ECNP in depth: interviews (2016 & 2015)
November 2016
John Geddes, United Kingdom
For over 15 years, John Geddes, Professor of epidemiological psychiatry at the University of Oxford, has been getting to grips with the state of bipolar disorder treatment. Today, his research studies existing treatments that could give novel insights into disease mechanisms, generating paths to the discovery of new treatments. John Geddes, 2016 ECNP Neuropsychopharmacology Award winner. Geddes received the award for his exceptional research contributions to bipolar disorder and mood instability.
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John Geddes also gave a Plenary Award Lecture at the 29th ECNP Congress in Vienna on the topic of 'Rediscovering drug discovery in Bipolar disorder'.
Watch the lecture here
September 2016
Silvana Galderisi, Italy
Silvana Galderisi is professor of psychiatry and director of the Training School in Psychiatry at the University of Naples SUN, Italy, and director of the Emergency Unit of the Department of Mental Health. As a leading figure in schizophrenia research, Professor Galderisi has an important role in many leading organisations. Impressively, she is Chair of the ECNP Schizophrenia Network, the European Psychiatric Association (EPA) Section on Schizophrenia and the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) Section on Neuroimaging. What’s more, she is President Elect of the EPA, taking on the mantle of leadership next year.
We spoke to Professor Galderisi to dive into her exemplary career in schizophrenia.
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August 2016
Magnus Ingelman-Sundberg, Sweden
Professor Ingelman-Sundberg has held the position of Professor of Molecular Toxicology at the Karolinska Institutet since 1996, and he currently leads a research programme focusing on genetic and epigenetic factors of importance for interindividual differences in drug response and adverse drug reactions. His lifelong career in biochemistry, molecular toxicology and pharmacology has led to the discovery of many of the genetic bases for interindividual variation in cytochrome P450 enzymes as central to drug metabolism, and Magnus Ingelman-Sundberg’s work is increasingly relevant today as psychiatry teeters on the brink of personalised therapy.
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June 2016
Suzanne Dickson, Sweden
Suzanne Dickson is Professor of Physiology and Neuroendocrinology at The Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. A leading figure in the neurobiology of appetite, her work has particular focus on how food intake and feeding behaviour is controlled. Much of her emphasis is on the effect of endocrine and metabolic signals, chiefly ghrelin – a gastrointestinal hormone recognised as having a major influence on energy balance.
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May 2016
Harriet de Wit, USA
Among her many mantles, Harriet de Wit is a fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, and Professor at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Chicago, where she heads the Human Behavioural Pharmacology Laboratory. Her lab studies the behavioural effects of a number of psychoactive drugs on human volunteers, constructing a picture of the risk and resilience factors in the development of drug abuse, including genetics, stress, and environmental context. In conversation with ECNP, she described her work and the role MDMA could play in the future of psychotherapy.
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April 2016
Andreas Reif, Germany
Andreas Reif heads the department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at University Hospital Frankfurt, Germany. With a deep involvement in ECNP’s ADHD network, and the many projects it encompasses, he described how such collaborations came about and why a broad approach can be helpful in answering psychiatry’s big questions.
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March 2016
Elisabeth Binder, Germany
Studying the epigenetics of stress is helping us to understand how it can impact individuals differently. "These environment-gene interactions are far-reaching," says Elisabeth Binder, Managing Director of the Max Planck Institute’s Department of Translational Research, "but we are on the right path to grasping their role in a number of psychiatric disorders."
Dr Binder spoke to ECNP about her work, the future of psychiatric research, and its unanswered questions.
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August 2015
Tom Insel, USA
Tom Insel is the Director of the US National Institute for Mental Health. The ECNP invited Dr Insel to visit our annual Nice Workshop, where he spoke to a packed audience of young researchers.
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