Location: Berg Family Foundation Seminar Room (Kirby Institute) Level 6, Wallace Wurth Building, Kensington Campus, UNSW Sydney
Date and Time: Wednesday 28 August 2019, 4-5 pm
Refreshments will be served.
Registration is not required.
Is it time to look beyond the brain for answers about the causes and treatment of mental disorder?
The relationship between the mental and the physical has a storied and contentious history, both in the philosophy of science and in understanding the nature and role of medicine.
In recent times, the biomedical model has dominated inquiry into the causes of mental illness, in search of brain-based pathology. Yet, despite rapid advances in neuroscience, epi/genetics, and neurodevelopment, there remains no single identifiable biomarker for any mental disorder.
UNSW School of Psychiatry presents this topical debate as part of their academic forums, where leading clinical academics will ask this and other questions in relation to the nature of mental illness. This promises to be a session of the highest calibre.
Speaking for: Professor Gin Malhi
Speaking against: Professor Zachary Steel
Moderator: Dr Iain Perkes
Experts
Professor Gin S Malhi is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Sydney and the Executive and Clinical Director of the CADE Clinic based at Royal North Shore Hospital. He has published more than 500 papers and attracted research funding from the NHMRC, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, ARC and Australian Rotary Health to investigate the neurobiology of Mood Disorders and Suicide. He is the Editor of ANZJP and Co-editor of Bipolar Disorders and in 2018 he was recognised in the top 1% of Highly Cited Researchers worldwide.
Professor Zachary Steel holds the St John of God Chair of Trauma and Mental Health a partnership between Richmond Hospital, the School of Psychiatry UNSW and the Black Dog Institute. He has undertaken research and clinical work with trauma-affected communities in Australia including refugees, asylum seekers, aboriginal communities, veterans, police and emergency service workers and in the Asia-Pacific Region. In 2014 he co-authored the UNSW Best Practice Guidelines for Managing and. Understanding Psychological Issues Among Refugee Applicants. In 2017 he assisted UNHCR in developing the Guidance Note on the Psychologically Vulnerable Applicant in the Protection Visa Assessment Process.
