Dear friends and colleagues,
This year will bring us another exciting conference that we are organising in London, at the Royal Society of Medicine, from 30th of August to 1st of September 2023. This will be an excellent opportunity for attending our top-notch meeting while also enjoying London during the warmest period of the year to visit this amazing city (yes, we do have warm days in London!). We have amazing speakers who have already confirmed their attendance, such as Elisabeth Binder, Andrew Miller, Charles Nemeroff, Christian Otte and Alan Schatzberg. The over-arching theme will be translation: has psychoneuroendocrinology delivered health benefits? Register and listen, if you would like to know the answer!
A small but significant change we are implementing this year is that we will have two poster sessions (rather than one, as in the past), both with a drinks reception, so that there is enough time for all our Early Career Scholars to present their data. As every year, all ECSs that present poster will be eligible for the Poster Awards, which will be awarded by the organising committee based on the quality of the abstract. We will be opening the submission for symposium and posters very soon.
As in previous years, we will be also awarding the Bruce McEwen Life-Time Achievement Award and the Dirk Hellammer Award.
Outstanding scientists in the field of psychoneuroendocrinology have received the prestigious Bruce McEwen Lifetime Achievement Award for their contributions to our understanding of brain-body interactions. All ISPNE members are invited to submit their nominations (name and a brief statement of support) via email with “Bruce McEwen Lifetime Achievement Award” as the subject line, to me by email.
The Dirk Hellhammer Award (pervious the Curt Richter Award) has been given for over 20 years to a distinguished line of young investigators in the field of psychoneuroendocrinology. Applicants must be 45 years of age or younger by June 30, 2023; the submission includes: (a) the manuscript; (b) curriculum vitae with list of publications; (c) and statement from the applicants (no more than one page, single-spaced) describing the applicant’s main achievements and future directions. Again, all submissions to be by email, with “Dirk Hellhammer Award” as the subject line.
I hope I will see many of you in London.
Renew your ISPNE membership for 2023 today!Membership Dues:
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NEW! ISPNE 2023 Nominations are now open for Executive Committee Positions - President-elect and Secretary-General, and Membership Committee
Nominations are now being accepted for ISPNE leadership positions. The Executive Committee acts as directors and trustees of the society and manages the affairs of the Society.
Here is an overview of the positions and duties:
President-elect: Term of 3 years; Leads the Executive Committee in the management of the affairs of the Society by developing operational guidelines for specific functions, serves as ex-officio member of all society committees, preside at all meetings of the membership; act as liaison with other professional organizations or societies; overall oversight of society.
Secretary General: Term of 3 years; Serves as the fiscal officer of the Society; works with management company to determine yearly budgets, review financials and prepare annual fiscal reports for the membership Business meeting.
Membership Committee: 2 positions available; Committee members serve for 3 years; Review and approve new membership applications to the society; work with Executive Committee to promote membership recruitment and retention policies and campaigns.
The deadline to submit your nomination is July 10, 2023. Click here to access the nomination platform. You must submit your CV as well as a statement of vision for the position you have chosen (up to 200 words).
Jonathan Seckl, PhD
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Professor Jonathan Seckl trained in medicine at University College London. After a number of busy medical training posts in London, he undertook a PhD at Imperial College studying how the brain controls stress hormones. He then joined the University of Edinburgh and has been a consultant physician in Edinburgh since 1989, first at the Western General Hospital and for the last decade at the Royal Infirmary. He was made Professor of Endocrinology in 1996 and was elected to the Moncrieff-Arnott Chair of Molecular Medicine in 1997.
Professor Seckl's clinical work focuses on endocrinology. He has particular expertise in disorders of the hypothalamus (notably diabetes insipidus), pituitary and adrenal glands and has an interest in the genetics and molecular basis of endocrine disorders.
In research, Professor Seckl has worked for 30 years on the hormonal underpinnings of stress, the role of glucocorticoid hormones and their metabolism in understanding how events before birth 'programme' the risks of later disorders of the brain and body, on new approaches to understand and treat age-associated disorders of memory and how glucocorticoid hormones may cause obesity and metabolic disease. More than 40 doctors and scientists have completed PhDs in his laboratory. He has written over 400 papers and is one of Scotland's most cited medical scientists. He has spoken widely at academic meeting, to the press and lay audiences.
In Edinburgh, Professor Seckl set up and led the Molecular Medicine Centre at the Western General Hospital, initiated and led the Centre for the Study of the Ageing Brain, was inaugural Head of the School of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, and Executive Dean and Director of Research for the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. He is now Vice Principal for Research at the University of Edinburgh. Professor Seckl currently co-chairs grant committees at the Wellcome Trust and the Technology Strategy Board-MRC. He has been elected to the Councils of the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Society for Endocrinology. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, the Academy of Medical Sciences and The Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Robert Kumsta was appointed Professor of Biopsychology at the University of Luxemburg in May 2021. He studied psychology at the University of Trier, Germany, and received his Ph.D. in Psychobiology from the University of Trier in 2007. Funded by a postdoctoral fellowship from the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, he joined the MRC Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, to study the effects of severe institutional deprivation in the English and Romanian Adoptees Study. From 2010 until 2013, he held a Research Fellow position at the Laboratory for Biological and Personality Psychology at the University of Freiburg. Since October 2013, Robert Kumsta has been Professor and Chair of Genetic Psychology at Ruhr University Bochum.
One of his major research goals is to establish a better mechanistic understanding of how early psychosocial risk is ‘biologically embedded’ and increases the risk of long term health problems. A particular focus is on the role of stress physiology and the oxytocin system. Furthermore, he is interested in mechanisms of gene-environment interplay and epigenetic processes.
Using a range of methods, including the study of genetic variation, gene expression patterns, epigenetics, multi-comics integration, as well as the characterization of stress physiology, he is trying to understand how genetic and environmental factors work together to shape developmental trajectories and outcomes across the life-span.
Elizabeth A. (Birdie) Shirtcliff, PhD
University of Oregon
Elizabeth A. (Birdie) Shirtcliff, PhD, is a research professor at the University of Oregon and director of the Stress Physiology in Teens (SPIT) laboratory in the Center for Translational Neuroscience. Dr. Shirtcliff received her doctorate in biobehavioral health from Pennsylvania State University and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in affective neuroscience. In 2023, Dr. Shirtcliff became the editor in chief of the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology and consulting editor for Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology. Dr. Shirtcliff uses a variety of noninvasive tools to investigate the interplay of biological and behavioral factors unfolding across children's lives, especially in adolescence. Dr. Shirtcliff's focus is on hormones because the endocrine system is stress responsive, often mirroring a child's social environment. This interdisciplinary research examines both short-term stress responses, as well as biological changes that can consistently or even permanently change an individual's biology. Dr. Shirtcliff’s interdisciplinary leanings are revealed in this manuscript as it shows collaborative efforts between engineering, neuroscience and social science by exploring Virtual Reality Stressors.
International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology
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