randomization studies suggesting that the inflammatory IL-6/IL-6R pathway could be causally linked to depression and schizophrenia. These findings have led to a proof-of-concept RCT of tocilizumab, anti-IL-6R monoclonal antibody, for patients with depression (ISRCTN16942542). Dr Khandaker has received awards from the International Early Psychosis Association (2014), Schizophrenia International Research Society (2015), and was selected as a Rising Star in Psychiatry by the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in 2017. He was an executive committee member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists academic faculty (2014-’18). Currently, he is an elected council member for the British Association of Psychopharmacology, and editorial board member for Brain, Behavior and Immunity, and Psychoneuroendocrinology.

The Next Stage for Early Intervention:
Transdiagnostic, Personalized, Universal

australia

Professor Patrick McGorry

University of Melbourne

Professor Patrick D. McGorry AO, MBBS, MD, PhD, FRCP, FRANZCP, FAA, FASSA, FAHMS is Executive Director of Orygen and Professor of Youth Mental Health at the Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne. He is also a Founding Director of the National Youth Mental Health Foundation (headspace). Professor McGorry is a world-leading researcher in the area of early psychosis and youth mental health and his innovative research has played an integral role in the development of safe, effective treatments for young people with emerging mental disorders, notably the psychotic and severe mood disorders.

 

Professor McGorry has published over 800 refereed journal articles and book chapters and has edited nine books. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of Early Intervention in Psychiatry. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science. He is current President of the International Association of Youth Mental Health and past President of the Society for Mental Health Research (2013-2017) and the Schizophrenia International Research Society (2016-2018). He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Society of Biological Psychiatry Humanitarian Award in 2019, the NHMRC Research Excellence Award in 2019, the Schizophrenia International Research Society Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018, the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation Lieber Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Schizophrenia Research in 2015, the NAMI Scientific Research Award in 2013, and  Australian of the Year in 2010.

Tales from the frontline:
understanding the impact of psychosis on families

uk

Dr Juliana Onwumere

King’s College London

Dr Juliana Onwumere is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience King’s College London. She is also a Consultant Clinical Psychologist in the South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.

Her main research and clinical interests are focused on the impact of severe mental health problems on families, and improving the development, staff training and the wider provision of evidence-based psycho-social interventions particularly in under-represented groups.

Juliana has an interest in understanding carer wellbeing and the interface between their physical and mental health. She developed the world’s first massive open online course (MOOC) designed for carers of people with psychosis and schizophrenia.

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/caring-psychosis-schizophrenia

Prevention and Early Intervention in Low and Middle-Income Countries: from Neuroscience to Public Health

brazil

Giovanni Salum

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul – Brazil

Giovanni Abrahão Salum is an associate professor at the Department of Psychiatry of Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. He has experience in large scale studies integrating psychiatry, cognition, genetics and neuroscience using an epidemiological perspective. He authored or co-authored more than 130 scientific publications. His work has been focused on using information from genes, environments and neuroscience to understand mental disorders in children and adolescents.