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.