Keynotes

  • Prof. Ruth Feldman
    Prof. Ruth Feldman Interdisciplinary Center Herzlia (IL) and Yale Child Study Center (US)
    Prof. Ruth Feldman

    Professor of Developmental Social Neuroscience at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzlia (Israel) and joint appointment at Yale Child Study Center.


    A two-brain perspective on human sociality; From basic science to clinical interventions.


    Ruth Feldman, PhD is the Simms-Mann Professor of Developmental Social Neuroscience at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzlia (Israel) with joint appointment at Yale Child Study Center.

    With degrees in music composition (summa cum-laude), neuroscience (with honors), clinical psychology (with honors), and developmental psychology and psychopathology, her approach integrates perspectives from neuroscience, human development, philosophy, clinical practice, and the arts within an interpersonal frame and a behavior-based approach. Her conceptual model on biobehavioral synchrony systematically describes how a lived experience within close relationships builds brain, creates relationships, confers resilience, and promotes creativity.  Her studies were the first to detail the role of oxytocin in the formation of human social bonds.

    Her research is translational and informs the development of various interventions applied internationally.  Her observational tools are used in 17 countries, translated to multiple languages, and utilized in research on all facets of human social relationships in health and psychopathology.  She is a consultant on multiple international grants and a frequent keynote speaker in international conferences. Her studies often follow children from infancy to adulthood, address topics that are highly relevant to the general public, and receive substantial media attention.

    Dr. Feldman is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and received multiple awards, including a young musician award, Rothschild award, NARSAD independent investigator award (twice), the Zeskind award for best paper in Biological Psychiatry, and the Graven’s Award for research on high-risk infants.

    Highly Cited Researcher – 2018 – Web of Science. Among top 0.01% of scientists based on impact (PLOS Biology).

    Expertscape World Expert in Parent-Child Relations, expertscape World Expert in Psychoanalytic Theory.

  • Prof. David Coghill
    Prof. David Coghill Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne (AUS) and University of Dundee (UK)
    Prof. David Coghill

    Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne (AUS) and University of Dundee (UK)


    Outcomes matter: Implementing measurement based care in child and adolescent mental health


    Professor Coghill is a child and adolescent psychiatrist with a particular interest in ADHD, disruptive behaviours and psychopharmacology. He leads the Developmental Research Group within the Division of Neuroscience. The Developmental Research Group has a particular interest in fostering a better understanding of the pathophysiology of ADHD, conduct disorder and depression using a broad range of approaches including neuropsychopharmacology, neuroimaging,genetics and pharmacogenomics. The group is also very involved in clinical trials, pharmacoepidemiology, patient reported outcomes and quality of life and works hard to facilitate a rapid translation of research evidence into routine clinical practice. The group’s research is funded through a range of sources including the European Union, NIHR and Industry and include international collaborations across Europe, North America and Asia.

    Professor Coghill is very involved in postgraduate education and regularly presents at international conferences. He is a senior member of the European Network for Hyperkinetic Disorders (EUNETHYDIS). He has taken a leading role within EUNETHYDIS in the development of European guidelines for the assessment and management of ADHD and a programme to aid clinicians implement these guidelines into practice. He represents EUNETHYDIS on the coordinating group of the European Paediatric Research Network at the EMA (ENPR-EMA) as well as chairing EUNETHYDIS International Conferences a charity devoted to providing professional education for clinicians and scientists about ADHD. He is a joint organizer committee of the ECNP School of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychopharmacology, an associate editor for the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and the senior author of the Oxford Specialist Handbook on Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

    Clinically he is honorary consultant within the NHS Tayside Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. He has developed evidence based clinical pathways for the assessment and management of ADHD that have been used as a template for other services around the world and has developed several clinical tools including the Dundee Blood Pressure Centile Charts and the Dundee Difficult Time of Day Scale (D-DTODS) which is widely translated and adopted internationally.

  • Prof. David  Cohen
    Prof. David Cohen Sorbonne University and APHP Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris (FR)
    Prof. David Cohen

    Chef du service de psychiatrie de l'enfant et de l'adolescent à l'hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière, professeur à l'Université Pierre et Marie Curie.


    Exploring stress, early life adversity and borderline personality disorder in adolescents using computational approaches

    In this presentation, I will define how stress regulation interact with early life adversity defining a gradient of outcome trajectories in normal development that have been delineated in the Life History Style (LHS) theory. I will then evidence that Borderline Personality Disorder (BDP) in adolescents could one possible outcome of early life adversity. Then using different kind of computational approaches I will present data that support the LHS theoretical background. (1) From the IMAGEN consortium, I will show that the consequences of early adversity in typical adolescents are better understood taking into account LHS. (2) I will review the consequences of early adversity in BPD adolescents. (3) I will show how LHS improves prediction of adult BPD by early life adversity in a large epidemiological cohort (NESARC). (4) I will illustrate how social signal processing can help measuring lack of insight in a stress experiment with adolescents with BPD. (5) And finally, I will discuss and present preliminary data exploring the sense of agency in adolescents with BPD.


    David Cohen is Professor at Sorbonne University and head of the department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at La Salpêtrière hospital in Paris. He is also member of the lab Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotiques - ISIR (CNRS UMR 7222). His group runs research programs in the field of autism spectrum disorder and learning disabilities, childhood onset schizophrenia, catatonia and severe mood disorder. He supports a developmental and plastic view of child psychopathology, at the level of both understanding and treatment. As a member of ISIR, he is collaborating within the team Perception, Interaction and Social Robotics (see http://speapsl.aphp.fr). He was President of the IACAPAP 2012 congress. He is also Corresponding Member of the French National Academy of Medicine.

    Bio Sketch >