Session 4: Social Determinants of Mental Health over the Lifecourse
After briefly reviewing the history of psychiatric epidemiology and its major accomplishments in understanding child and adult psychopathology, we will discuss its current methodological challenges and the study designs and analytical strategies that are required to integrate the effects of genes, development and the social environment in their joint contribution to mental health and psychiatric illness.
Dr. Eric Fombonne trained in child and adolescent psychiatry in France. He held appointments as clinical scientist at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM, France), as Senior Lecturer and Reader at the Institute of Psychiatry and Maudsley Hospital, King's College London, UK (1993-2001), as 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 a long experience of clinical work with children with autism and their families, over the lifespan, and has been also directing clinical services for teenagers with depression. His research activities on neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders encompass clinical/longitudinal, 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 chapters in books. He is past Associate Editor of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (JADD; 1994-2004); he is currently Joint Editor of Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (JCPP; 2016-current) and is on the editorial board of several other journals in the field of autism and child psychiatry.
