Sleep and Health Webinar - Session 1

In this first of two webinars, hear from leading experts in the field of sleep and health and find out about their latest research.

Programme includes; 

Sleep, health and ADHD

Professor Sandra Kooij, Professor of Psychiatry, Free University in Amsterdam, Netherlands

Professor Sandra Kooij is the founder and chair of the European Network Adult ADHD and chair of the Section Neurodevelopmental Disorders at the European Psychiatric Association. She started as a psychiatrist in 1995 with the development of diagnostic assessment, treatment and research in the field of adult ADHD in the Netherlands. In 2006 she received her PhD on a thesis entitled ‘ADHD in adults. Clinical studies on Assessment and Treatment’. She is involved in research, treating patients, training professionals, informing the public, publishing articles, webinars, podcasts, books and websites. She founded the Dutch Adult ADHD Network in 1998, the European Network Adult ADHD in 2003 and the DIVA Foundation in 2010, that distributes the Diagnostic Interview for ADHD in adults (DIVA-5) in 26 languages. She is head of the Dutch Expertise Center Adult ADHD at PsyQ, the Hague, the Netherlands.

The mechanistic role that sleep plays in PTSD

Professor Sean Drummond, Monash University, Melbourne

Professor Sean Drummond is Professor of Clinical Neuroscience, at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. He currently also serves as the Director of the Sleep and Circadian Rhythms Research Theme within the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health. Prof. Drummond has three main areas of research: 1) cognitive neuroscience of sleep and sleep deprivation; 2) treatment of insomnia, especially in comorbid psychopathology; and 3) translational research examining the mechanistic role that sleep plays in PTSD and mood disorders. In particular, he is interested in understanding the mechanistic role sleep plays in development, maintenance, and treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and mood disorders.

Genetic background for sleep-related disturbances and psychiatric problems

Professor Tiina Paunio, University of Helsinki, Finland

 Tiina Paunio is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Helsinki and Research Professor at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, in Helsinki. She is also Vice Dean of Education at Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Helsinki, Vice President (Clinical) and Chair of the Education Committee and Somnologist examination of European Sleep Research Society, and Deputy Editor for Journal of Sleep Research. Professor Paunio has a special interest in genetic background for psychiatric disorders and sleep-related disturbances, interaction of the genetic risk with environment, and development of individualized research-based tools to ameliorate sleep- and stress-related disturbances.  

Chronotye and Mental Health

Professor Timo Partonen, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

Timo Partonen is Research Professor at the Department of Public Health and Welfare, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Finland. His key interest is to study the effects of environmental factors (light, temperature), health-related behaviours (physical activity, dietary intake, sleeping habits) and endogenous factors (genes, proteins) on the phenotype of mood. Prof. Partonen was one of the pioneers to investigate seasonal affective disorder, and his work was published in the journal Lancet in 1998. His research project has been the first one in Finland to provide light therapy, and to analyse its efficacy and effectiveness in a series of trials starting from 1988. His research on the molecular mechanisms of bipolar and recurrent depressive disorders with the seasonal pattern was elected as 1 of the 10 success stories in health sciences by the Academy of Finland in 2012.