Presentation Title: Child and adolescent mental health, bullying, violence exposure

Affiliation: King's College, United Kingdom

Biography: Louise Arsenault´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. In the early stages of her career, she examined harmful behaviours as a developmental outcome, primarily in adolescents and in adults. Over time, the focus of her research broadened to include harmful behaviours as causes of mental health problems. She has taken 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. Her research aims are to answer questions relevant to psychology and psychiatry by harnessing and combining 3 different research approaches: developmental research, epidemiological methods and genetically-sensitive designs. Her work incorporates social as well as biological measurements. 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), with a Mid-Career Fellowship Award from the British Academy. She has recently been appointed the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Mental Health Leadership Fellow.

Presentation Title: The pharmacological treatment of anxiety and depression - from research to clinical practice

Affiliation: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, USA

Abstract available here

Biography: Dr. Birmaher is the Endowed Chair in Early Onset Bipolar Disease and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine and serves as the Co-Director of the Psychiatry Research Pathway program. In addition to his extensive research, clinical and training activities, Dr. Birmaher is the Director of the Child and Adolescent Bipolar Spectrum Services Program at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC.

A leader in the study and treatment of pediatric mood and anxiety disorders, Dr. Birmaher is a pioneer in describing the predictors, risk factors, course and treatment of childhood-onset bipolar disorder. Throughout his career, he has served as the Principal-, Co-Principal or co-investigator for over 25 federally-sponsored research grants and projects. He has authored or co-authored more than 400 publications, numerous book chapters as well as his own book, New Hope for Children and Teens with Bipolar Disorder. Dr. Birmaher has been the recipient of numerous awards over the years including the Colvin Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Mood Disorders Research in 2013 and the Ittleson Award for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in 2014. Through his research, clinical and mentoring activities, Dr. Birmaher has increased our understanding of the risk factors for mood and anxiety disorders, developed and implemented innovative treatments to improve the lives of patients and their families, and trained the next generation of educators, clinicians and researchers in these disorders.

Presentation Title: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder: one, two or many developmental disorders?

Affiliation: Radboud University, Netherlands

Biography: Jan Buitelaar is a professor of psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry at the Radboud University Medical Centre, and at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. He is also head of Karakter Child and Adolescent Psychiatry University Centre in Nijmegen. He has a strong clinical and research interest in neuropsychiatric disorders as ADHD, autism and impulsivity and aggression related disorders, and is involved in pharmacological, cognitive, clinical, genetic, and neuroimaging studies in these disorders. His current active research is focused on translational studies aiming to identify new molecular targets for ADHD and autism through matching preclinical models to human imaging genetics studies. His research is supported by grants from the European Union, NIH, and from the Dutch Medical Research Council. He has been editor in chief of European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry from 2003-2014. He has published more than 700 peer-reviewed scientific papers.

Presentation Title: Mood disorders in children and adolescents - where have we been and where are we going?

Affiliation: Stony Brook University, USA

Abstract available here

Biography: Gabrielle A. Carlson, M.D., professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at State University of New York at Stony Brook since 1985, founded and directed the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry until 2013. She trained at Cornell, Washington University- St. Louis, National Institutes of Mental Health and UCLA’s Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Dr. Carlson has written over 250 papers and chapters on phenomenology and treatment of child and adolescent depression and bipolar disorder.

Dr. Carlson has won numerous child psychiatry awards including the APA’s Blanche F. Ittleson Award for research, Agnes Purcell McGavin Award for Prevention and AACAP’s Virginia Q Anthony Outstanding Woman Leader award, and the American Psychopathological Association’s Zubin Award, for an her contributions to psychopathology research.

Dr. Carlson is past president of the International Society for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, recent past chair of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry’s Program Committee and now serves on the Academy’s Council.

Presentation Title: Modern technologies in diagnostic and cares in autism

Affiliation: University Pierre & Marie Curie, France

Abstract available here

Biography: David Cohen is Professor at the University Pierre & Marie Curie (UPMC) and head of the department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at La Salpêtrière hospital in Paris. He is also member of the lab Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotiques - ISIR (CNRS UMR 7222). His group runs research programs in the field of autism spectrum disorder and learning disabilities, childhood onset schizophrenia, catatonia and severe mood disorder. He supports a developmental and plastic view of child psychopathology, at the level of both understanding and treatment. His team proposes a multidisciplinary approach and therefore collaborates with molecular biologist, methodologist, experimental psychologist, sociologist and engineer. As a member of ISIR, he is collaborating with several engineers within the team Interaction and Social Robotics (see http://speapsl.aphp.fr). He was President of the IACAPAP 2012 congress. Besides his work as child psychiatrist, he also has artistic activities (see http://www.dcohen.biz/). Examples of current large collaborative studies are available at Michelangelo FP7 European project on autism and Information Communication Technologies or at SynedPsy ANR French project on synchrony as a marker of early development

Presentation Title: Pathogenesis of Tourette Syndrome: clues from clinical phenotypes

Affiliation: University of New South Wales, Australia

Abstract available here

Biography: Professor Valsamma Eapen MBBS., FRCPsych., FRANZCP., PhD is Chair of the Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Australia and Head of the Academic Unit of Child Psychiatry, South West Sydney (AUCS). After graduating in Medicine from Kerala, India and initial postgraduate training at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India, she continued her training at the University College London Hospital scheme, Child Psychiatry training at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children and Institute of Child Health London, UK and PhD at the Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery Queen Square London. Prof. Eapen started her academic career at University College London, UK, before moving to UAE and then to Sydney Australia. As a Child Psychiatrist with special expertise in developmental and Childhood mental health disorders, her research interests include neurodevelopmental disorders as well as neurobiological underpinnings of attachment and intergenerational transmission of anxiety. She has a particular interest in early identification and intervention of developmental and child psychiatric disorders and health equity.

Eapen holds a number of leadership positions including Member, Executive Committee of the International Neuropsychiatric Association (INA); Member of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC), the International Obsessive Compulsive Foundation Genetics Collaborative, the International Homozygosity Mapping Collaborative for Autism; Founding Member and member of the Executive Committee of the Australasian Society for Autism Research (ASfAR); Medical and Publicity Liaison Officer, Tourette Syndrome Association Australia; Sentinel Reader, McMaster Online Rating of Evidence; Member, Editorial Board of Autism Research and Treatment, Deputy editor, Asian Journal of Psychiatry, Elsevier, and Academic Editor, PLOS ONE. She also holds a number of professional educational and training roles including Member, Committee for Therapeutic Intervention and Evidence Based Practice (CTIEBP), Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP); Member, Committee for Research, RANZCP; Research and Academic Infrastructure Officer, NSW Committee of the Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Member, The Cochrane Developmental, Psychosocial and Learning Problems Group; and Member, Bi-National Committee, Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, RANZCP.

Prof. Eapen has been part of major research collaborations receiving a total of over 35 million (Australian dollars) in competitive research funding from sources including the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Australian Research Council (ARC) and the Autism Cooperative Research Centre (CRC). She has authored around 200 scientific publications including 5 books.

Presentation Title: Planning the future of child and adolescent psychiatry

Affiliation: University Paris-Sud, France

Abstract available here

Biography: After some initial training in mathematics and fundamental physics (Ecole Polytechnique, Paris), Bruno Falissard engaged in medical studies and specialized in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in 1991. His PhD was in biostatistics and his post doc in psychometrics and exploratory multimensional methods. He was assistant professor in child and adolescent psychiatry in 1996-1997, associate professor in Public Health in 1997-2002 and full professor in Public health from 2002. He is at the head of the Master in Public Health of South-Paris University (600 students) and at the head of the “Center of Epidemiology and Population Health” (400 members). He is co-author of about 400 papers and author of 4 books. He has a clinical activity in child and adolescent psychiatry. His personal areas of research are about methodology and epistemology of mental health research. Since 2015 he is the president of IACAPAP (International Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions) and member of the French Academy of Medicine.

Presentation Title: Mental Health and Interventions for Child and Adolescent Refugees

Affiliation: Balamand University, Beirut, Lebanon

Abstract available here

Biography: John A. Fayyad is the Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology at St. George Hospital University Medical Center, and is Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the University of Balamand, Faculty of Medicine and Medical Sciences in Beirut, Lebanon. He is also a researcher and vice-president of IDRAAC (Institute for Development Research, Advocacy and Applied Care), an NGO specialized in Mental Health in Beirut. He is the President-Elect of the Lebanese Psychiatric Association.

Dr. Fayyad is active in promoting Child and Adolescent Psychiatry regionally and internationally. He is the Secretary General of the Eastern Mediterranean Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (EMACAPAP) and was a Vice President of the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP).

Dr. Fayyad’s research interests include the epidemiology of ADHD and other child and adolescent disorders, the effects of war and trauma on children, pathways to resilience, and dissemination of community interventions. He has published on these topics in international scientific journals and has authored several book chapters. He is on the editorial board of several international scientific journals.

His areas of clinical expertise include diagnosis and treatment of all childhood psychiatric disorders such as Autism, ADHD, Mood Disorders, Tic Disorders, Behavioral Disorders, Anxiety Disorders and other psychiatric conditions with particular expertise in childhood psychopharmacology, offering expertise and consultations at MIND Clinics in Beirut, Lebanon.

Presentation Title: Synchrony and the neurobiology of human attachments: trajectories of well-being and psychopathology from infancy to adolescence

Affiliation: Bar-Ilan University, Israel

Abstract available here

Biography: Ruth Feldman, PhD, is the Simms-Mann professor of developmental neuroscience and director of the Center for the Developing Brain at the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzlia with a joint appointment at Yale University Child Study Center. She is also director of the Irving B. Harris community-based clinic and internship program for young children and their families. Her research focuses on the biological basis of social affiliation, processes of biobehavioral synchrony, longitudinal follow-up of infants at high risk stemming from biological (e.g., prematurity), maternal (e.g., postpartum depression), and contextual (e.g., war-related trauma) risk conditions, the neuroscience of empathy, and the effects of touch-based interventions. Her studies on the role of oxytocin in health and psychopathology have been instrumental for understanding the biological basis of social collaboration in humans. Her research on the maternal and paternal brain, long-term effects of Kangaroo-Care, empathic brain response in Israeli and Palestinian youth, and the effects of maternal postpartum depression on children's brain and behavior received media attention. For over a decade, she has been involved in research on the effects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on children and adolescents, developing interventions for children in conflict zones, and forming cross-border professional dialogue groups. Dr. Feldman has published over 300 articles in scientific journals and book chapters.

Presentation Title: Temperament and the emergence of social anxiety in childhood: the roles of reactive and proactive cognitive control

Affiliation: University of Maryland, USA

Abstract available here

Biography: Nathan A. Fox is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland and Chair of the Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology. He has completed research on the biological bases of social and emotional behavior developing methods for assessing brain activity in infants and young children during tasks designed to elicit a range of emotions. His work on the temperamental antecedents of anxiety is funded by the National Institutes of Health where he was awarded a MERIT award for excellence of his research program. He is an elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for Psychological Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received the Distinguished Scientific Contributions award from the Society for Research in Child Development and the Distinguished Mentor Award from Division 7 of the American Psychological Association as well as the G. Stanley Hall Award from the American Psychological Association for lifelong achievement. He is a member of the National Scientific Council for the Developing Child and one of three Principal Investigators on the Bucharest Early Intervention Project.

Presentation Title: Diversity and uniqueness in ASD

Affiliation: Policlínica Gipuzkoa, Donostia - San Sebastián, Spain

Biography: Joaquin Fuentes is Chief of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit at the Policlínica Gipuzkoa in Donostia / San Sebastián, Spain, and Research Consultant (Pro bono) of the Gautena Autism Program in the Gipuzkoa region, Spanish Basque Country. He is a clinician and benefits from diverse opportunities to develop research projects, usually in neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and adolescence. He has been playing an advisory role to stakeholders, non-for-profit and public initiatives for children with difficulties in different countries. He is the Autism Field Advisor of ESCAP (European Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry), and has served, first as one of the Vice-presidents of IACAPAP, and now as a Counselor of the IACAPAP Executive Committee. For a number of years, he has truly enjoyed the role of co-coordinator of the IACAPAP Donald J. Cohen Fellowship Program, along with his close friend and colleague, Andrés Martin.

Presentation Title: My parent has bipolar disorder; am I at risk? Brain imaging and clinical studies of bipolar offspring

Affiliation: Dalhousie University, Canada

Abstract available here

Biography: Tomas Hajek received his M.D. (1999) and Ph.D. in neuroscience (2003) from Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. Currently he is a Professor of Psychiatry at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada, where he works at the Mood Disorders Clinic. Dr. Hajek`s main research interest lies in investigating effects of various clinical variables, including genetic predisposition, illness burden, comorbid metabolic disorders and exposure to medications on brain structure in patients with bipolar disorders. To this goal, his team has collected neuroimaging data from >350 participants. His research has been supported by grants from Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (Young, as well as Independent Investigator Awards), Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation, Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic. He has published over 60 in extenso papers in journals including Molecular Psychiatry, American Journal of Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, Neuropsychopharmacology, Schizophrenia Bulletin and over 50 abstracts. For details please see: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tomas_Hajek2/stats/?ev=prf_stats

Presentation Title: Insights from developmental research for the practicing child psychiatrist

Affiliation: Harvard Medical School, USA

Abstract available here

Biography: Education: Radcliffe College; Harvard Medical School

Current Positions: Assistant Professor of Psychiatry Part Time, Harvard Medical School. Training and Supervisory Analyst in Adult in Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis, Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute (BPSI).

Editorial Activities: Editorial Board Member - Psychoanalytic Inquiry, Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association

Honors and Prize: 1988 Deutsch Prize, BPSI, 2013 Arthur Kravitz Award for Humanitarian Service.

Chairman of Board: Supporting ChildCaregivers, Inc., a nonprofit organization.

Presentations in U.S., Europe, China, India, Africa on subjects of therapeutic action, caregiver consultation, videotape analysis.

Two Recent Publications (2013) The sandwich model: the‘music and dance’ of therapeutic action, Internat l J of Psychoanal and (2016). Effective Volunteerism: Helping child caregivers in developing countries, Journal of Infant Mental Health. Also, Sherkow S & Harrison A (2014). Autism Spectrum Disorder: Perspectives from Psychoanalysis and Neuroscience, Jason Aronson.

Presentation Title: Unravelling the genetic and neuroendocrine basis of adolescent eating disorders

Affiliation: University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany

Abstract available here

Biography: Education 1977-1983 Study of human medicine at the University of Heidelberg 1983 Thesis at the `Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (DKFZ)´, Heidelberg 1983-1984 Scientific and clinical assistant at the `Kinderzentrum München, Hospital for Social Pediatrics, München 1984-1990 Scientific associate at the Institute of Human Genetics, University of Bonn 1990 Habilitation in human genetics 1990-2002 Clinical training in child and adolescent psychiatry and psychotherapy at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of the University of Marburg 2002 Specialist examination in child and adolescent psychiatry and psychotherapy 2000 - 2004 Senior physician at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of the University of Marburg

Research Experience/Academic Appointments 1995-2004 Director of the DFG funded clinical research group `Genetic Mechanisms of Body Weight Regulation with a Special Focus on Eating Disorders and Obesity´, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Philipps-University Marburg 2004 - Director of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Duisburg-Essen 2008-2009 President of the German Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy 2011- Vice President of the European Association for the Study of Obesity 2014- Board member of the European Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 2014- Editor-in-Chief of European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Membership Deutsche Adipositas-Gesellschaft, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie, Psychosomatik und Psychotherapie, European Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, European Association for the Study of Obesity

Important Scientific Prizes 1997 Christina-Barz Award 2007 August-Homburger Award

Presentation Title: Solving the puzzle of autism: how far have we come?

Affiliation: Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic

Abstract available here

Biography: Michal Hrdlička, M.D., Ph.D. is a Professor of Psychiatry and Chair of the Department of Child Psychiatry at Charles University Second Faculty of Medicine in Prague, Czech Republic. He received his M.D. from Masaryk University Medical School in Brno (1989) and his Ph.D. from Charles University First Faculty of Medicine in Prague (1996). Prof. Hrdlicka’s academic and professional careerss in the Czech Republic have been complemented by his time spent at the Vienna General Hospital (1991), the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston (1998), and the Yale Child Study Center in New Haven (2001, 2004). He has published more than 200 scientific publications (including over 40 articles in renowned international journals). He is the editor or main author of six Czech language textbooks and monographs, e.g.: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (2000, 2nd ed. 2008), Childhood Autism (2004, 2nd ed. 2014), and Psychiatry and Pedopsychiatry (2015). In 1998, Prof. Hrdlicka launched the first systematic diagnostic program for autism spectrum disorders in the Czech Republic.

Presentation Title: Child Psychiatry: This is Where We Build Healthy Brains

Affiliation: The University of Vermont, USA

Biography: TBD

Presentation Title: Self-harm and suicidal behavior in adolescents

Affiliation: University of Bern, Switzerland

Abstract available here

Biography: Prof. Michael Kaess is professor of child and adolescent psychiatry. He is the director of the University Hospital of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University of Bern in Switzerland, and also head of the Research Section for Translational Psychobiology at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University Hospital Heidelberg in Germany. His clinical and scientific career included training at the University Hospital Heidelberg, Germany and at Orygen Youth Health in Melbourne, Australia. Michael Kaess is an internationally renowned expert in the field of adolescent self-harm and borderline personality disorder. His research in the field included epidemiological and clinical studies, neurobiological and experimental investigations as well as randomized controlled prevention and intervention trials.

Presentation Title: Child and adolescent psychiatry through the lens of infant psychiatry

Affiliation: Tel Aviv University, Israel

Abstract available here

Biography: Education: Elementary school and high school in Paris. Medical school at the Ben Gourion University Medical School (1975-1981). Residency in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Geha Mental Health Center and Tel-Aviv Sackler Medical School (1985-1991). Certification of the Tel-Aviv Sackler Medical School of Psychotherapy (1988- 1991). Fellowship in Infant Mental Health at Brown University, USA (1993-1995).

Academic positions: Assistant Clinical Professor at the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry department, Tel-Aviv Sackler Medical School. Head of the Infant Psychiatry Post Graduate course, Tel-Aviv Sackler Medical School. International Advisor on the Editorial board of the Infant Mental Health Journal. Member of the Diagnostic Classification for Early Childhood Revision International Task Force (with C. Zeanah, H. Egger, A. Lieberman, A. Carter, MM Gleanson)

Clinical work: Child psychiatrist, Senior, at Geha Mental Health Center and consultant at Schneider children Hospital (1991- now). Creation of the first Community Infant Psychiatry Unit, Geha Mental Health Center, Kupat Holim Clalit (1996). Position of Director of the Unit from 1999 to now. Supervisor of the national project of preschool mental health units implementation, under joint sponsorship of the Ministry of Health and Sacta-Rashi Foundation (1999- now).

Grants and prizes: Sacta Foundation grant for the implementation of our Infant psychiatry unit (1997-1998). Sacta-Rashi Foundation 5 year- grant for supervision of the national early childhood psychiatry project Prize of excellence at Kupat Holim Clalit Ashalim grant for Adoption Study Prize of excellence to our Infant Mental Health Unit (March 2011) Prize of Excellent Head of Infant Psychiatry Course, Tel Aviv University Medicine Continuing studies School (June 2012) Adelais research grant (2014)

Nomination (June 2012) Visiting Professor at Valencia (Spain) University, International early childhood psychology program, sponsored by AEPEA

Affiliations: Past President of the World Association of Infant Mental Health (WAIMH), (2012-2016). Member of the Israel Association of Physicians (1982-now) Member of the Israel Child and Adolescent Association (1985- now). Honorary President of the Israel WAIMH Affiliate.

Presentation Title: Borderline intellectual functioning - children in the grey zone

Affiliation: Harvard University, USA

Biography: Dr. Münir is the Director of Psychiatry in the University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) in the Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, and the Oliver Wendell Holmes Society Fellow in Global Heath, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.

After graduating from the English School Nicosia, Cyprus, he attended University College London as a Commonwealth Scholar studying medicine in the UK. He subsequently trained in General Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital and in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He holds a doctorate in maternal child health and psychiatric epidemiology from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Dr. Münir is currently Chair of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) Section of Psychiatry of Intellectual Disability, and a Vice-President of IACAPAP. He is the PI of the Fogarty International Center/NIMH funded NCD-LIFESPAN Global Mental Health, and the NIMH funded Global RDoC research training programs. He served as a member of the Intellectual Disabilities Expert Review Group on the WHO ICD-11 Classification, an effort that influenced the harmonization of intellectual disability as an intellectual developmental disorder under the neurodevelopmental section of the DSM-5. He was the principal author and chaired the Autism Forum at the World Innovation Summit in Health (WISH) in Doha sponsored in 2016 by the Qatar Foundation and the Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College, London. Dr. Münir recently convened a Global Consensus Group on Health and Social Impact of Borderline Intellectual Functioning (BIF) held in Girona, Spain. He is a recipient the Klaus Peter Prize in Global Health from the Harvard Medical School, T. Berry Brazelton Prize in Pediatric Innovation from the Boston Children’s Hospital and the George Tarjan Award for leadership in developmental disabilities from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP).

Presentation Title: Highlighting Africa’s unique CAMH needs emerging from its rich and diverse peoples, contexts and cultures

Affiliation: University of Ibadan, Nigeria

Biography: Olayinka Omigbodun is Professor and Head of Psychiatry at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan and University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Nigeria. She is the pioneer director of the University’s John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation-funded Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CCAMH, www.ccamh.ui.edu.ng), a multidisciplinary centre for training, research and service in CAMH. CCAMH enjoys the richness and diversity of course tutors from seven faculties in the University and from the continents of Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. The rich diversity of CCAMH extends to 46 former and 42 current trainees on an 18-month Master of Science degree programme and 12 Month Postgraduate Diploma in CAMH who hail from Eritrea, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Zambia and Zimbabwe, 9 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Olayinka is Training Coordinator for Psychiatry in the West African College of Physicians (WACP). She serves on the Bureau of the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP; www.iacapap.org) as Immediate Past-President.

Presentation Title: Population neuroscience of the adolescent brain: observing to change

Affiliation: University of Toronto, Canada

Abstract available here

Biography: Dr. Paus is the Tanenbaum Chair in Population Neuroscience at Baycrest, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, and the Dr. John and Consuela Phelan Scholar at Child Mind Institute in New York. His work integrates epidemiology, neuroscience and genetics – through a new discipline of population neuroscience - in the pursuit of knowledge relevant for child and youth mental health.

The work published by Dr. Paus and his colleagues has been well received by peers, being cited in over 33,000 publications. In 2013, Springer published his book “Population Neuroscience”. Dr. Paus received the Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award, Gold Medal of the Masaryk University, is an elected member of the International Neuropsychology Symposium and an elected fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, serves as Associate Editor of the Human Brain Mapping and Social Neuroscience, and as a member of several Scientific Advisory Boards in Europe and North America.

Presentation Title: Right to mental health: opportunities and challenges for child and adolescent psychiatry on the way to its realization

Affiliation: Vilnuis University, Lithuania

Abstract available here

Biography: Dainius Pūras is a UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health. He was appointed to this position of independent expert in 2014 by the UN Human Rights Council.

Dainius Pūras works as a Professor of Child psychiatry and public mental health at Vilnius University. As a medical doctor, he serves as a consultant at the Child Development Center, at Vilnius University Hospital.

Dainius Pūras is a human rights advocate who was and remains active in the process of transforming health policies and services, with special focus on the rights of children, persons with psychosocial disabilities, and other groups in vulnerable situations. He was the founder and chair of board of several NGOs and the first President of Lithuanian Psychiatric Association. He was a member of the UN CRC in 2007-2011.

In 2008 Prof. Pūras was awarded the IACAPAP medal for his outstanding contributions to child and adolescent mental health.

Presentation Title:How to understand adolescents with Asperger Syndrome: a clinical account and observations over 17 years

Affiliation: Philipps University, Germany

Abstract available here

Biography: Helmut E. Remschmidt, Professor for Child Psychiatry, MD, PhD, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Clinical Psychologist, FRCPsych. Honorary President of IACAPAP

Former Head of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Philipps-University, Marburg (Germany) from 1980-2006; since Oct 1, 2006, Professor emeritus.

Head of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Neurology at the Freie Universität Berlin from 1975 to 1980. Special Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Birmingham/U.K. (1993-1996). President of the European Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (ESCAP) (1995-1999). President of the International Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP) from 1998 to 2004. Scientific Director of the WPA Global Presidential Program on Child and Adolescent Mental Health, carried out in cooperation with IACAPAP and WHO (2003-2005).

Awards: Many awards, among them the Max Planck- Award for International Cooperation (1999).

Publications: More than 600 articles in scientific journals and book chapters in several languages. Author, co-author and editor of more than 50 books in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health. Editor and co-editor of several scientific journals.

Guest Researcher and Invited Lecturer at many universities in Europe, Israel, Africa, USA, China, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Thailand, Korea, and Australia.

Presentation Title: Decomposing ADHD diagnosis across the life cycle

Affiliation: Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Abstract available here

Biography: Luis A Rohde, MD, PhD is Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Director of the Program for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder at the Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre, and Vice-Coordinator of the National Institute of Developmental Psychiatry for Children and Adolescent, Brazil. He is currently Associate Editor of the Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, International Editor of the J Am Acad Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and former Co-Editor of the European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

He is President of the World Federation of ADHD, and was former Vice-President of the International Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions.

Dr. Rohde’s research interests include ADHD epidemiology, genetics, pharmacogenetics, neuroimaging, and the effects of pharmacological and psychosocial treatments for ADHD. He has published extensively in peer review international and national journals (more than 250 papers), and has been an author or co-author in over 40 book chapters and editorials. He is editor or organizer of 8 books addressing child and adolescent mental health published in Brazil, UK, Germany and the US.

Presentation Title: Child and adolescent mental health in the SDG era

Affiliation: World Health Organization, Switzerland

Biography: Chiara is focal point for child and adolescent mental health in the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse at the World Health Organization's headquarters office, based in Geneva, Switzerland.

She is advising and supporting governments and civil society organizations in promoting child mental health and addressing the mental health needs of young people, with a focus on low resource settings. Her current responsibilities relate to the development of tools to guide the planning, implementation and evaluation of health interventions and services for early detection and management of childhood-onset mental disorders, including developmental disorders, emotional disorders and behavioural disorders. She is also member of the WHO mhGAP team where she is focal point for guidelines on childhood-onset mental disorders.

Prior to joining the WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse in Headquarters in 2010, she served the organization in the African and Eastern Mediterranean regions.

Presentation Title: What can we do to prevent severe mental illness in children at risk

Affiliation: Dalhousie University, Canada

Abstract available here

Biography: Dr. Rudolf Uher is the Canada Research Chair in Early Intervention and a Professor of Psychiatry at Dalhousie University. Dr Uher studied medicine and neurosciences at Charles University in Prague and trained in Psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital in London, UK. After relocating to Dalhousie in 2012, Dr Uher launched the FORBOW program with the aim to prevent mental illness in youth (www.FORBOW.org; Twitter: @ProjectFORBOW). Dr. Uher is the deputy editor of the journal Depression and Anxiety, a consultant for the World Health Organization on the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases, an author of 180 articles on mental illness and recipient of the Max Hamilton Memorial Prize and the Royal-Mach-Gaensslen Prize for Mental Health Research. Dr Uher treats people for depression and bipolar disorder at the Mood Disorders Program of the Nova Scotia Health Authority.

Presentation Title: Risk and resilience in children born to parents with severe mental illness – what do we know and what can we do?

Affiliation: University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Abstract available here

Biography: Specialist in child and adolescent psychiatry, PhD, ass. professor at the Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Science, University of Copenhagen.

PhD thesis 2005 ‘Gender differences, negative symptoms and social network in patients with first-episode schizophrenia randomized to standard treatment or integrated treatment in the OPUS trial’.

From 2012 member of the PI group and the daily head of ‘The Danish High Risk and Resilience Study- VIA 7’ – a cohort study of 522 7 year old children born of parents with either schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or neither of these two disorders. The cohort is being followed up over time, first time at age 11. A multidisciplinary, family focused intervention study (VIA Family) for children of parents with severe mental illness is being conducted.

Special areas of interests: developmental psychopathology and early environmental risk factors, attachment, childhood trauma, family environment, social relations and social cognition, and early intervention and prevention.

Presentation Title: Legalization and regulation of cannabis/marijuana

Affiliation: University of Calgary, Canada

Abstract available here

Biography: Dr. Wilkes is currently Section Chief of Child & Adolescent Addiction & Mental Health Community & Specialized Services, Calgary Zone, Alberta Health Services. He is also the University of Calgary/Alberta Health Services Division Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He is a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Calgary in the Departments of Psychiatry and Pediatrics. From 2014-2016 he was President of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CACAP) and is now Past President until 2018. He is also a member of the Advocacy Committee and member of the Global Psychiatry Committee for the promotion of global children’s mental health. He was also Chair of the CACAP Conference Organizing Committee and Local Chair of the 22nd World Congress of the International Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists and Allied Professionals (IACAPAP) in 2016 in Calgary.

Presentation Title: Adverse childhood experiences and their consequences for children and adolescents

Affiliation: Ulm University, Germany

Abstract available here

Biography: Prof. Dr. Joerg M Fegert is the head of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University of Ulm. He directs the competence center for child abuse and neglect in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg (com.can) and is the former president of the German association of child and adolescent psychiatry, psychosomatics and psychotherapy (DGKJP). He is a member of different boards, such as the advisory board for the independent commissioner for questions related to childhood sexual abuse (UBSKM) and director of the scientific advisory board for family issues at the Federal Ministry for family affairs, senior citizens, women and youth (BMFSFJ).

Presentation Title: To be confirmed

Biography: Will be published soon.