We are delighted to announce outstanding speakers
for our 21st congress

Plenary speakers

Prof. Kathleen R Merikangas

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Bethesda, USA
Read more about her research on Scopus

Prof. Kathleen Ries Merikangas is Senior Investigator and Chief of the Genetic Epidemiology Research Branch in the Intramural Research Program at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Bethesda, USA.

The major areas of Prof. Merikangas’ research are: (1) studies of the patterns and components of familial aggregation of mental disorders and familial mechanisms for comorbidity of mental and medical disorders; (2) identification of early signs and risk factors for psychiatric disorders among high and low risk youth using prospective longitudinal high risk studies; and (3) large scale population based studies of mental disorders including high risk designs and prospective longitudinal research.

Prof. Arnstein Mykletun

Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
Read more about his research on Scopus

Professor Arnstein Mykletun is head of research group for Health Service Research and Epidemiology at Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway, head of research at Centre for Work and Mental Health at Nordland Hospital Trust in Bodø, Norway, and head of research group for welfare and health, University of Tromsø, Norway.

Professor Mykletun’s research areas are occupational mental health, psychiatric epidemiology, and quantitative health service research. He is also invested in causal modelling in observational data using random treatment variation as an opportunity to explore harmful and beneficial effects of health service provision on population health outcomes.

Prof Giovanni A Salum

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
Read more about his research on Scopus

Giovanni A. Salum MD, Ph.D., is the Director of Global Programs at the Child Mind Institute, including both the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Initiative in Greece and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute. Both programs are dedicated to enhance child and adolescent mental health care capacity and to help strengthen the infrastructure for the prevention, assessment, and treatment of mental health struggles faced by children and adolescents across Greece and Low and Middle Income Countries.

His interests include helping the co-construction of solutions to problems in underserved populations, democratizing access and training in psychosocial treatments for children and adolescents, and developing novel technologies that can be implemented in real-world settings to assess and treat mental health conditions. He has experience in epidemiology, developmental psychopathology, and treatment research in the public health system. He is the principal investigator of large research projects such as the Brazilian High-Risk Cohort Study for Mental Conditions (BHRCS), the Pragmatic trial on Telepsychotherapy for health workers facing the COVID-19 pandemic (TelePSI), and the Brazilian National Census of Quality of Care in Community Psychiatry.

Prof. Ingmar Skoog

University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Read more about his research on Scopus

Prof. Ingmar Skoog is Professor in Psychiatry and is currently director for the Centre for Ageing and Health AGECAP, which includes 16 institutions and 6 faculties at the University of Gothenburg and is leading the Neuropsychiatric Epidemiology Unit (Epinep) at the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology at the Sahlgrenska Academy of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

The main research interest has been regarding dementia and other mental disorders in the elderly, with special emphasize on the relation between cardiovascular disorders and Alzheimer’s disease and depression.

Dr. Sharon Stevelink

King’s College London, UK
Read more about her research on Scopus

Dr. Sharon Stevelink is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Epidemiology at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London (KCL), UK. She formally trained in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She also holds a position at the Centre for Work and Mental Health, Nordland Hospital, Bodo, Norway and is the Deputy Director of the London Centre for Work and Health.

Over the years, Dr. Stevelink has built up a comprehensive research portfolio exploring work and mental health. She is the Co-Principal Investigator on a landmark study exploring the impact of deployment on the mental health and wellbeing of UK military personnel and veterans that has been running for nearly two decades. In addition, she co-leads a longitudinal study exploring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health and wellbeing outcomes of over 25,000 healthcare workers. Currently, she holds a NIHR Advanced Fellowship exploring the impact of the welfare system on mental health service users, capitalising upon a first ever data linkage of administrative benefits records with electronic mental health records in the UK. In 2023, she was appointed by the Government as a scientific member of the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council.

Prof. N.E.M. (Neeltje) van Haren

Erasmus MC, Sophia Children’s Hospital, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Read more about her research on Scopus

Prof. N.E.M (Neeltje) van Haren is Professor of Brain development and psychopathology at the department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology at the Erasmus MC-Sophia’s Children’s Hospital, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

The main research interest is to understand the biological mechanisms underlying psychotic and mood symptoms and diagnoses focusing efforts on the neurobiological and (social) cognitive basis of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, using neuroimaging approaches, extensive phenotyping, and experimental (social) cognitive paradigms, preferably within longitudinal family designs.

Prof. Sir Simon Wessely

King’s College London, UK
Read more about his research on Scopus

Prof. Sir Simon Wessely FRS is Regius Professor of Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, UK.

The main areas of his research have been in unexplained symptoms/syndromes, military health, epidemiology, clinical trials and how populations and people react to adversity. He also has a great interest in interdisciplinary work, and has published with legal academics, historians, sociologists, anthropologists, and others.