Keynote Speakers
RANZCP Faculty of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry are pleased to confirm the following keynote speakers for the child2008 conference:
Professor Peter Hill
Peter Hill is a child and adolescent psychiatrist with a grounding in general medicine and developmental paediatrics. Having been Foundation Professor at St George’s, University of London, he later moved to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children as an academic clinican and became Head of Department. Leaving GOS three years ago to set up a substantial private practice, he still works there in the attachment and trauma team. He has been president of the Child and Adolescent Faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Union Européenne des Médecins Spécialistes. He has written about and advised widely about service development in child and adolescent mental health. More recently he has had specialist interests in ADHD and psychopharmacology.
Professor Paula Barrett
Paula Barrett is presently Adjunct Professor of the School of Education at the University of Queensland and is one of the world’s preeminent scholars in the field of child psychology. She has authored and evaluated over 15 years the well-known FRIENDS for Life program recognised by the World Health Organization as the best practice for the treatment and prevention of anxiety in children and adolescents. Recently, Paula was most humbled to be listed as a finalist for the Australian of the Year Queensland Award for her contribution to the well-being of children and to the community.
Most recently she has authored the FUN FRIENDS program to aid in the prevention of anxiety and depression in 4 to 6 year olds. The FRIENDS program is now run in nations as widespread as Mexico, Hong Kong, China, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Finland, Norway, UK, the USA, and Canada.
Professor Barrett is also the Director of the innovative research-based clinic, Pathways Health and Research Centre in West End. She has been the recipient of the National Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy Early Career Award in 1998; and the National Australian Psychological Society Award for Outstanding Scholarship in the Discipline of Psychology in 1999. Professor Barrett recently received the "Lord Mayor’s 2007 Australia Day Achievement Award" for outstanding services in the community for families and children.
Paula has given numerous invited keynote addresses at international conferences including: an invited keynote presenter and the invited Chair for the session on Mental health promotion strategies at the Implementing Mental Health Promotion Action conference in Barcelona on Sept 13-15, 2007 organised in conjunction with the World Health Organization; the International Congress on Cognitive and Behavioural Therapy V, Barcelona, Spain 9th -20th July, 2007; and the World Health Organization Conference, Oslo, Norway, 2006.
Dr William Bor
Dr William Bor is Director of the Mater Centre for Service Research in Mental Health (Kids in Mind Research). The Centre aims to promote research in real world clinical settings and assist in maintenance of a research culture within the service. As well, the Centre offers clinicians the opportunities of a research scholarship to further develop research skills. Dr Bor is part of a team of researchers involved a longitudinal study of mothers and children born at the Mater Hospital 28 years ago. Dr Bor has been involved in the research evaluation of the effectiveness of Triple –P.
Professor Francis G Bowling
Prof Francis G Bowling is currently the Director of Biochemical Diseases at the Mater Children’s Hospital and Professor of Medical Biochemistry University of Queensland. He has an active research and clinical interest in the molecular basis of disease, particularly neurodegenerative diseases of children. The Mater Children’s Hospital has a programme investigating treatable metabolic causes of Autism and paediatric psychiatric disorders and is one of the first Children’s hospitals to use metabolomics and proteomics to characterise these diseases.
Professor Mark Dadds
Mark Dadds is a Principal Research Fellow of the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, Professor of Psychology at the University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia, and Professor of Child Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London.. He has developed and directed several national intervention programs for children, youth, and their families, at risk for mental health problems. These programmes have been implemented in each state in Australia and in Canada, the USA, Belgium, and Holland. In the last decade he has been awarded over $6,000,000 in research funding for his work in clinical child and family mental health. He has been National President of the Australian Association for Cognitive and Behavioural Therapy, Director of Research for the Abused Child Trust of Queensland, and a recipient of several awards including an Early Career Award from the Division of Scientific Affairs of the Australian Psychological Society and a Violence Prevention Award for the Federal Government via the Institute of Criminology. He has authored 4 books and over 100 papers on child and family psychology. In the last few years he has given invited keynote addresses to international conferences in Mexico, Canada, the UK, the USA, Denmark, Hungary, Austria, and Australia, including multiple invitations to the World Congress of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies. He has won the Australian Psychological Society’s awards for Early Career Research in 1991 and in 2005 the Ian Matthew Campbell Award for excellence in Clinical Psychology. In 2007 he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia.
Professor David Fergusson
For the last 30 years, Professor David Fergusson has been the Principal Investigator and Executive Director of the Christchurch Health and Development Study (CHDS). The CHDS is an internationally renowned longitudinal study of a birth cohort of 1,265 New Zealand children born in mid 1977. This cohort has now been studied from birth to the age of 30. Professor Fergusson is the author of over 300 scientific articles and books. His recent work has included research into: childhood sexual and physical abuse; family violence; youth unemployment; teenage pregnancy; juvenile delinquency; substance abuse; and youth mental health. His major research interests are the design and analysis of correlational studies and the study of personal adjustment in adolescence. He is also actively involved in the development and evaluation of an early intervention project - Early Start - a home visitation programme designed to address the needs of at-risk families with young children. He is fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and an honorary fellow of the New Zealand Psychological Society.
