Session 4: Social Determinants of Mental Health Across the Lifecourse
After briefly reviewing the history of psychiatric epidemiology and its major achievements in understanding child and adult psychopathology, we will discuss its current methodological challenges and the study designs and analytical strategies needed to integrate the effects of genes, development, and the social environment in their combined contribution to mental health and psychiatric illness.
Dr. Eric Fombonne trained in child and adolescent psychiatry in France. He served as a clinical scientist at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM, France), as a Senior Lecturer and Reader at the Institute of Psychiatry and Maudsley Hospital, King’s College London, UK (1993–2001), as a tenured Professor of Psychiatry at McGill University (Canada), Head of the Division of Child Psychiatry and Canada Research Chair in Child Psychiatry (2001–2012). In September 2012, he joined the Department of Psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon (USA), where he is now Professor Emeritus. He has extensive experience in clinical work with children with autism and their families across the lifespan and has also directed clinical services for adolescents with depression. His research on neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders includes clinical and longitudinal studies, population-based epidemiological studies in international settings, studies of risk factors, clinical trials, and genetic studies. He has published over 390 articles in peer-reviewed journals and 50 book chapters. He is a former Associate Editor of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (JADD; 1994–2004); he is currently a Joint Editor of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (JCPP; 2016–present) and serves on the editorial board of several other journals in the field of autism and child psychiatry.
