GNG Advisors

Eileen Joyce is Emeritus Professor of Neuropsychiatry at UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology and an honorary consultant neuropsychiatrist at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neuropsychiatry. Her research has focused on interventions for neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, OCD and Tourette’s syndrome and their mechanisms of action. Her clinic work has involved the management of complex neuropsychiatric disorders. She ran the National Tourette Clinic at NHNN for 15 years.

Professor Joyce obtained her first degree in experimental psychology and PhD in dopamine psychopharmacology from the University of Cambridge. She went on to study medicine also at Cambridge. She trained in psychiatry at the Bethlem and Maudsley Hospitals and spent several years as a research worker at the Institute of Psychiatry, where she was a Wellcome Trust Lecturer in Mental Health. This was followed by time at the USA National Institutes of Health. Before moving to UCL/UCLH, she was Professor of Neuropsychiatry at Imperial College. She has served as Chair of the British Neuropsychiatry Association, The Royal College of Psychiatry Faculty of Neuropsychiatry and the International Neuropsychiatric Association. She is currently a trustee of the charity Tourette’s Action.

Meher Lad is an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in Neurology at Newcastle University. His clinical interests lie in cognitive neurology, especially young-onset and rare dementias, and autoimmune encephalitis.

His research interests include characterising the relationship between the hearing brain and Alzheimer’s disease dementia using cognitive testing, neuroimaging and fluid biomarkers.

Dr Alex Lehn is a neurologist in Brisbane, Australia. He heads the movement disorder service at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane and together with Dr Sarah Olson he runs the deep brain stimulation service at PA Hospital and Mater Hospital Brisbane.

Dr Lehn has a keen interest in Functional Neurological Disorders (FND). He is a founding member and board member of the Functional Neurological Disorder Society. From 2015 to 2019 Dr Lehn headed a dedicated clinic for Functional Neurological Disorders at Mater Hospital Brisbane, the first such clinic in Australia. With his multidisciplinary team of health professionals, he runs regular teaching courses for FND across Australia and has published extensively in this area.

Sheldon Benjamin, MD, is Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at the University of Massachusetts T H Chan School of Medicine (UMass Chan), where he has served as Director of Neuropsychiatry since 1986. He served as Interim Chair of Psychiatry from 2017 to 2020, Director of the UMass Chan Neuropsychiatry Fellowship since 1989, founding director of the Combined Neurology/Psychiatry Residency Program from 1997 to 2020, and co-director of the UMass Chan fellowship in Adult Neurodevelopmental Disabilities. In 2020, he stepped down after 25 years as Psychiatry Program Director and is now Vice Chair for Education and Associate Program Director.

He served as Visiting Professor in Neuropsychiatry at King’s College Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience from March to August 2023. A graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, he completed psychiatry residency training at Tufts New England Medical Center, neurology residency training at Tufts and Boston University, and a fellowship in Behavioral Neurology at the Boston University/Boston Veterans Administration Hospital. He is board certified in Psychiatry and Neurology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and in Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry by the United Council on Neurological Subspecialties.

Dr Benjamin is currently one of the Psychiatry Directors of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He has served as President of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatry Residency Training and President of the American Neuropsychiatric Association. He is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and a Fellow of the American Neuropsychiatric Association.

He has received the Outstanding Educator Award from the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society, the UMass Chan Lamar Soutter Lifetime Achievement Award in Education, the UMass Chan Chancellor’s Medal for Distinguished Teaching, the American Neuropsychiatric Association’s Gary J Tucker, MD Lifetime Achievement Award in Neuropsychiatry, and the AADPRT Lifetime Service Award in Psychiatric Education.

A specialist in evaluating behavioural problems at the interface of psychiatry and neurology, Dr Benjamin teaches clinical neuroscience and neuropsychiatry. He has published and presented widely on neuropsychiatry, clinical neuroscience training, neurocognitive and neuropsychiatric examination techniques, educational technology, residency training and the history of neuropsychiatry.

He is co-author of The Brain Card®, a guide to comprehensive bedside neuropsychiatric examination, and a co-author of the ACGME-ABPN Psychiatry Milestones and the APA Guidelines for the Treatment of Schizophrenia. He is also a co-author of the forthcoming revision of the APA Guidelines for the Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder.

Prof Aileen McGonigal is a Senior Staff Specialist in Neurology at Mater Hospital, Brisbane, Australia; Clinical Director of the Epilepsy Unit at Mater Hospital, Brisbane; Honorary Professor at Mater Research Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland; and Affiliate Professor at the Queensland Brain Institute, UQ.

She is a UK neurology-trained specialist with extensive experience gained in Marseille, France, an internationally renowned medical centre in epileptology and EEG, including stereo-EEG. She is board-certified in neurology in Australia, France and the UK. Her main research interests include seizure semiology and its neural correlates based on stereo-EEG, on which she has written and lectured internationally. She also has an interest in the neuropsychiatric aspects of epilepsy, including psychological comorbidities. She is Editor-in-Chief of the Elsevier journal Neurophysiologie Clinique / Clinical Neurophysiology (NCCN), the official academic journal of the French Society of Clinical Neurophysiology. She is also an active member of the International League Against Epilepsy, helping translate epilepsy research into improved patient care worldwide.

Perminder Sachdev AM MBBS MD FRANZCP PhD FAHMS is Scientia Professor of Neuropsychiatry, Co-Director of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) in the School of Psychiatry at UNSW Sydney, and Clinical Director of the Neuropsychiatric Institute at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney, Australia. He is Deputy Chair of the Australian Dementia Network and Director of the Centre of Research Excellence in Vascular Contributions to Dementia.

His major areas of research include drug-induced movement disorders, brain imaging, cognitive ageing and dementia. He has published more than 900 peer-reviewed journal papers and six books, including The Yipping Tiger and Other Tales from the Neuropsychiatric Clinic and the poetry collection A Migrant’s Musings. He was named NSW Scientist of the Year for Biomedical Sciences in 2010 and appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2011 for services to medical research. In 2018, he received the DARF-Yulgilbar Innovation Award for dementia research, and in 2022 he was awarded the Ryman Prize for his significant contributions to the health of older people worldwide.

Position

• Professor of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg.
• Deputy Director of the University Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy.
• Head of the Section for Experimental Neuropsychiatry.

Fields of Special Clinical Interest

• Neurobiology and psychotherapy of neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism, ADHD, tic disorders and Gilles de la Tourette syndrome.
• Neurobiology and treatment of organic disorders and schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Fields of Research

• Differential diagnosis, neurobiology and differential treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism, ADHD and tic disorders.
• Diagnosis and treatment of immunological encephalopathy and other organic variants of psychotic, affective and schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.
• Methodological focus on neuroimaging, neuroinflammation and visual neuroscience.
• Theoretical medicine and philosophy, including the psychobiology of perception, thinking, emotion and behaviour, free will and the intentional structure of metacognition.

Academic Achievements and Awards

• Scholarship of the Cusanuswerk, 1989–1995.
• Dissertation at the University Clinic Freiburg titled Neurobiology and Psychology of Depression, 1992–1995.
• Scholarship of the German Academic Exchange Service and studies at the University of Manchester, 1991–1992.
• Research scholarship of the Scientific Society of the University of Freiburg at the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, UCL, London, 1997–1998.
• Raymond Way Neuropsychiatry Research Funds postdoctoral scholarship at the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, UCL, London, 1997–1998.
• Gerok Scholarship of the University of Freiburg to establish a neuroimaging research laboratory in psychiatry, 1998.
• Award of the British Neuropsychiatry Association, February 2000.
• Wilhelm Griesinger Award of the Berlin Society for Neurology and Psychiatry, 2002.
• Habilitation in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy on the pathophysiology of the amygdala and related frontobasal circuits in impulsive and emotionally unstable syndromes, 2004.
• Included on the list for Biological Psychiatry at Humboldt University Berlin, 2004.
• Offered a C3 Professorship in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf in 2005, which he declined.
• Offered the Chair of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at Christian Albrechts University of Kiel in 2014, which he declined.

Dr Niraj Ahuja is a Consultant Psychiatrist in General Adult Psychiatry and holds MBBS, MD, FRCPsych and PG Cert ClinRes qualifications. He works with the Regional Affective Disorders Service (RADS), a tertiary mood disorder service based at the Campus for Ageing and Vitality (CAV) in Newcastle.

He is also Block Lead for fourth-year medical students at Sunderland Medical School. His areas of interest include mood disorders, including bipolar disorder and depression, as well as catatonia and psychopharmacology.

Background

Dr Carson graduated in Medicine from the University of Edinburgh in 1991 and completed his basic psychiatry training at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital. Following six months as a Wellcome Research Fellow examining the cognitive effects of HIV infection in a Kenyan population, he became a Lecturer and Honorary Senior Registrar in Psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh.

During this time, he developed his interest in neuropsychiatry and trained under Professor Michael Sharpe, Professor David Owens and Professor Charles Warlow. He was subsequently appointed Consultant Neuropsychiatrist to Rehabilitation Medicine at the Astley Ainslie Hospital and to the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the Western General Hospital. He was also an original grant holder for the development of the Scottish Mental Health Research Network.

Responsibilities and Affiliations

• Associate Editor of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.
• Former Director of the National Managed Clinical Network for Acquired Brain Injury.
• Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
• Member of the Board of Directors of the British Neuropsychiatry Association.
• Editorial Board Member of Brain Injury, the journal of the International Brain Injury Association.
• Co-editor of Handbook of Clinical Neurology: Functional Symptoms with Mark Hallett and Jon Stone.
• Executive Board Member of the Neuropsychiatry Section of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
• Royal College of Psychiatrists adviser on somatoform disorders for the DSM-5 and ICD-11 revisions.
• Chair of the Scottish Government writing group for General Practice Guidelines on CFS/ME.
• Former Chairman of the Scottish Head Injury Forum.
• Recipient of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ President’s Medal in 2017.

Jesús Ramírez-Bermúdez is a medical specialist in psychiatry and neuropsychiatry, having graduated from the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery (INNN) of Mexico. He currently works as a clinician and leads the Neuropsychiatry and Cognitive Neurology Program at the same institution. Dr Ramírez-Bermúdez also holds a Doctorate in Sciences from the National University of Mexico.

His research focuses on psychosis, catatonia, delirium and autoimmune encephalitis, integrating approaches from phenomenological psychopathology and cognitive neuropsychiatry. His work has received international recognition from the International Neuropsychiatric Association in Australia in 2006 and the International Conference on Bipolar Disorders in the United States in 2011.

Dr Ramírez-Bermúdez has authored academic books on the clinical and scientific principles of neuropsychiatry and the clinical application of brain imaging. He is also actively involved in scientific outreach, literature and cultural activities, and has published books combining creative essays, scientific thought and clinical narratives. He received the National Literary Essay Award from Mexico’s Institute of Fine Arts.

Dr Maria (Meritxell) Oto is a Consultant Neuropsychiatrist and Lead Clinician at the Scottish Epilepsy Centre in Glasgow, the only residential centre for the assessment and management of epilepsy in Scotland. She is also Lead Clinician for the Liaison Psychiatry Service in Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

Dr Oto has worked in the field of epilepsy for most of her career, initially at the Institute of Neurology in Glasgow and later at the Scottish Epilepsy Centre. She obtained her medical degree from the University of Barcelona and completed her specialist training in the UK. In 2010, she completed a PhD on the diagnosis and management of dissociative seizures, which remains one of her main research interests.

She is involved in teaching locally and nationally, including participation in the ILAE UK Registrars Epilepsy Teaching Weekend, and coordinates epilepsy training for intellectual disability trainees in Scotland.

Dr Oto is Chair of the Epilepsy Working Group and the Scottish representative of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Neuropsychiatry Faculty. She is also a member of the ILAE UK Council, a medical adviser to the charity Epilepsy Connections, and a member of the editorial board of the European journal Seizure.

Professor Shoumitro (Shoumi) Deb, MBBS, FRCPsych, MD, is a Visiting Clinical Professor of Neuropsychiatry in the Division of Brain Sciences, Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London. Previously, he was a substantive Clinical Professor of Neuropsychiatry at the University of Birmingham and a Senior Clinical Lecturer at Cardiff University and the University of Aberdeen.

His research interests include the neuropsychiatry of acquired brain injury, particularly apathy syndrome and aggressive behaviour following traumatic brain injury. His other interests include epilepsy, intellectual disabilities, dementia and Down syndrome. His current work examines the psychopharmacology of aggression in people with traumatic brain injury and adult neurodevelopmental disorders.

Professor Deb has also undertaken research involving advanced neuroimaging techniques, including VBM, DTI, fMRI, EEG-fMRI and MRS, particularly in relation to social cognitive impairment following traumatic brain injury.

He has more than 345 publications, including 12 books and over 60 book chapters, and has delivered more than 250 presentations at national and international conferences. His work has received funding from the UK Department of Health, NIHR, the Welsh Office of Research and Development, the Wellcome Trust and other charitable organisations.

He previously led a research and teaching team of more than 20 members at the University of Birmingham. He was Programme Director for the MSc in Psychological Medicine at Cardiff University and the MSc in Epilepsy at the University of Birmingham. He was also module coordinator for the MSc in Neuropsychiatry and Intellectual Disabilities at the University of Birmingham.

His research has involved patients and caregivers from the outset, contributing to improved quality of life and better services for patients and carers. His work has also been used as evidence in UK NICE and NIHR guidance.

Selected Research and Contributions

• The first comprehensive neuropsychiatric outcome study of adults with traumatic brain injury, published in 1999. View research
• Development of patient and carer-determined neurobehavioural and neurocognitive outcome measures for people with traumatic brain injury and their caregivers. View research
• A feasibility randomised controlled trial comparing risperidone with placebo for treating aggression in adults with traumatic brain injury. View research
• Leadership of national and international guidelines on the use of psychotropic medication for behaviours that challenge in adults with intellectual disabilities. View research
• The first comprehensive assessment of psychopathology in adults with intellectual disabilities and epilepsy. View research
• The first comprehensive assessment of psychiatric disorders in adults with intellectual disabilities. View research
• Development of the Dementia Screening Questionnaire for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities, translated into more than 24 languages and validated internationally. View research
• Development of freely available, accessible psychotropic medication information leaflets. View resource
• Development and update of European guidelines for the assessment and diagnosis of psychiatric disorders in adults with intellectual disabilities. View guidelines
• Development of SPECTROM, an online training resource for caregivers designed to help reduce the overmedication of people with intellectual disabilities. View resource
• Development of evidence-based practice guidelines for intellectual disabilities within the UK NHS.

Jane Alty is an Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Tasmania and a Neurologist at the Royal Hobart Hospital. She sub-specialises in cognitive neurology and movement disorders. She is also Director of the ISLAND Clinic in Tasmania, a state-wide service providing interdisciplinary cognitive assessment and diagnosis.

She is a lead investigator on the ISLAND Project, a 10-year public health initiative involving approximately 14,000 participants and focused on reducing dementia risk. Jane is also the elected Secretary of the Australasian Cognitive Neurological Association. Her research explores the use of artificial intelligence to detect the preclinical stages of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, with funding from the NHMRC and MRFF.

Jonathan Rogers is a Clinical Lecturer in the Division of Psychiatry at University College London. His research interests include catatonia, neuroimmunology, psychopharmacology and movement disorders more broadly.

He studied Medicine at the University of Cambridge and subsequently trained in Psychiatry as an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow at the Maudsley Hospital and King’s College London. He is currently a Specialty Registrar in Neuropsychiatry at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London.

His work has been widely reported in the media, and he has received awards from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the British Neuropsychiatry Association and the British Association for Psychopharmacology.

Vaughan Bell is Professor of Clinical Psychology and Cognitive Neuropsychiatry at University College London. He is also a neuropsychologist working across psychosis and neuropsychiatry services at the Maudsley Hospital in London.

He completed his PhD in the cognitive neuropsychiatry of psychosis before completing a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. He currently leads neuropsychology teaching on the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at UCL.

His research interests include secondary syndromes of psychosis and mental health outcomes associated with neurological disorders. He also frequently collaborates with colleagues in Latin America and is co-editor of the journal Cognitive Neuropsychiatry.

David L. Perez, MD, MMSc, FAAN, FANPA, FAPA, FANA, is board certified in Neurology, Psychiatry, and Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry. He is a full-time faculty member in the Mass General Brigham Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry. At Harvard Medical School, Dr Perez is an Associate Professor of Neurology and an Associate Professor of Psychiatry.

Dr Perez is Chief of the Mass General Brigham Division of Behavioral Neurology. He is also the Founding Director of the multidisciplinary Functional Neurological Disorder Unit and FND Research Group.

He has published more than 150 articles, primarily in functional neurological disorder, brain imaging research, behavioral neurology and neuropsychiatry. He has also co-edited two textbooks on functional neurological disorder, including a 32-chapter Springer textbook on functional movement disorders.

Dr Perez is affiliated with the MGH/HST Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging and the Center for Brain/Mind Medicine.

W. Curt LaFrance Jr., MD, MPH, FAAN, FANPA, DLFAPA, FAES is Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at Brown University Alpert Medical School and runs the neuropsychiatry and behavioral neurology clinic at Rhode Island Hospital. He is Director of the VA Mind Brain Program, Program Director for VA National Expert Consultation and Specialized Services Neuropsychiatry Clinic, and staff physician at the Providence VAMC. He studied at Wake Forest University, the Medical College of Georgia, and Brown University.

He trained in Brown’s combined neurology and psychiatry residency and is double boarded. He is the International League Against Epilepsy Neuropsychiatry Commission Chair and has chaired ILAE and American Epilepsy Society NES Task Forces. He has also served on the EFA and EFNE Professional Advisory Boards and received grants from EF, AES, Foundations, Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, and a NINDS K23 Award.

He trains clinicians across the country using distance supervision in neurobehavioral therapy, used for seizures, movement disorders, cognitive and somatic symptom disorders, based on a whole-person, integrative medicine biopsychosocial spiritual approach. His research focuses on developing new biomarkers and treatments for neuropsychiatric aspects of epilepsy, conversion and functional neurological disorders, and traumatic brain injury.

He is co-editor of Nonepileptic Seizures, 4th edition, and co-author of Taking Control of Your Seizures: Workbook and Taking Control of Your Seizures: Therapist Guide. A central goal of his work at Brown, nationally and internationally, has been to bridge neurology and psychiatry in both clinical practice and scientific research, and to dissolve arbitrary boundaries between the two fields.

Richard Davenport is a Consultant Neurologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Edinburgh, appointed in 1999. After graduating from the University of Nottingham in 1987, he completed general medical training in Stoke-on-Trent and moved to Edinburgh in 1992. Following a DM thesis in stroke, he spent a year in Western Australia as a senior neurology trainee before returning to Edinburgh as one of the last UK Senior Registrars. He works as a general neurologist and also runs first seizure, movement disorders and MND clinics.

He was elected to the Association of British Neurologists Council in 2009 and appointed Chair of its Training and Education Committee in 2010, serving until 2016. In 2019, he became ABN Meetings Secretary and was elected President-Elect in April 2021, completing his presidential term from 2023 to 2025.

He chaired the National Advisory Committee for Neurological Conditions in Scotland for three years from 2017 and served as Specialty Adviser to the Chief Medical Officer for Neurology from 2017 to 2023.

Reflecting his strong interest in education and training, he served for many years on the standard-setting boards for the MRCP Specialty Certificate Examination in Neurology. He was Secretary of the Neurology SCE Exam Board until 2022 and a member of the MRCP Part 1 Exam Board from 2017 to 2019.

He organises and chairs the annual Edinburgh Neurology Course and leads weekly teaching for local neurology trainees, including neurology book clubs. Outside neurology, he enjoys cycling and collecting art in Edinburgh.

Ennapadum S Krishnamoorthy is an international expert in behavioural neurology and neuropsychiatry with 29 years of clinical specialty experience. He is the Immediate Past President of the International Neuropsychiatric Association and has held multiple current and previous leadership roles across clinical science and academia.

Based in Chennai, India, he is also a healthcare entrepreneur, social impact leader, speaker, editor, writer and medical personality.

Sigita Plioplys, MD, is Head of the Pediatric Neuropsychiatry Program within the Pritzker Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and a consultant psychiatrist at the Epilepsy Center at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. She is also Professor of Psychiatry at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Her clinical expertise focuses on psychiatric disorders in children with neurological conditions, particularly epilepsy. She is an internationally recognised expert in pediatric psychogenic nonepileptic seizures and Functional Neurological Disorders. She has helped develop national and international educational, clinical and research initiatives supporting mental healthcare for children with FND.

Dr Plioplys has received private and federal research funding and has published consistently in pediatric neuropsychiatry for more than 25 years, particularly in the area of psychogenic nonepileptic seizures. She has authored or co-authored more than 50 articles and 12 book chapters, including the first case-controlled study examining risk factors for pediatric psychogenic nonepileptic seizures.

In 2024, she received the AACAP Simon Wile Award for Leadership in Pediatric Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. She has also held leadership roles as Co-Chair of the Physically Ill Child Committee at AACAP and within the PNES Committee of the American Epilepsy Society.

Dr Margo Lauterbach, MD, FANPA, DFAPA, is a neuropsychiatrist with experience in both clinical practice and academia. She is currently Director of the Concussion Clinic at Sheppard Pratt in Maryland, USA, and is also part of the research team at Sheppard Pratt’s Institute for Advanced Diagnostics and Therapeutics, where she contributes to research involving psychedelics.

Dr Lauterbach is board-certified in the subspecialty of Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry. She completed her medical degree at Flinders University of South Australia, followed by residency training and a neuropsychiatry fellowship at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

She is actively involved in several professional organisations, including the American Neuropsychiatric Association, where she currently serves as Treasurer, the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry’s Neuropsychiatry Committee, the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and the American College of Psychiatrists.

Her academic interests include traumatic brain injury, rare disorders, medical education, neurotoxicology and psychedelics. She has contributed to the field through teaching at all levels, numerous publications, research projects, and presentations at national and international conferences.