Professor Jan Scott

Professor Jan Scott is Professor of Psychological Medicine at the University of Newcastle, UK, and a Distinguished Founding Fellow of the International Academy of Cognitive Therapy.

Professor Scott trained in psychiatry in Newcastle upon Tyne and was then a professor in Newcastle, Glasgow and the Institute of Psychiatry in London, before returning to Newcastle. Professor Scott also held visiting academic posts with Aaron Beck at the University of Penn in Philadelphia, Eugene Paykel at Cambridge University, and was the recipient of the RCPsych travelling scholarship to Johns Hopkins University, USA. She currently holds visiting posts in Paris, Trondheim and at the University of Sydney and is a Science without Borders Fellow in Brazil (especially working with academic centres and in early intervention settings in Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre). Her current H INDEX is reported as 90 and her ‘Research Interest Score’ (a metric used on research websites such as Research Gate) is higher than 99% of other research members. Whilst those quoted metrics attempt to measure productivity and the impact of publications, if a composite rating is used that combines research, publications, clinical expertise and key opinion leader status, her rankings in bipolar and unipolar disorders are (according to ‘Expert Mapper’): Worldwide Ranked 48th and 62nd, respectively.

Professor Richard Porter

Richard Porter is Professor and head of the Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch and a Consultant Psychiatrist in a service for adults with intellectual disability. He trained in psychiatry in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne where his clinical training focussed on the treatment of resistant mood disorders. Recently his research has focused on psychological and chronobiological treatments for mood disorders and treatments for neuropsychological impairment in depression and bipolar disorder. Events in Christchurch have also led to an interest in PTSD and the mental health effects of natural disasters and terrorism. He has published over 250 scientific papers. He is an author of the 2020 Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists Mood Disorder Guidelines and Deputy Editor of British Journal of Psychiatry Open

Dr Craig Macneil

Dr. Macneil graduated with a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Glasgow, Scotland in 1997.  He joined the Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre (EPPIC) in Melbourne in 2001, where he is a Senior Clinical Psychologist.  He began work with the First Episode Mania Team at EPPIC at its inception in 2003, and has since undertaken research and clinical work to develop psychological interventions for this population. Dr. Macneil has lectured and facilitated workshops locally, interstate, and internationally, and is a Clinical Associate of three Melbourne universities.  He has written and co-written over 40 research articles and is first author of Bipolar Disorder in Young People: A Psychological Intervention Manual.

Professor Colleen Loo

Ketamine and Psilocybin Assisted Therapy for Treatment Resistant Depression – more in common than realised?”

Colleen Loo is a psychiatrist, Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Leadership Fellow and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of New South Wales in Sydney and the Black Dog Institute, Sydney; Australia. She is an internationally recognised clinical expert and researcher in the fields of electroconvulsive therapy, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, transcranial Direct Current Stimulation and ketamine, and led the first Australian RCTs of these interventions in depression. She has published over 300 peer reviewed papers and has received competitive grant funding from the Australian NHMRC, MRFF and major overseas grant funding agencies.

Prof Loo is active in ECT, Neurostimulation and novel treatments research, practice and policy, providing advice to Australian government health departments, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, and several international guidelines. She was President of the International Society for ECT and Neurostimulation (ISEN) 2018-2020. She has served on the Editorial Boards of the two leading international brain stimulation journals: Journal of ECT, Brain Stimulation. She directs professional training courses in ECT, TMS, tDCS and ketamine.