Dinesh Bhugra (UK) - KEYNOTE LECTURER 1

Prof. Dinesh Bhugra CBE is Professor of Mental Health and Cultural Diversity at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London. He is also an Honorary Consultant at the Maudsley Hospital, where he runs the sexual and couple therapy clinic. His research interests are in cultural psychiatry, sexual dysfunction and service development. He has authored/co-authored over 350 scientific papers, chapters and 30 books. His recent volumes include Principles of Social Psychiatry, Mental Health of Refugees and Asylum Seekers (Highly Commended in the 2011 BMA Awards), Migration and Mental Health, Textbook of Cultural Psychiatry (Commended in the BMA Book Awards in 2008 and recipient of the 2012 Creative Scholarship Award from the Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture), Culture and Mental Health and Management for Psychiatrists. Prof. Read more..

Sean Hill (Switzerland) - KEYNOTE LECTURER 2

Sean Hill is titular professor at the Ecole Poly­tech­nique Federale de Lau­sanne (EPFL) and co-Director of the Blue Brain Project. He also currently serves in management and advisory roles on several large-scale clinical informatics initiatives around the world. Previously, Dr. Hill has held the positions of co-Director of Neuroinformatics in the European Union funded Human Brain Project (HBP) and Executive Director and Scientific Director of the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF) at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. Read more..

Vikram Patel (India and UK) - KEYNOTE LECTURER 3

Prof. Vikram Patel is Professor of International Mental Health and Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow. He is a psychiatrist with a primary interest in global mental health and a passion to contribute to the goal of improving access to mental health care and promoting the human rights of people with mental disorders worldwide. He was the Founding and Joint Director of the Centre for Global Mental Health, in partnership with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine with Kings Health Partners until October 2014. He is based for mostly in New Delhi where he is Joint Director of the Centre for Chronic Conditions and Injuries at the Public Health Foundation of India, and in Goa working with Sangath, a mental health research NGO which he co-founded with others in 1997. Since 2011, he have served on two Government of India health committees, the Mental Health Policy Group and the National Rural Health Mission ASHA Mentoring Group.

Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg (Germany) - KEYNOTE LECTURER 4

M.D., Ph.D., M.Sc.

Prof. Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg is currently, and since 2007, has been the Director and CEO of the Central Institute of Mental Health (Zentralinstitut für Seelische Gesundheit) in Mannheim, and Chair for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of the, University of Heidelberg. Prior to this he worked as investigator and Chief of the Unit on Systems Neuroscience in Psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health’s Genes, Cognition and Psychosis Program and staff scientist and Co-Director of the imaging core facility of the NIMH’s Clinical Brain Disorders Branch, in Bethesda, Maryland. He qualified in 1991 (MD, magna cum laude) at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn, and is board certified in psychiatry, psychotherapy and neurology.  Read more..

Wolfgang Gaebel (Germany) - KEYNOTE LECTURER 5

MD, Professor of Psychiatry

Wolfgang Gaebel is Professor of Psychiatry, Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the Heinrich-Heine University, Duesseldorf, and Medical Director of the LVR-Klinikum Düsseldorf. Since 2014 he is additionally Director of the LVR-Institute for Mental Healthcare Research (LVR-IVF) and the WHO Collaborating Center on Quality Management and Empowerment in Mental Health. During his career, Professor Gaebel has held positions as President of the German Society of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Nervous Diseases (DGPPN). Furthermore, he was President of the German Society of Biological Psychiatry (DGBP). Read more.

Simon Wessely (UK) - KEYNOTE LECTURER 6

Sir Simon Wessely KBE is Professor and Head of the Department of Psychological Medicine and Vice Dean for Academic Psychiatry at King’s College London. He is currently President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and is a clinical liaison psychiatrist with a particular interest in chronic fatigue syndrome and in military health. He is a civilian consultant advisor in Psychiatry to the British Army and a trustee of Combat Stress, the principal UK charity for veterans with mental health problems. Prof Wessely is also a foundation senior investigator of the National Institute for Health Research, and fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. Read more..

Maria Oquendo (USA) - KEYNOTE LECTURER 7

Maria A. Oquendo, M.D. is Professor of Psychiatry and Vice-Chair at Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute.  Her posts include: American Psychiatric Association, President (effective May 2016); International Academy of Suicide Research, President; American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Board of Directors, Vice President; American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Council, member; National Institute of Mental Health Advisory Council, member.Her expertise spans from pharmacology and neurobiology of mood disorders and suicidal behavior to Global Mental Health (GMH). She is principal investigator on several NIMH studies: Read more..

Helen Herrman (Australia) - KEYNOTE LECTURER 8

Helen Herrman is Director of Research at Orygen: The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, and Professor of Psychiatry in the Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Australia. She is President-Elect of the World Psychiatric Association, President of the International Association of Women’s Mental Health, and President of the Pacific Rim College of Psychiatrists. She is Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for mental health in Melbourne. In 2001-2002 she was based in Manila as acting regional adviser in mental health for the WHO’s Western Pacific Region. From 1992 to 2005, she was Professor and Director of Psychiatry in St. Vincent’s Health Melbourne during development of an integrated hospital and community area mental health service under Australia’s national reform of mental health care. She is a psychiatrist and public health practitioner, and a research practitioner fellow of the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council. She has special interests in community mental health care and mental health promotion, with past and present research programs in the mental health of marginalised groups, including homeless people, prisoners, and young women and men in out of home care.

Shekhar Saxena (Switzerland) - KEYNOTE LECTURER 9

Olayinka Omigbodun (Nigeria)

Prof. Olayinka Olusola Omigbodun is Professor of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan and Honorary Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan. She obtained a MBBS (1985), Prof. Olayinka Olusola Omigbodun is Professor of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan and Honorary Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, University College Hospital, Ibadan. She graduated with a MBBS in 1985 and received residency training in Psychiatry at the University College Hospital, Ibadan; Lancaster Moor Hospital, Lancaster, UK; and the Queen’s Park Hospital, Blackburn, UK. She obtained the Diploma in Psychiatry of the University of Manchester, the Fellowship of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria and the West African College of Physicians in Psychiatry in 1991 and received further training in Family Therapy at the Department of Family Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (1993).. Read more..

Prof Samudra T Kathriarachchi

Prof Kathriarachchi is the Senior Professor and Chair of Psychiatry, University of Sri Jayawardene and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist of the Colombo South Teaching Hospital. She is a Fellow of the Ceylon College of Physicians and the Sri Lanka College of Psychiatrists. She is the immediate past president of the Sri Lanka College of Psychiatrists. Her special interests are women's mental health, deliberate self harm, dementia and medical education in psychiatry. During sabbatical leave she has practiced as a consultant psychiatrist in the NHS, UK and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry,South Asian Institute of Medicine, Sri Lanka. Prof Kathriarachchi had been instrumental in training and service development of psychiatry in Sri Lanka.

Linda Lam (Hong Kong)

Prof. Linda Lam is Professor of Psychiatry at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Director of the Dementia Research Unit and of the Chen Wai Wai Vivien Foundation Therapeutic Physical Mental Exercise Centre. Her expertise is in neurocognitive disorders and psychiatric epidemiology. Her research interests include: late onset major neurocognitive disorders; psychiatric epidemiology and integrated intervention for psychiatric disorders. She is the immediate Past President of the Hong Kong College of Psychiatrists, as well as consultant on the WPA Standing Committee on Nominations, WPA. Shasmember of Publications Committee (WPA) and Chief Editor of the East Asian Archives of Psychiatry (2006-2011)

Saul Levin

M.D., M.P.A. Chief Executive Officer and Medical Director American Psychiatric Association Dr. Saul Levin is currently the Chief Executive Officer and Medical Director of the American Psychiatric Association. Prior to assuming his role as Chief Executive Officer and Medical Director of the American Psychiatric Association in October 2013, Dr. Saul Levin served as the Interim Director of the District of Columbia Department of Health (DOH). During his tenure, Dr. Levin was responsible for emergency preparedness and planning and coordinating with dozens of federal and local agencies to ensure the public’s health during major events such as President Obama’s second inauguration.  Additionally, Dr. Levin promoted the development of a citywide health information exchange that connects health care providers, share critical information to promote patient care, track outcomes, prepare for disasters, and provide for public health surveillance. Read more.

Graham Thornicroft (UK)

Prof. Graham Thornicroft is Professor of Community Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London. He also works as a Consultant Psychiatrist at South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and is a National Institute of Health Research Senior Investigator. He took his undergraduate degree at Cambridge in Social and Political Science, studied Medicine at Guy's Hospital, and went on to train in Psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital and at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He gained an MSc in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and a PhD at the University of London. He has made significant contributions to the development of mental health policy in England, including Chairing the External Reference Group for the National Service Framework for Mental Health, the national mental health plan for England for 1999-2009. Read more..

Robin Emsley (South Africa)

I am Professor in Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa. I hold the Sarah Turoff Endowed Chair in Schizophrenia Research. I obtained my medical degree (MBChB) at the University of Cape Town in 1974 and my psychiatry degree (MMed) at the University of Stellenbosch in 1981. I received a Doctorate in Medicine in 1987 and a Doctor of Science degree in 2007 for studies in the psychopathology, neurobiology and psychopharmacology of schizophrenia. My main area of interest is in the neurobiology and psychopharmacology of schizophrenia. Our group has published widely in this field. I serve on the Editorial Board of several journals, including Schizophrenia Research, Early Intervention in Psychiatry and npj Schizophrenia and I am Editor of the Elsevier Schizophrenia Research Resource Centre website. 

Stephan Heres (Germany)

Stefan Heres, MD, Assistant Professor is a Senior Consultant Psychiatrist (Oberarzt) Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of the University Hospital in Munich, Germany. He is an Editor for the “Journal of Schizophrenia Disorders and Therapy”, Advisory Board member of the “Asean Journal of Psychiatry“, Member of the ECNP (European College of Neuropsychopharmacology) and the DGPPN (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Psychosomatik und Nervenheilkunde. He is a primary investigator, sub-investigator, protocol author and study coordinator in more than 50 phase II, III and IV studies / IITs.  Read more..

Florence Baingana (Uganda)  

Dr Florence Baingana is a Research Fellow with the Makerere University School of Public Health, Kampala, obtained a MBChB (1983), MMed(Psychiatry) 1990 and  MSc (Health Policy, Planning and Financing) 2010. She has worked for over ten years in mental health policy and planning, including four years as the National Mental Health Coordinator with the Ministry of Health of Uganda (1996-2000) - where she also developed standards and guidelines for mental health care and got mental health included as a component of the Uganda Minimum Health Care Package in the Health Policy and the Health Sector Strategic Plan. In 2000, Dr. Baingana joined the World Bank in Washington DC, seconded by the Mac Arthur Foundation, Read more..

Michael Robertson (Australia)  

Professor Michael Robertson is a Clinical Associate Professor at the Centre for Values, Ethics & Law in Medicine (VELIM), School of Public Health in Sydney. He divides his clinical time between a psychotherapy practice at the Blackwattle Clinic in Sydney and forensic psychiatric consultations conducted in NSW and Queensland. He is the Medical Director for The Recovre Group and is an Approved Medical Specialist for the NSW Worker's Compensation Commission. He had worked in acute adult and community psychiatry for 20 years and had been a previous Department Head at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He has previously coordinated a clinical service for survivors of psychological trauma. He is a Committee Member for the Special Interest Group in History, Philosophy and Ethics of Psychiatry (SIGHPEP), of The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP). He has co-authored the book chapter Robertson, M., Walter, G. (2011). Psychiatric ethics and the 'new professionalism'. In Dinesh Bhugra, Amit Malik, Gearge Ikkos (Eds.), Psychiatry's Contract with Society: Concepts, controversies, and consequences, (pp. 221-239). New York, USA: Oxford University Press.

Dan Stein (South Africa)

Jair Mari (Brazil)

Prof. Jair de Jesus Mari is Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Brazil. He trained at Fundação Universitária do ABC, São Paulo, the Civil Servants' Hospital, São Paulo and the Institute of Psychiatry, London. His special interests include psychiatry in primary care, schizophrenia and posttraumatic stress disorder. He took his medical degree in the Santo Andre ABC Medical Faculty (1977), completed residency training in psychiatry at the Civil Servant State Hospital of São Paulo (1979), and a Ph.D. (1986) at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College. In 1987, he became a professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Federal University of São Paulo. In completed a post-doc at McMaster University, where he studied clinical epidemiology, Read more..

Juan Mezzich (USA)

Juan Enrique Mezzich was born in Lima from Yugoslavian and Peruvian ancestries. He completed medical school at Cayetano Heredia Peruvian University, where he was president of the University Student Association and graduated with a thesis on clinical depression which was awarded the Merck Sharp & Dohme Prize. He then completed Psychiatric Residency Training, a Master of Science in Academic Psychiatry, and Master of Arts and Ph.D. degrees in Mathematical & Statistical Psychology all at Ohio State University, as well as certification by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He served as chair of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) Section on Classification and Diagnostic Assessment, member of the World Health Organization ICD-10 Mental Disorders Workgroup and the American Psychiatric Association DSM-IV Task Force, chair of the US National Institute of Mental Health Group on Diagnosis and Culture, and consultant on Chinese, Japanese, Cuban and Latin American diagnostic systems.  Read more.

John Peteet (USA)

Prof. John Peteet is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Fellowship Site Director of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, as well as physician and psychiatry, Brigham And Women's Hospital. After receiving his M.D. degree at Columbia University and completing a medical internship at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dr. John Peteet trained in psychiatry at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center. Dr. Peteet's major areas of interest are psychosocial oncology, addiction, and the clinical interface between spirituality/religion and psychiatry. His current research focuses on spirituality and healing in medicine, and the issues that arise for individuals engaged in both psychotherapy and spiritual directions. Read more..

Sergio Villaseñor-Bayardo(USA)

Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Guadalajara, Mexico; Psychiatrist at the Adult Inpatient Psychiatry Service at Hospital Civil Fray Antonio Alcalde; Member of the Mexican Academy of Science, President and Founding Member of The Latin American Group of Transcultural Studies (GLADET), President of the WACP (2015-2018). Founder of the Ethnopsychiatric Section of the Mexican and the Latin American Psychiatric Association (APM and APAL). Co-chair of the Literature and Psychiatry section of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA). Born in 1960 in Guadalajara, Mexico. Married to Doloritas and father of four children. Graduated from the University of Guadalajara, School of Medicine; Specialized in Psychiatry, under the direction of Pr. Read more.

Phillip Asherson (UK)

Sergio Villaseňor-Bayardo (Mexico)

Ahmed Okasha (Egypt)

Prof. Ahmed Okasha is Professor of Psychiatry, Founder and Emeritus Chairman of the Institute of Psychiatry, and Director of WHO Collaborating Center for Training and Research in Mental Health, Institute of Psychiatry- Ain Shams University, Cairo. He is the current President of the Egyptian Psychiatric Association and Honorary President of the Arab Federation of Psychiatrists. He also held the several WPA positions, including: President of the WPA (2002-2005); Chair Presidential WPA Program on Global Child Mental Health and of the WPA Stigma program (2002-2005), etc. Prof. Okasha is a member of the WHO Advisory Panel on Mental Health, was Director of ICD-10 field studies in Eastern Mediterranean WHO (1990 – 1999) and is a member of the WHO Advisory Board on the ICD–11. He is the recipient of several awards, including: an honorary doctorate in medical education (University of Luzanne); presidential commendation of the American Psychiatric Association; an Honorary Fellow of WPA; gold medal of IACAPAP; and Kraeplin–Alzheimer Medal, Munich University.

Soraya Seedat (South Africa)

Soraya Seedat is a Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Executive Head of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Stellenbosch. She holds the South African Research Chair in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder funded by the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation. She has 18 years of clinical, epidemiological and basic neuroscience research experience as a psychiatrist working in the field of trauma and anxiety, and has existing collaborative research projects with colleagues in Europe, the United States and in several African countries. She has have been involved in NeuroAIDS research for 14 years. She directs a number of research programs in the Department of Psychiatry and mentors several masters, doctoral and postdoctoral students. She has experience in research ethics as a previous member of the Faculty of Medicine’s Health Research Ethics committee between 2005 and 2012 and as chair of that committee between 2009 and 2011. She was recently appointed as a Board Member of the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies. She serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health and as an Associate Editor of the journals PLoS One, Global Mental Health and the South African Journal of Psychiatry. She has published over 300 peer-reviewed journal manuscripts and book chapters and has co-edited four books.

Roberto Lewis-Fernández (USA)

Roberto Lewis-Fernández, M.D. is Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center and Director of the New York State Center of Excellence for Cultural Competence, and the Hispanic Treatment Program, at New York State Psychiatric Institute.  He is also Lecturer on Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard University.  Dr. Lewis-Fernández’s research focuses on developing culturally-valid interventions and instruments to enhance patient engagement, reduce misdiagnosis, and help overcome disparities in the care of underserved cultural groups, especially Latinos.  He also studies the way culture affects individuals’ experience of mental disorder and their help-seeking expectations, including how to explore this cultural variation during the psychiatric evaluation. Read more..

Werdie van Staden (South Africa)

Werdie (C.W.) van Staden is Professor of Philosophy and Psychiatry, and Director of the Centre for Ethics and Philosophy of Health Sciences at the University of Pretoria, with a clinical attachment as honorary psychiatrist at Weskoppies Hospital. He is the editor-in-chief of the South African Journal of Psychiatry, senior editor of the Johns Hopkins Press journal Philosophy Psychiatry & Psychology, regional editor of International Journal of Person-Centered Medicine, and managing editor of Philosophy, Ethics & Humanities in Medicine. He is honorary secretary to World Psychiatric Association’s Section for Classification, Diagnostic Assessment and Nomenclature and on the steering committee of the International Network for Philosophy & Psychiatry. He serves on various executive committees at the University of Pretoria including being the Chairperson of the Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Health Sciences.

Icro Maremmani (Italy)

Prof Icro Maremmani is Professor of Drug Addiction Medicine at the School of Psychiatry of the University of Pisa, Italy. He graduated from the University of Pisa, Italy in 1979, and specialized in Psychiatry, taking his second degree cum laude, in 1983. He is currently on the Board of Directors of the Department of Psychiatry, at the Santa Chiara Hospital of the University of Pisa, Italy. He has been President of the European Opiate Addiction Treatment Association (EUROPAD) since its foundation in Geneva in 1995. As President of EUROPAD he has organized international symposia the USA, during the Conferences of the American Association for the Treatment of OpiateDependence (AATOD), and Conferences in several European cities (Saint-Tropez, 1995; Ljubljana, 1997; Arezzo 2000; Oslo 2002; Paris, 2004; Bratislava, 2006; Sofia, 2008; Zagabria, 2010; Barcelona, 2012).Read more..

Michael Berk (Australia) 

Professor Michael Berk is currently a NHMRC Senior Principal research Fellow, and is Alfred Deakin Chair of Psychiatry at Deakin University and Barwon Health, where he heads the IMPACT Strategic Research Centre. He also is an Honorary Professorial Research fellow in the Department of Psychiatry, the Florey Institute for Neuroscience and Mental Health and Orygen Youth Health at Melbourne University, as well as in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University. He is past president of the International Society for Bipolar disorders and the Australasian Society or Bipolar and Depressive Disorders. He is an ISI highly cited researcher who has published over 750 papers predominantly in mood disorders. Read more..

Oye Gureje (Nigeria)

Oye Gureje, is a Professor of Psychiatry and Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health, Neuroscience and Substance Abuse, Department of Psychiatry, University of Ibadan. He is a member of the WHO International Advisory Group for the Revision of the International Classification of Diseases for Mental and Behavioural Disorders, Chairs the Working Group on Somatic Distress and Dissociative Disorders and Co-Chairs the Field Studies Coordinating Group. He Chairs the National Mental Health Action Committee, an advisory body to the Federal Ministry of Health. He is a former President of the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria and of the African Association of Psychiatrists and Allied Professionals. Read more..

Alexander Moreira-Almeida (Brazil)

Alexander Moreira-Almeida (MD, PhD) is Associate Professor of Psychiatry, founder and director of the Research Center in Spirituality and Health, at the School of Medicine, Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF), Brazil (www.ufjf.br/nupes-eng). Chair of the WPA (World Psychiatric Association) Section on Religion, Spirituality and Psychiatry (http://religionandpsychiatry.org) and coordinator of the section on spirituality of the Brazilian Psychiatric Association. His main research interests involve mind-brain relationship, empirical studies of spiritual experiences, the impact of spirituality on health, as well as the methodology and epistemology of this research field. He has authored more than 100 scientific papers and book chapters. Prof. Moreira-Almeida also coordinates TV NUPES, a YouTube channel for science education on the interface between science, health and spirituality that has reached more than 160 countries (www.youtube.com/nupesufjf).

Melvyn Freeman (South Africa)

Melvyn Freeman is Chief Director for Non-communicable Diseases (which includes mental health) at the National Department of Health. He served as Director of Mental Health and Substance Abuse from 1996-2002. A clinical psychologist by training, he has been involved in public health advocacy, policy and legislation for 30 years as researcher, activist, developer and implementer. He has authored a number of documents, articles and books inter alia for the World Health Organization (WHO) and is an expert advisor on Mental Health to the WHO. He holds a position of visiting adjunct professor at the University of the Witwatersrand.

PARALLEL LECTURES

Edgar Belfort (Venezuela)

Rutger Jan van der Gaag (Netherlands)

Rutger Jan van der Gaag MD PhD Hon.FRCPsych (1950) is an emeritus professor of Psychiatry (Child & Adolescent) at the Radboud Medical Centre In Nijmegen the Netherlands. His research topics are developmental disorders and gender, addiction and service development and health policies and social determinants of health. He has published over a hundred articles and book chapters on these topics. He holds guest professorships in Belgium, France and is advisor to many Autism Societies all over the world. He is a reviewer for the highest impact journals in his field. He is past president of both the Netherlands Psychiatric Association and the Royal Dutch Medical Association. Currently he is Council Member of the World Medical Association and Vice-President of the Conseil Permanent des Médecins Européens (CPME).

Donna Stewart (Canada)

Donna E. Stewart, MD is a University Professor and Inaugural Chair of Women’s Health at University Health Network and University of Toronto. Dr Stewart is a women’s health researcher, educator, author, advocate and policy advisor nationally and internationally. She is a Senior Scientist and Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry, Medicine, Obstetrics, and Family and Community Medicine and has published over 360 peer-reviewed papers, 4 books and has had over 100 peer-reviewed research grants and is the Zone 1 Representative and on the Board of the World Psychiatric Association and is a Past President of IAWMH. In 2014 she was made a member of the Order of Canada-the country’s highest civilian honour.

Frank Scheider (Germany)

Studies in Psychology and Medicine • Specialist in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy. Following positions in Tübingen, Philadelphia and Duesseldorf since 2003 head of the Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, RWTH Aachen University. Past President of the German Association for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. Director of the "JARA-BRAIN Institute: Structure Function Relationship", Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany. Vice Dean at the School of Medicine, RWTH Aachen University . 11/2015: Recipient of the Gegen Vergessen - Für Demokratie Prize of the society "Gegen Vergessen – Für Demokratie e.V.". Chairman of the Association of Professors in Psychiatry und Psychotherapy in Germany (LIPPs). Since several years he is annually listed as a Top-Physician in the section Psychiatry“, Depression“ and Schizophrenia" by the German Focus” news magazine

Christopher Szabo (South Africa)

Professor and Academic Head Department of Psychiatry School of Clinical Medicine Faculty of Health Sciences University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa & Head of Clinical Department Department of Psychiatry Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital Johannesburg, South Africa

Mvuyiso Talatala (South Africa)

Crick Lund

Prof Crick Lund, BA (Hons), MA, MSocSci (Clinical Psychology), PhD, is Professor and Director of the Alan J. Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town. He is currently CEO of the PRogramme for Improving Mental health carE (PRIME), a DFID funded research consortium focusing on the integration of mental health into primary care in low resource settings in Ethiopia, India, Nepal, South Africa and Uganda, and Principal Investigator of the AFrica Focus on Intervention Research for Mental health (AFFIRM) U19 NIMH Collaborative Hub. He trained as a clinical psychologist at the University of Cape Town and was subsequently involved in developing post-apartheid norms for mental health services for the national Department of Health. Read more.

John Joska (South Africa)

John Joska, MBChB, PhD is an associate professor of psychiatry, head of the division of neuropsychiatry at Groote Schuur Hospital and director of the HIV mental health research unit, in the department of psychiatry and mental health at the University of Cape Town. He has established a research program in neuroHIV in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. The group has been funded by the NIMH, EDCTP, MRC and NRF. Projects include neurobiological investigations of the effects of HIV on brain structure and function, and neurobehavioral studies of adherence and psychological interventions. The group is interested in screening for neurocognitive disorders, as well as the combined effects of HIV and aging on the brain. 

Mark Solms (South Africa)

Levent Küey (Turkey)

Born in 1957, in Izmir, Turkey. As an AFS (American Field Service) Scholarships fellow, graduate of Gridley High School, Ill, USA, in 1975. Hospital practice in Lodz, Poland, in 1980, as a Medical Exchange Student. Graduate of the Medical School of Agean University, Izmir, Turkey, in 1981. Psychiatry residency training at the Psychiatry Department of the Medical School of Agean University (1981-1985). Fulfilling the requirements and passing the exams for Associate Professorship in Psychiatry in 1989. Assistant therapist of Psychodrama Group Psychotherapy, training affiliated by the Moreno Institute, Germany (1989-1993). Read more.

Roy Kallivayalil (India)

Michelle Riba (USA)

Armen Soghoyan (Armenia)

Masatoshi Takeda (Japan)

Michel Botbol (France)

Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Western Brittany since 2011, Member of Psychoanalyst of the Paris Psychoanalytic Society since 2005, WPA Zonal Representative for Western Europe (Zone 6) since 2014, Chair of the Psychoanalysis In Psychiatry WPA section, Co Chair of the WPA Classification and Nosography Section, Member of the Board of the International College for Person Centered Medicine since 2010, Secretary General of the French Association of Psychiatry since 2007. Clinical Supervisor and Institutional Advisor of various teams (in France, Switzerland, Serbia, Morocco, Mexico). Several teaching mission on behalf of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and of the French Ministry of Education (in Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Morocco, Japan, China). Read more..

Malcolm Hopwood

Professor Hopwood graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1986 with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), and gained his Fellowship of the RANZCP in 1994, along with a Masters of Psychological Medicine from Monash University. In 1997 he also completed a Doctor of Medicine (MD) from the University of Melbourne. After working in the public health-care system for many years, he now holds the positions of Professor of Psychiatry with Ramsay Health Care at the University of Melbourne and Clinical Director, Professorial Psychiatry Unit at the Albert Road Clinic. Read more.

Jonathan Burns (South Africa)

Sam Tyano (Israel)

Professor Emeritus in Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent psychiatry in Tel Aviv University , School of Medicine Previous member of the WPA Executive Committee Previous Vice –President of IACAPAP Author of more than 200 publications in Scientific Int’l Journals Author and co-author of 5 books in Psychiatry, child psychiatry and Infant psychiatry.

Lukoye Atwoli (Kenya)

Lukoye Atwoli is a Consultant Psychiatrist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Mental Health at Moi University School of Medicine. He is also the Dean of the Medical School, which is located in Eldoret, just over 350KM northwest of Nairobi. Dr Atwoli earned his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees (MBChB) from Moi University in 2001, before proceeding to the University of Nairobi in 2003 to specialize in Psychiatry. He graduated with a Master of Medicine degree in Psychiatry (MMed Psych) in 2006. In 2015, Dr Atwoli earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree (PhD) in Psychiatry from the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Additionally, he has been trained in disaster mental health at the Hyogo Institute of Traumatic Stress in Japan. Read more.

Peter Huxley (UK)

Peter Huxley was the first Professor of Psychiatric Social Work in the UK (1989), and next the first Professor of Social Work at the Institute of Psychiatry in London (1999). In Manchester he was the first social worker to be a Head of a School of Psychiatry in the UK. In London he was the first Director of the Social Care Workforce Research Unit (2002) , funded by the DH. He successfully steered the Unit through a five year Chief Scientist’s Review. When he moved to Wales in 2006 he was the first Professor of Social Work and Social Care at Swansea University and is now the first Professor of Mental Health Research in the Centre for Mental Health and Society (from 2014) at Bangor University in North Wales.

Fiona Charlson (Australia)

Fiona J Charlsonn B Pharm, MIPH Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research. The Park Centre for Mental Health, Wacol, Q 4076, Australia School of Population Health, The University of Queensland. Dr Fiona Charlson is a Research Fellow for the Queensland Centre of Mental Health Research where she leads the Mental Health and Development Stream. She holds affiliate positions with the School of Public Health at the University of Queensland and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. Dr Charlson’s research centres around psychiatric epidemiology and mental health service provision in populations vulnerable to disadvantage. Read more.

BS Chavan (India)

Heba Fathy (Egypt)

M. B. B. Ch., December 1997 and signed up excellent with honors. Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University.
Master Degree in Psychiatry and Neurology, May 2002. Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University.
Doctorate Degree (M.D) December 2006 in Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University.
Registration:
The Egyptian Medical Syndicate: registered under the No 131767
The Egyptian Ministry of Health: registration G. P. Reg.No.134767
Membership:
A member of the Egyptian Psychiatric Association since 2002 until now
A member of the International Society of Addiction Medicine ISAM.
Previous Employment:
From beginning of 2015 till now vice president of Kasr Elini psychiatric and addiction hospital.
Tutor of Psychology (human behavior science) in 6th October university faculty of medicine from 2011 till now.
Tutor of Psychology (human behavior science) for pharmacy faculty Cairo university in the last year Tutor of Psychiatry for physiotherapy faculty in 6th October university for tow years. Read more

Joanna Rymaszewska (Poland)

Prof. Joanna Rymaszewska, MD, PhD – Head of Department and Clinic of Psychiatry, Dean of Medical Faculty of Postgraduate Training at Wroclaw Medical University in Poland. Main research interests are old age psychiatry, consultation-liaison psychiatry (psychiatry in somatic medicine), social psychiatry and neuroscience. Member of the European Psychiatry Association, EPA Section of Consultation Psychiatry (past vice-president), EPA Section of Women’s Mental Health (past member of the board, past tresurer), INTERDEM, European Association of Geriatric Psychiatry (past secretary), European Association od Psychosomatic Medicine (past EACLPP). Engaged in several national and international research projects such as Whole-body cryotherapy in memory deficits and in mood disorders; JPND project: Adaptive Implementation and Validation of the positively evaluated Meeting Centers Support Programme for people with dementia and their carers in Europe MEETINGDEM (www.meetingdem.eu).

Sayed M Sultan (Pakistan)

Currently working as Professor and Head Department of Psychiatry, Khyber Medical College & Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar. President Pakistan Psychiatric Society President SAARC Psychiatric Federation Member of Royal College of Psychiatrists UK M.R.C. (Psyche) Fellow of Royal College of Psychiatrists UK F.R.C. (Psyche) Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) United States. Supervisor and trainer for Postgraduate Fellowship and Membership Trainees in Psychiatry and Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan. Read more.

Crick Lund (South Africa)

Bernard Janse van Rensburg (South Africa)

Hans-Otto Thomashoff (Austria)

Hans-Otto Thomashoff, MD, PhD, lives and works in Vienna as psychiatrist and psychoanalyst (Vienna Psychoanalytic Society). Based on his PhD in art history he specializes in psychodynamic approaches for the understanding of art. He is an honorary member of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), president of the WPA section on Art and Psychiatry, member of the supervisory board of the Sigmund Freud Privatstiftung, curator of art exhibitions (“Psyche and Art” and others), translator of psychoanalytic literature as well as writer of non fiction books on integrating brain research and psychoanalysis, member of P.E.N. international. www.thomashoff.de/home/ 

Odille van den Heuvel (Netherlands)

Djurovic Srdjan (Norway)

EDUCATION & POSITION : Dr.Sci.Med. (Ph.D.) from University of Zagreb, Croatia and University of Graz, Austria. Group leader / Professor at the Department of Medical Genetics, and NORMENT Center of Excellence, University of Bergen and Oslo University Hospital – Ullevål, Oslo, Norway. RESEARCH AREAS AND EXPERTISE: Molecular genetics of complex disorders, GWAS, Biobanking, Stem cells,(human induced pluripotent stem cells ( iPSCs) as a tool to sort genomics data and model psychiatric diseases), Brain imaging genetics. SCIENTIFIC PRODUCTION: He has published more than 190 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as a reviewer and Guest Professor of repute. Publications : lifetime (last five years) Citations: 10911 (9236); Hirsch Index : 44 (39); i10-index : 109 (99) (Google Scholar Citations August 2016). 

Sumaya Laher (South Africa)

SUMAYA LAHER received her PhD in Personality Psychology from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. She is currently an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand where she teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses in research design, psychometrics, psychological assessment and statistics. Her areas of research interest include the utility of psychological assessment in multicultural populations, cross cultural personality assessment and cultural conceptions of mental illness and stigma. Her doctoral and subsequent research into personality, psychometrics and assessment is instrumental in pioneering the usage and interpretation of key instruments in South Africa. Read more.

Zvi Zemishlany (Israel)

Prof. Zvi Zemishlany MD, MHA Professor of Psychiatry, Tel Aviv University, Israel
• Born in Bielsko-Biala, Poland, 1947
• Medical studies, Hebrew University and Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel (1965-1973).
• Masters degree in psychotherapy, Tel Aviv University (1984)
• Fellowship in Biological Psychiatry and Human Sexuality, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, USA (1985-1988)
• Masters degree in Health Administration (MHA), Beer Sheba University (2003).
• Chair of the Department of Psychiatry, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University (2010-2012).
• Director of the Geha Mental Health Center, Petah Tikva, Israel, affiliated to Tel Aviv University (2005-2014).
• Professor of Psychiatry, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University (1997- present).
• Publications: Author of 95 scientific journal articles and book chapters.
• Research: Active research in Israel and the USA (Mt. Sinai and Columbia University). Read more.

Sean Kaliski (SA)

Associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cape Town and head of the Forensic Mental Health Service of the Western Cape based at Valkenberg, Lenteguer and Alexandra hospitals. His research interest is in ethics and intimate partner femicide.

Assoc Professor Principal Specialist Dept of Psychiatry Valkenberg & Lentegeur Hospitals University of Cape Town Forensic Mental Health Service

David Anthony (UK)

Professor Anthony David Tony David graduated in medicine from Glasgow University in 1980 and trained in neurology before entering psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital, London. He also has a Masters degree in Cognitive Neuropsychology. He has been an honorary consultant at the Maudsley since 1990 and was awarded a personal chair from the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London in 1996. He was appointed Vice Dean for Academic Psychiatry at the IoPPN in 2013. Read more.

Malcolm Hopwood (Australia)

Marianne Kastrup (Denmark)

2001-14 Competence Centre Transcultural Psychiatry, Copenhagen University Hospital
1997-2001 Medical Director, Rehabilitation and Research Centre Torture Victims, Copenhagen
1990-97 Consultant & Head of Psychiatric Department , Copenhagen University Hospital
1987-2009 Expert Advisory Panel Mental Health, WHO.
1993-2009 Expert advisor on several occasions for European Council CPT. Read more.

Solly Rataemane (South Africa)