Current Psychiatry Research and Reviews

Domenico De Berardis works at the Hospital “G. Mazzini” of Teramo, Italy. He has published over 130 peer-reviewed articles, for an h-index of 30 and 2900 citations (Google Scholar) and several book chapters. He was also co-editor for the book “Melatonin, Neuroprotective Agents and Antidepressant Therapy” published by Springer. He is a member of the Editorial Board of several peer-reviewed international journals (such as Journal of Clinical Medicine, Current Drug Therapy etc.) and serves as Review Editor in the field of Neurodegeneration and Addictive Disorders for Frontiers in Neuroscience, Frontiers in Psychiatry and Frontiers in Neurology.

Dr. Wei Wang is Professor of Personality Psychology at Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway. He completed his Ph.D. in Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Liège, Belgium. Later he successively joined the First University Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China (Formerly Anhui Provincial Hospital) in Hefei, China, Zhejiang University School of Medicine in Hangzhou, China, and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway, for personality bases of neuropsychiatric disorders. Dr. Wang and his crew members are focusing on personality traits and disorders, emotion components and disorders, dream experiences (nightmare and sexual dream) and disorders, and neurocognitive processes at cerebral and brainstem levels. His clinical research involves the personality disorders, bipolar I and II disorders and schizophrenia and the like.

Dr. Michele Roccella is Associate Professor of Child Psychiatry at the Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, Italy. He graduated in Medicine and Surgery and Specialization in Child Psychiatry at the University of Palermo. He is currently Director of the School of Specialization in Child Neuropsychiatry at the University of Palermo. He has received awards and fellowships for his work, including recognition of Russian Academy of Sciences. Dr. Roccella is author of over 450 publications on national and international journals and has been awarded several prizes.

Dr Niruj Agrawal is a Consultant Neuropsychiatrist at Atkinson Morley Regional Neurosciences Centre, St George’s Hospital, London and anHonorary Senior Lecturer at St George’s University of London. He is the lead clinician for the Regional Neuropsychiatry service.He provides tertiary neuropsychiatry services to the population South West London and Surrey. He has particular interest in the neuropsychiatric consequences of traumatic brain injuries, neuropsychiatric disorders associated with neurological illnesses and functional neurological disorders.

Dr. Rajendra D. Badgaiyan, MD, is a psychiatrist and cognitive neuroscientist. He is Professor of Psychiatry at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. He was awarded the prestigious BK Anand National Research Prize in India and Solomon Award of Harvard Medical School. His research is focused on the study of neural and neurochemical mechanisms that control human brain functions. He developed the single scan dynamic molecular imaging technique (SDMIT) to detect, map, and measure neurotransmitters released acutely in the human brain during task performance. Using this technique, he studies dopaminergic control of human cognition and behavior.

Dr Yatan Pal Singh Balhara is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at NDDTC (a WHO Collaborating Centre on Drug Abuse) & Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India. He is a vising faculty at AIIMS, Rishikesh and Global Master Trainer for The Colombo Plan. He was awarded MD (Psychiatry) from AIIMS, New Delhi in the year 2006. He completed International Masters in Addiction Studies from University of Adelaide; King’s College, London; Virginia Commonwealth University, USA. He participated in the first batch of the International Masters in Mental Health Policy and Services offered by World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with NOVA University of Lisbon. His areas of interest include mental health (including addictive disorders) policy and services, co- occurring disorders, behavioral addictions and e-Health.

Robert F. Bornstein received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from the State University of New York at Buffalo and is Professor of Psychology at Adelphi University. Dr. Bornstein has published widely on personality dynamics and assessment. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and Society for Personality Assessment; his research has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and National Science Foundation. Dr. Bornstein has received the SPA award for Distinguished Contributions to the Literature, the APA Theodore Millon Award for Excellence in Personality Research, and the APA Division 12 Award for Excellence in Psychological Assessment.

Dr. James A. Bourgeois, O.D., M.D., holds the position of Chair, in the Department of Psychiatry, at Baylor Scott & White (Central Texas Division), and is also Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, in the College of Medicine, at Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Bryan, Texas, USA. Dr. Bourgeois is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine. His research interests lie in the following areas: Fragile X associated conditions, decisional capacity determinations, psychosomatic medicine, and models of care delivery. Dr. Bourgeois is an author/co-author of over 195 peer-reviewed publications (having over 2,255 total citations) and 40 books or book chapters.

Dr. Francesca Brambilla obtained her Postdoctoral degree in 1957 in Endocrinology from University of Florence, Florence, Italy. Dr. Brambilla has been a Consultant of the Center of Disorders of Eating Behavior, at University Department of Psychiatry (Catanzaro, Italy), and at Hospital L. Sacco (Milano, Italy). Her skills and expertise mainly lie in the subject areas of Neuroscience, Psychology, Psychoneuroendocrinology, etc. Dr. Brambilla, as an author/co-author, has published more than 200 articles in various journals, having a significant number of total citations, i.e. over 4,430.

Dr. Chen is the Director of Visual Psychophysiology Lab at McLean Hospital and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He obtained his PhD in vision science at the University of Houston and completed his postdoctoral training at the Harvard University. His primary research areas include perception and cognition in psychiatric disorders (schizophrenia), perception in neurodevelopmental disorders (autism) and vision in aging. He has published over 60 papers in peer-reviewed scientific and medical journals. Dr. Chen serves as the editorial board member in a number of journals (Schizophrenia Bulletin and Current Psychiatry Review).

Sergio Chieffi was born in Naples May 6, 1960. He graduated in Medicine and Surgery in 1984 and specialized in Neurology in 1988. In 1993, he obtained the Ph.D. degree in Neuroscience. Sergio Chieffi became Researcher in Physiology in 1993 and Associate Professor of Physiology in 2001. Currently, he teaches Human Physiology at the School of Medicine of the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”. The main topics of his research are the study, in healthy subjects and neurological and psychiatric patients, of reaching-grasping movement planning; distractor interference on visuo-motor performance; spatial working memory.

C. Robert Cloninger is Wallace Renard Professor of Psychiatry, Professor of Psychology and Genetics, and Director of the Sansone Center for Well-Being at the Washington University Medical School in St. Louis. He received his M.D. from Washington University in 1970, and Honorary Doctorates from the University of Umea in 1983 (MD in Genetics) and University of Gothenburg in 2012 (PhD in Psychology). He has published 10 books and over 500 peer-reviewed publications. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Medicine USA and American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Dr Marco Colizzi qualified in Medicine at the Bari University, Italy, magna cum laude, in 2009. He obtained his Specialist in Psychiatry degree, magna cum laude, in 2015, and then successfully applied for a PhD in Neuroscience at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London. In 2018 he became a Clinical Research Fellow at King’s College London and was awarded a Visiting Professor position at the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Italy. His work has been recognized by the Royal Society of Medicine and awarded by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, of which he is a Member, the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, The Guarantors of Brain, the European Professional Association for Transgender Health, and the University of L’Aquila. Dr Colizzi's research has focused on psychosis and gender dysphoria. He has a special interest in the effects of cannabis on the human brain.

Dr. Dai is the Director of Psychopharmacology Lab at the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine and Professor of Pharmacology at Zhejiang University School of Medicine. He obtained his PhD in neuroscience at Zhejiang University and completed his postdoctoral training at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. The main topics of his research is aimed at the prevention of mental disorders, psychological treatments of depression and anxiety disorders. He has published over 40 papers in peer-reviewed scientific and medical journals.

David Facal. PhD in Developmental Psychology, University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) in 2008 with the PhD thesis “Tip Of the Tongue phenomena in aging: Influence of vocabulary, working memory and processing speed”, and Master Degree in Clinical Gerontology by the University of A Coruña. He was awarded the Humanitas Award 2007 by the Economical Social Council of the USC to their social labour as psychologist in AGADEA (Alzheimer’s Association of Santiago). He is associated professor at USC’s Department of Developmental Psychology since 2010, teaching at the Bachelor in Psychology and the Master in Psychogerontology. He has published papers in different journals as well as book chapters about language and communication changes in the aging process.

Dr. Marc Fakhoury holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry (McGill University, Canada), a Master of Biomedical Engineering (McGill University, Canada) and a PhD in Neuroscience (Université de Montréal, Canada). After doing a short postdoctoral research training at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Baltimore, USA), he joined the department of Anatomy, Cell Biology and Physiological Sciences of the American University of Beirut (AUB) for a second postdoctoral research training. His research interests lie in the fields of Neuroscience, Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Psychiatry.

Prof. Alberto Fernández-Teruel is Associate Professor at the Department of Psychiatry & Forensic Medicine (Medical Psychology Unit) of the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona (UAB) and Director of the Animal Research Laboratory of this Unit (“Animal and Human models of mental disorders” research group) since 2004. He received his PhD from UAB in 1989, and developed pre- and postdoctoral work at the University of Cagliari (Italy) and the ETH-Zentrum (Zürich, Switzerland) and the University of Cagliari, where he has also been Visiting Professor/Scientist. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles. Part of his research focuses on neurogenetics, quantitative genetics and neurobiology of anxiety, schizophrenia-relevant models, and the impact of early experience in these animal models.

Orestes Forlenza (MD, PhD) is an Associate Professor at the Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo (FMUSP). He is actively engaged in research in Geriatric Psychiatry and translational neuroscience, in addition to clinical activities and medical education at under- and post-graduate levels. Dr. Forlenza contributes to a psychogeriatric service at the Institute of Psychiatry (FMUSP), and holds the position as deputy director of the Laboratory of Neuroscience (LIM27) at the same institute. He is the President of the Scientific Commission of the Department and Institute of Psychiatry of FMUSP/HCFMUSP.

Dr. Michele Fornaro, MD, PhD graduated in 2002 from the University of Genova, Genoa, Italy, and completed his residency program in 2008. Dr. Fornaro completed his one-year research fellowship at the Harvard University between 2007 and 2008. In 2011, He was assigned as "Assistant Professor" at the University of Catania, Catania, Italy, serving as a teaching faculty member. In 2011, he began his "visiting scholarship" program at the Veterans Hospital at the University of California San Diego. Dr. Michele Fornaro was appointed Adjunct Associate Research Scientist at Columbia University 2014. He was recently appointed as Assistant Professor at the Federico II University of Naples in 2017. He has approximately 141 publications in international reputed journals and books to his credit.

Dr. Genius is the Head of Translational Biology at AbbVie Discovery. He has a clinical background in Psychiatry with a focus on basic research on in vitro and in vivo models of schizophrenia and on pathomechanisms of neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease. After his transition into Industry in 2014 Dr. Genius played a key role in early drug development projects and first-in-human studies for Alzheimer’s Disease and Multiple Sclerosis and provided critical translational input on several other preclinical and clinical programs.

Dr Gogos is a behavioural neuroscientist and Head of the Hormones in Psychiatry Laboratory at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health in Parkville, VIC, Australia. She completed her PhD in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Melbourne (VIC, Australia) in 2005. Her research focuses on the involvement of sex steroid hormones in psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia. She is particularly interested in understanding the mechanisms by which estrogen can protect against the development and severity of schizophrenia.

Dr. Griebel is the senior Director, External Innovation Neuroscience at Sanofi. Prior to this position, he served as the Global Head of the Department of Neuroscience Pharmacology leading global, cross-functional and cross-divisional teams. He played a key role in the discovery, characterization, and clinical testing of a variety of first-in-class compounds in psychiatric, pain and neurodegenerative disorders. In addition to his work in the field of drug discovery and development, he has made key contributions in the implementation and standardization of animal models for psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. His contributions, which have spanned over 20 years have been seminal to the field of neuropsychopharmacology.

Dr. Mandy Johnstone completed her PhD in Developmental Neurobiology at King’s College London. She qualified in Medicine at the University of Glasgow and trained as a psychiatrist at The Institute of Psychiatry and then in Edinburgh where she is now a Clinical Fellow and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist.

Dr. Siegfried Kasper is the Professor of Psychiatry and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria. He published over 600 in PubMed listed publications (Google: Citation Index: 29.133; Hirsch-Index: 85, i10-index: 471) and more than 250 books or book chapters, in various areas of psychiatry. He serves/served on the executive committees and advisory boards of several national and international societies, such as the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) and the European Psychiatric Association (EPA). He is in the Executive Committee of the International College of Neuropsychopharmacology (CINP) for the period of 2012 to 2016 and President Elect for CINP from 2016 to 2018.

Dr. Keshavan is Stanley Cobb Professor of Psychiatry at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; Harvard Medical School (HMS). He is also Vice-Chair for the department’s Public Psychiatry division, and a senior psychiatric advisor for the Massachusetts Mental Health Center. Dr. Keshavan’s research is closely involved in understanding the biological basis of mental illnesses like schizophrenia and in early intervention using medical and psychosocial approaches. . His research has resulted in over 600 publications and 4 books. He has received several awards including the Gaskell Gold Medal of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (1985).

Dr. Yun Jin Kim received his Ph.D. at Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China, under the grant of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). Currently, he is an Associate Professor at the School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xiamen University, Malaysia. His research interests encompass the global burden of disease, neurological disorder, and epidemiology.

Dr. Krystal is the Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Professor of Translational Research, Chair of the Department of Psychiatry, and Professor of Neuroscience at the Yale University School of Medicine and Chief of Psychiatry at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago, Yale University School of Medicine, and the Yale Psychiatry Residency Training Program. He has published extensively on the neurobiology and treatment of schizophrenia, alcoholism, PTSD, and depression.

Dr. Herbert M. Lachman, M.D., is Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and in the Department of Medicine (Hematology), and is Associate Professor in the Department of Neuroscience and in the Department of Genetics, at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA. His lab uses induced pluripotent stem cell technology to model neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders. His primary interest is in schizophrenia and autism genes that function as transcription factors and chromatin remodelers. Dr. Lachman, as an author/co-author, has published more than 100 articles in various journals, having a significant number of total citations, i.e. over 6,050.

Dr. Langleben is a Professor of Psychiatry and a Distinguished Fellow at the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania and a Staff Physician at the Veterans Administration Medical Center. Dr. Langleben was trained at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, Stanford University and University of California San Francisco. He is a Principal and Co-Investigator of research grants from the NIH, FDA and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The main themes of his research are translational neuroscience of public health communications for the prevention of smoking and HIV, pharmacological MRI of opioid agonists and antagonists in opioid use disorders and cognitive neuroscience and bioethics of deception and lie-detection.

I am Consultant Neurologist at the Oasi Research Institute – IRCCS, Troina (Italy) [WHO Collaborating Center]. After graduation with honours in Medicine, I trained at the School of Neurology and got the international PhD at the University of Catania (Italy). As Clinical Research Fellow, I further trained at the Newcastle University (UK). I teach Neurology at the Kore University of Enna (Italy). I have co-authored 90 publications in international Journals and Conferences, and I serve as Editor and invited Reviewer of several Journals. Recently, I obtained the Master of Science in Clinical Research and the National Scientific Qualification as Associate Professor.

Reza Lashgari is currently an Assistant Professor at IPM Brain Engineering Research Center and Scientific Collaboration at the Columbia University and the State University of New York. He has published several peer-review and research papers and conference abstracts in different well-reputed journals. Besides, he is an Associate Editor of Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, Frontiers in Neuroscience, Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, and Frontiers in Physiology, Systems Biology. He is also one of the Board of Directors in Iranian Neuroscience Association and Iranian Society for Cognitive Science & Technology.

Dr. Li Su-xia is currently working as an Associate Professor at Department of Clinical Pharmacology, National Institute on Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing, China. She did her MBBS from Chengde Medical School, Hebei province, Chengde, China in 1994. Her research interests include Pathogenesis of depression and rapid antidepressant mechanism, Chronobiology, Pharmacogenetics and Clinical pharmacology study and clinical evaluation. She has 7 registered patents and has published more than 20 manuscripts in national and international journals.

Dr. Jeffrey A. Lieberman, M.D., is the Lawrence C. Kolb Professor and Chairman, in the Department of Psychiatry, at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA. Dr. Lieberman’s research has focused on the neurobiology and treatment of schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders which led to transformative mental healthcare strategy for the early detection and prevention of it. He has authored/co-authored over 600 articles published in scientific literature and has wrote/edited 11 books on mental illness, psychopharmacology and psychiatry. After receiving many national and international honors and awards, in 2000 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine.

Prof. Isaac Marks obtained his qualification in medicine from Cape Town in 1956. He trained as a psychiatrist (from 1960 to 1963) at the University of London at the Bethlem-Maudsley Hospital, from where he also did clinical research from 1964 to 2000 and became Hon. Consultant Psychiatrist there in 1968. From 2000 to 2003, he ran a computer-aided self-help clinic at Imperial College London, where he was Visiting Professor. He was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, California, and Salmon Lecturer and Medallist at the New York Academy of Sciences. His research includes the treatment of anxiety, phobic, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Dr. Aleksander A. Mathe is a Senior Professor of Psychiatry at the Karolinska Institute, from where he did his PHD in 1976. Also being a senior physician St Görans Hospital, he has worked as an associate Professor at medical institutes. His Specialty Certifications include Diplomate American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and Swedish Board Certified in Psychiatry. He’s part of many professional societies i.e. American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP), Fellow and Life Member. He has also published 249 papers (peer-reviewed int journals, PubMed: Mathé AA,) in 32 book chapters.

Dr. Kwame McKenzie is the CEO of Wellesley Institute, a Professor of Psychiatry at University of Toronto and Director of Health Equity at the Centre of Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada. A Southampton University Medical School graduate, Dr. McKenzie trained as a specialist at the Maudsley Hospital, Institute of Psychiatry, London and Harvard University, USA. His early clinical and academic work focused on developing community informed innovative strategies to increase access and quality of services. His more recent work has investigated the social determinants of health, and how they can be used to decrease illness and improve wellbeing. He is a policy advisor, clinician and academic with over 200 papers and 5 books.

Dr. Stefan Mihailescu did her MD in 1977 from Faculty of Medicine, University of Craiova, Romania. Later in 1991, she obtained her PhD from University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iasi, Romania (Physiology). Since 1997, she is full time professor at the Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Dr. Mihailescu has numerous honors, awards and publications to her credit.

Dr. Mehdi Mirzaei-Alavijeh from the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran in 2006 with a BS in Public Health. He received a Ph.D in Health education & promotion from the Tarbiat Modares University in 2015 and also received a MPH of Health policy from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran in 2014. After working as a researcher at the Maastricht University, Netherlands, he moved to Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences in 2016. He is an Assistance Professor in the Department of Public Health. Dr. Mirzaei-Alavijeh has also been involved in undergraduate and graduate education for most of his career. He is author of over 100 original articles, reviews and chapters and has given invited lectures

Dr. Yadollah Abolfathi Momtaz earned his PhD in Gerontology with a focus on psychosocial gerontology from Universiti Putra Malaysia in 2011. Dr. Momtaz worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Malaysian Research Institute on Ageing (MyAgeing) from 2011 to 2014 and was appointed as an adjunct Research Associate with the MyAgeing and a faculty member at the University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran in 2015. He has designed and conducted a number of research projects on aging and published several scientific papers in reputed and refereed international journals. His research interests include research methods, questionnaire development, data management, scientific writing, and statistical analysis.

Juan Nàcher is an Associate Professor in the Neurobiology Unit of the Universitat de València, he is also associated to the Spanish Research Network on Mental Health (CIBERSAM) and is currently with the vice-president of the Spanish Neuroscience Society (SENC). He received his Ph.D. in Neurobiology in the U.V. and developed postdoctoral work in Bruce McEwen’s lab in Rockefeller University, studying the effects of stress and NMDA receptor manipulation on adult neuronal structural plasticity. After coming back to Valencia he has continued his research on this plasticity, focusing on its alterations in psychiatric disorders and on the impact produced by aversive experiences during early life and adolescence (http://www.nacherlab.com).

Prof. Pradeep Nathan is the Vice President, CNS Clinical Development and Experimental Medicine at Heptares Therapeutics, and Professor of Neuroscience at the Monash University. He studied pharmacology and neuroscience at the University of Melbourne followed by a PhD in Neuroscience. He has more than 20 years clinical research experience and held positions in both academia and industry.He has published more than 200 research papers and his research has been cited over 8500 times in academic journals. He has received many research awards including the Australian Young Tall Poppy Science Award, the Brain and Behaviour Foundation, Independent Investigator Award and the British Association for Psychopharmacology, Clinical Psychopharmacology Award.

Charles B. Nemeroff is the Leonard M. Miller Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Director of the Center on Aging at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He is the former president of the American College of Psychiatrists and the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. His research has focused on the neurobiology of mood and anxiety disorders with a focus on the long term consequences of child abuse and neglect and how these changes increase vulnerability for psychiatric disorders in adulthood. He has published more than 950 research reports and reviews, and 15 books. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (USA).

Laura Orsolini is a M.D. (graduated at the University of Pavia – Department of Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine – Division of Forensic Sciences), General Adult, Forensic and Addiction psychiatrist (trained at the Academic Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine – Division of Psychiatry - Polytechnic University of Marche, Italy) and clinical researcher (Department of Clinical Neurosciences/DIMSC, School of Medicine, Unit of Clinical Psychiatry, Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italy; Psychopharmacology, Drug Misuse and Novel Psychoactive Substances Research Unit, School of Life and Medical Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK).

Rafael Penadés, is a Clinical Psychologist working at the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona. He is an associated professor at the Department of Medicine at the University of Barcelona. He is also a researcher at the Institute for Biomedical Research August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS) and belongs to the National Research Network in Mental Health CIBERSAM. He is in charge of the area of neuropsychology and psychological treatments of the Barcelona Clinic Schizophrenia Unit at the Hospital Clínic. His research areas are neuropsychology, neuroimaging and psychological therapies in the field of severe mental disorders.

Dr. Ettore Piro graduated in medicine and surgery in 1984, and did specialization in Pediatrics in 1988 and in Child Neuropsychiatry in 1992. He further did specialization in Pediatric Neurology in 1993 and lastly in cognitive behavioral psychotherapy in 2008. He currently works in the Mother-Child care Department of the University of Palermo (where he provides assistance in neonatal intensive care and neonatology, and is responsible for the follow-up of the neuropsycho-behavioral development of newborns at risk for congenital and acquired pathology). Dr. Piro is an expert in neonatal electroencephalography, brain imaging and evoked potentials. He is a cognitive behavioral and relational psychotherapist.

Dr Simone Pisano is a child and adolescent psychiatrist, working at Department of Neuroscience, AORN Santobono-Pausilipon, Naples, Italy. He accomplished his PhD in 2016, at University "Vanvitelli", Italy. His researches focused on clinical aspects of child and adolescent psychopathology and psychopharmachology. He is author or co-author of more than 60 papers published in national and international journals, as well as some book chapters.

Dr. Dai Qin is currently an Associate Dean and a Professor at the Department of Psychology, Army Medical university,Chongqing, P.R.China. She obtained her PhD (majoring in psychology), Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, P.R.China. She has quite a few publications to her credit (with highest citing 212, total citing 673).

Dr. Rasenick’s work has focused on G-protein signaling in the nervous system. He has been particularly interested in how G proteins and the cytoskeleton work in concert to modify synaptic shape and to form a molecular basis for depression and the action of antidepressant drugs. He is an elected fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Rasenick is also active in public policy. He currently serves as Secretary and directs advocacy the American Brain Coalition and is also on the Board of the National Alliance for Biomedical Research

I completed a residency in psychiatry at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, which included 2 years of psychopharmacology fellowship in 1998 with Dr. Sheldon H. Preskorn, who is well known psychopharmacologist, especially with regards to drug-drug interactions and pharmacogenetics. During my fellowship I gained significant experience in research design and methodology and pharmaceutical-sponsored psychopharmacology research and numerous clinical trials. In 2000, I joined Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (WPIC; University of Pittsburgh) to fulfill my goals of becoming a psychiatric researcher.

Dr. Gary Small is a Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, the Parlow-Solomon Professor on Aging at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, the Director of the UCLA Longevity Center, and the Director of the Geriatric Psychiatry Division at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior. Dr. Small has authored over 400 scientific works and received numerous awards and honors, including the American Psychiatric Association’s Weinberg Award for Excellence in Geriatric Psychiatry. Scientific American magazine named him one of the world’s top 50 innovators in science and technology.

Dr. Tsai is Chair of the department of psychiatry, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. He has nearly 30 years of experience in psychiatric practice and research in pharmacogenetics, psychopharmacology and neuroimage. Notably, Dr. Tsai has authored more than 400 peer-review scientific articles. Dr. Tsai is also a professor at National Yang-Ming University in Taipei where he teaches "Psychopharmacology".

Wen-Jun Tu, male, 36, Ph.D., Associate Professor; Mainly engaged in diagnostics and treatment of diseases of the nervous system (stroke and autism); more than 30 SCI indexed by papers had been published in the past 5 years, which had been cited greater than 700. Editorial Board Member of Disease Markers, BioMed Research International, PloS one and Medicine.

Dr. Tully is a clinical psychologist and early career fellow. He has 4 years of post-PhD study in France (Univ. Bordeaux, Dept. Neuro-epidemiology) and Germany (Univ. Freiburg, Dept. Psychological Medicine). Dr. Tully has 96 papers/reports (70 first/last author) predominantly in the field of neuropsychiatric diseases and cardiovascular health. He is leader of the Vascular & Brain Health unit, and coordinates the VARIABLE BRAIN consortium, collaborating with neurology, psychiatry and epidemiology experts in Asia, Europe, USA, and Australia. He has contributed more than 120 publications, having citations around 1605.

Dr. Milton L. Wainberg is a Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University. Dr. Wainberg is also a researcher, clinician, and educator whose work has been focused on shaping the research in to practice (specifically towards public mental health systems of care and on training the next generation of mental health clinicians and on implementation scientists). Dr. Wainberg has established a domestic and international research portfolio emphasizing on the intersection of HIV and mental health with funding from the US National Institute of Health. Over the last 10 years, Dr. Wainberg has develop innovative mental health implementation science training programs and several scale-up research projects aiming at contribute in overall global mental health treatment initiatives.

Dr. Weissman is a Diane Goldman Kemper Family Professor of Epidemiology and Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Mailman School of Public Health at the Columbia University and Chief of the Division of Epidemiology at New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI). Previously she was a Professor of Psychiatry and Epidemiology at Yale University School of Medicine. She received a Ph.D. in Epidemiology from Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Weissman is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, National Academy of Science.

Dr. Haiyun Xu, M.D. & Ph.D., is a full Professor and Research Chairman, in the Mental Health Center, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong Province, China. Dr. Xu finished his high education in China, received post-doctoral training in USA and Canada, and have work experience in China, USA, and Canada. Dr. Xu’s research has focused on the neurobiology and psychopharmacology of schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders. He has authored/co-authored over 70 articles published in scientific literature and has wrote/edited 4 books on mental illness, psychopharmacology and psychiatry. He serves for more than 40 academic journals as a reviewer and/or board member.

Dr Svetlana Yampolskaya is a Research Associate Professor at the Department of Child & Family Studies, University of South Florida. Her research has focused on child maltreatment, children’s mental health, and adolescents at risk for behavioural health problems as a result of child abuse and neglect. She has published more than 100 reports and articles. Dr Yampolskaya is a member of the Global Alliance for Behavioral Health and Social Justice. Her current research interests include prevention of adverse outcomes for children involved with the mental health and child welfare systems as well as advanced methodological approaches.

Dr. Je-Yeon Yun is a certified psychiatrist who has been currently working as an Associate Professor in the Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH), Seoul, Korea and also as an Adjunct Professor in the Yeongeon Student Support Center of Seoul National University College of Medicine. Her education includes a Bachelor of Medicine at Seoul National University College of Medicine, a Master of Medicine (Psychiatry) and a Ph. D. degree in Doctor of Philosophy in Medicine (Psychiatry) from Seoul National University Graduate School of Medicine. Her main interests are in the neuroscientific research of anxiety disorder, stress-related disorders and burnout as well as stress resilience, to be deciphered at individual level using the multimodal neuroimaging combined with graph theory approach and machine learning.

Studied Medical Biology at Leiden University in The Netherlands. Moved in 2006 to Utrecht University for his PhD which focused on hypoxic/ischemic brain injury and the effects of putative therapeutics. In 2010 he moved for a postdoc with Prof. C. Sandi at the EPFL, Switzerland performing animal research in projects that dealt with anxiety, stress, mitochondria and social behavior. Since 2015 he works in the Laboratory of Translational Psychiatry, Mainz University, Germany where he leads projects that determine the effects of social stress on brain metabolism and behavior with a particular interest for the role of glucose.

Dr. Meysam Amidfar holds a Bachelor of Science in Speech Therapy (Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Iran), a Master of Speech Therapy (Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran) and a PhD in Neuroscience (Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran). Dr. Amidfar, as an author/co-author, has published over 15 articles and book chapters in peer-reviewed international journals in the field of neuroscience and psychiatry. His research interests lie in the fields of neurobiology of neuropsychiatric disorders and understanding neural mechanisms underlying cognitive dysfucntions and neuroplasticity in psychiatric and neurologic diseases.

Dr. Alexandre González-Rodríguez obtained his Bachelor's Degree in Medicine at the University of Barcelona in 2008. He earned residency in Psychiatry (2009-2013) at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona. In 2013, he obtained the End of Residency Award (Premi Emili Letang) for the development of the project: Depressive postpartum episode, study of the clinical trajectories and recurrence risk factors at 8-year follow-up, at the Perinatal Psychiatry and Gender Research Program in Barcelona. He has been working at the Barcelona Clinic Schizophrenia Unit (BCSU) (2014-2017) as clinical researcher on the field of schizophrenia and related disorders. Nowadays he is working at the Acute Psychiatric Unit and Day Hospital of the Department of Mental Health at the Corporació Sanitària Parc Taulí. His research interests are gender differences in schizophrenia, particularly, the influence of the reproductive status, hormonal and genetic factors on antipsychotic response in schizophrenia, as well as the study of the clinical trajectories and response to antipsychotic medications in delusional disorder populations (Parc-Taulí-Delusional Disorder Workgroup).

Dr. Danish Mahmood is a lecturer of Pharmacology & Toxicology at the Unaizah College of Pharmacy, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia. Dr. Danish obtained his MPharm (Pharmacology) and PhD from School of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (SPER), previously Faculty of Pharmacy, Jamia Hamdard University, New Delhi-110062, India. Prior to joining academics, Dr. Danish worked as an assistant manager, in Medical and Scientific Writing, JSS Medical Research (Formerly, Max Neeman International, India). Dr. Danish has well over 22 publications in peer-reviewed international journals, including in Pharmacological Reports, Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Drug Research, etc. He has keen interests in researches involving central nervous system disorders and development of preclinical models.

Clinical psychologist and cognitive behavioural psychotherapist, postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence (Italy). Lecturer at postgraduate courses in clinical psychology and psychotherapy, editorial board member and reviewer for several international peer-review journals. He has published over one hundred scientific articles, book chapters and oral presentations at international conferences in the field of clinical psychology and psychiatry.

Dr. Adonis Sfera did M.D. degree in general medicine, Institution of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timisoara, Romania in 1980. He is a staff psychiatrist in Patton State Hospital (in affiliation with Loma Linda University). Currently, Dr. Sfera is also involved in voluntary project of National Association for Mental Illness (NAMI).