"From Understanding Neural Plasticity to Development of Cognitive Enhancers"

8th June 2010 - 13.45 - 14.30 (Hall BC)

Chairman: Eugene Paykel, UK

Professor Nancy Ip obtained her PhD in Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School, and is currently the Chair Professor of Biochemistry, and the Director of the Molecular Neuroscience Center of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Professor Ip is well known for her discoveries in the biology of neurotrophic factors and their therapeutic potential for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. She is also internationally recognized as a leader in synapse development and plasticity. A highly accomplished researcher, she has published close to 200 scientific papers with 13,000 citations and holds 18 patents. She is an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World, and has received numerous awards including the L’OREAL-UNESCO For Women in Science Award.

"Psychosis, Cognition and Schizophrenia - Back to the Future"

8th June 2010 - 09.00 - 09.45 (Hall BC)

Chairman: Graham Burrows, Australia

Dr. Shitij Kapur, MBBS, FRCPC, PhD is currently the Vice Dean (Researach) and Professor at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, UK. He moved to this post in 2007 after serving as Canada Research Chair for Schizophrenia and Therapeutic Neuroscience, Chief of Research at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto.

He graduated from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, did his psychiatric training at the University of Pittsburgh – where he developed an interest in the biology of schizophrenia. He subsequently completed a PhD and Fellowship at the University of Toronto and his main research interest is in the use of brain imaging and animals models to understand the basis of psychosis and its treatment. His work has shown that all antipsychotics (typical and atypical) block dopamine D₂ receptors in patients, though to different degrees – and that these differences are clinically very meaningful. It has shown the consequences of too much D₂ blockade and has helped move the field towards lower doses and better understanding of the basis of antipsychotic action. He has questioned the standard “delayed onset” hypothesis and by virtue of imaging and clinical studies has shown that antipsychotic start action within days – thus prompting research into new clinical designs and treatment strategies. Working with basic science colleagues Dr. Kapur has focused on how animal models can be used to derive more innovative treatments for Schizophrenia – and this work has pointed to the central importance of appropriate dosing, ‘sensitization’ and the difference between continuous and intermittent dosing in Schizophrenia. His latest work uses psychological theories, computational models, and phenomenological experience of patients and combines them into a “salience hypothesis” to provide a more holistic understanding of the experience of psychosis and the impact of antipsychotic medications. 

Dr. Kapur has published over a hundred and eighty papers, made dozens of presentations worldwide, served on Scientific Advisory Boards of international companies and has received numerous national and international awards, AE Bennett Award of the Society for Biological Psychiatry, Paul Janssen Award of the CINP and is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.

When away from his desk Dr. Kapur is usually ferrying his young children from one activity to another or trying to perfect the ultimate ‘lamb biryani’. 

"It's all a state of mind"

6th June 2010 - 18.45 - 19.30 (Hall BC)

Chairman: Prof. SW Tang, Hong Kong

Director of HKU SPACE and Chair Professor of Geotechnical Engineering at HKU.

Professor Lee graduated from HKU with a Bachelor degree in Civil Engineering and then a Master degree. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario, in the field of geotechnical engineering. 

He worked for Ontario Hydro in Canada, on a variety of projects that included water resources management, hydropower and nuclear power.  He then served as a pro-vice-chancellor of HKU between 2000 and 2008.

He is serving on various boards of community services and charitable organizations.

 "Has there been progress in the treatment of schizophrenia?"

7th June 2010 - 09.00 - 09.45 (Hall BC)

Chairman: Chang Yoon Kim, Korea

Jeffrey A. Lieberman, MD, is a physician and scientist who has spent his career of over 25 years caring for patients and studying the nature and treatment of mental illness. Dr. Lieberman is currently is the Lawrence E. Kolb Professor and Chairman of Psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and Director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He also holds the Lieber Chair and Directs the Lieber Center for Schizophrenia Research in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia and serves the Psychiatrist in Chief of New York Presbyterian Hospital- Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Lieberman received his medical degree from the George Washington School of Medicine in 1975.  Following his postgraduate training in psychiatry at St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center of New York Medical College, he was on the faculties of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and served as Director of Research at the Hillside Hospital of Long Island Jewish Medical Center. Prior to moving to Columbia University he was Vice Chairman for Research and Scientific Affairs in the Department of Psychiatry and Director of the Mental Health and Neuroscience Clinical Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine.

Dr. Lieberman’s research has focused on the neurobiology, pharmacology and treatment of schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders.  In this context, his work has advanced our understanding of the natural history and pathophysiology of schizophrenia and the pharmacology and clinical effectiveness of antipsychotic drugs. In terms of the latter, he  served as Principal Investigator of the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness Research Program (CATIE), sponsored by the NIMH. His research has been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the NARSAD, Stanley, and Mental Illness Foundations. His work has been reported in more than 400 articles in the scientific literature and he has edited or co-edited eight books, including the textbook Psychiatry, currently in its second edition; Textbook of Schizophrenia, Comprehensive Care of Schizophrenia; Psychiatric Drugs; and Ethics in Psychiatric Research: A Resource Manual on Human Subjects Protection.  He also serves, or has served, as Associate Editor of the American Journal of Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, Neuropsychopharmacology, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, Schizophrenia Research, Neuroimage, International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, and the Schizophrenia Bulletin.

Dr. Lieberman is a member of the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine and recipient of the Lieber Prize for Schizophrenia Research from NARSAD, the Adolph Meyer Award from the American Psychiatric Association, the Stanley R. Dean Award for Schizophrenia Research from the American College of Psychiatry, the APA Research Award, the APA Kempf Award for Research in Psychobiology, the APA Gralnick Award for Schizophrenia Research, the Ziskind-Somerfeld Award of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, the Ernest Strecker Award of the University of Pennsylvania, the Lilly Neuroscience Award from the Collegium Internationale Neuro-Psychopharmacologicum for Clinical Research  and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance of the Mentally Ill. He is or has been a member of the advisory committee for Neuropharmacologic and Psychopharmacologic Drugs of the Food and Drug Administration, the Planning Board for the Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health, the Committee on Research on Psychiatric Treatments of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the APA Work Group for the Development of Schizophrenia Treatment Guidelines, the Brain Disorders and Clinical Neuroscience Review Committee, the National Advisory Mental Health Council of the National Institute of Mental Health and currently chairs the APA Council of Research.

He resides with his wife and two sons in New York City.

"Marijuana; from mellow to madness"

7th June 2010 - 13.45 - 14.30 (Hall BC)

Chairman: Nina Schooler, USA

Robin Murray received his medical degree from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and trained in Internal Medicine there.  He then came to study psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital in London and has remained there ever since, apart from 1 year as MRC Fellow at NIH in Washington.  He was Dean of the Institute of Psychiatry and is now Professor of Psychiatric Research there. According to ISI he is the second most widely cited psychiatric researcher in the world living outside the USA. His special interest is in the understanding and treatment of psychotic illnesses, and he looks after people with these illnesses.

"Pediatric Psychopharmacology: Too Much or Too Little?

9th June - 09.00 - 09.45 (Hall BC)

Chairman: Xin Yu, China

Judith L. Rapoport M.D. is Chief of the Child Psychiatry Branch, NIMH.  She is a graduate of Harvard Medical School.   She did her clinical and research training at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center (Boston), Children's Hospital (DC), and the Karolinska Hospital (Stockholm).  Her research has focused on diagnosis in child psychiatry, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.  Over the past decade, her group has been studying the clinical phenomenology, neurobiology and treatment of Childhood Onset Schizophrenia, as well as normal and abnormal brain development in childhood and adolescence. She is an author or co-author of over 300 scientific papers, a member of the Institute of Medicine, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

"The Ethics of Elective Psychopharmacology"

10th June 2010 - 11.15 - 12.00 (Hall BC)

Chairman: Robert H. Belmaker, Israel

Barbara J Sahakian is Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine and Honorary Consultant Clinic Psychologist at Addenbrooke’s Hospital.  She has an international reputation in the fields of cognitive psychopharmacology, neuroethics, neuropsychology, neuropsychiatry and neuroimaging.  She is co-inventor of the CANTAB computerised neuropsychological tests, which are in use world-wide.  She is probably best known for her research work on cognition and depression, cognitive enhancement using pharmacological treatments, neuroethics and early detection of Alzheimer’s disease.  Indeed, she has over 300 publications covering these topics in scientific journals, including  Science, Nature,  Nature Neuroscience, The Lancet, British Medical Journal, Archives of General Psychiatry, American Journal of Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, the Journal of Neuroscience, Brain,  Psychopharmacology and Psychological Medicine.  Her current programme of research, funded by the Wellcome Trust and Medical Research Council, investigates the neurochemical modulation of impulsive and compulsive behaviour in neuropsychiatric disorders, such as unipolar and bipolar depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.  This topic was the focus of her recent papers published in Science, (Chamberlain et al 2006, Chamberlain et al 2008).

Professor Sahakian was one of the first researchers to suggest that attentional dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease could be ameliorated using pharmacotherapy, such as cholinesterase inhibitors.  In addition, she was early to highlight the cognitive changes in unipolar and bipolar depression, as well as their significance for functional outcome.  In 2003, she was selected to lecture on this topic for the Teaching Day at the annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP). Most recently, she has introduced the importance of the concept of cognitive reserve to the field of neuropsychiatry (Psychological Medicine, 2006, 36,  1053-1064).

In recognition of her contribution to cognitive neuroscience, she was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2004 and in 2005 she was awarded the Donders Chair in Psychopharmacology at Utrecht University (The Netherlands). Earlier this year, she gave the Deakin Innovation Lectures in Melbourne, Australia and she was the first woman to give a plenary lecture at ECNP (Barcelona).  In 2009 to 2010, she will take up the Distinguished International Scholars Award at the University of Pennsylvania (USA).

From November 2005 she began a three-year appointment to the Committee of Women in Neuroscience for the Society for Neuroscience (SFN, USA).  In 2006 she began her appointment on the Medical Research Council (MRC) Neurosciences and Mental Health Board and in 2008 she was appointed to the MRC Expert Group for Strategy on Mental Health..  Also recently she was appointed to the Executive Committee of the newly formed Neuroethics Society and is on the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Bioethics – Neuroscience

In 2006 she was appointed as a member of the Science Co-ordination Team for the Foresight Project on Mental Capital and Wellbeing (UK Office of Science, Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills). (www.foresight.gov.uk). This project was launched in October 2008 (Beddington et al 2008 Nature).

Professor Sahakian has also trained over 15 PhD students in the field of cognitive neuroscience, many now with international reputations in their own right (e.g. Adrian M Owen, Rebecca Elliott, Andrew D. Lawrence, Adam Aron) and several prize winners (e.g. Jennifer Coull, Mitul Mehta, Danielle Turner, Samuel Chamberlain).  Since 2004 she has been writing and training PhD students in the field of neuroethics.  One of her students, Danielle Turner, who completed her PhD on the psychopharmacology of cognitive enhancement in 2005, received an award from the British Psychological Society  and was recently selected as one of the top five young UK researchers.  Her PhD student, Karen Ersche, was recently appointed Betty Behrens Research Fellow at Clare Hall, Cambridge.

Professor Sahakian is a Fellow of Clare Hall and Bye-Fellow of Christ’s College.

"Mood dysregulation and stabilization: Perspectives from emotional cognitive neuroscience"

9th June 2010 - 13.45 - 14.30 (Hall BC)

Chairman: Alexandra Sulcova, Czech Republic

Dr. Shigeto Yamawaki is Professor and Chairman of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Hiroshima University, Japan.  He has served as Councilor (2000-2004) and Secretary (2004-2006) of the CINP, and several committee members as well as an editorial board of the IJNP.  He successfully organized the CINP Asia-Pacific regional meeting in Hiroshima, 2001.  He has also served as President (2006-2008) of the International College of Geriatric Psychoneuropharmacology (ICGP), and as a founding President (2008-2010) of the Asian College of Neuropsychopharmacology (AsCNP).  The major focus of his research is on the neurobiology and clinical psychopharmacology of mood disorders. His recent interest includes the molecular basis of early adverse life events on vulnerability for major depression, and the neuroimaging study on mood regulation using a visual emotion task and a future reward prediction task.  He published more than 300 papers in the high impact international journals such as Nature Neuroscience, Biological Psychiatry, Journal of Neuroscience as well as IJNP.