A Life Course Approach to Mental Disorders

Karestan C. Koenen, Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, USA,Sasha Rudenstine, Professor of Epidemiology and Psychiatry, Columbia University Epidemiology Merit Fellow, USA,Ezra Susser, Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, and New York State Psychiatric Institute, USA,Sandro Galea, Gelman Professor and Chair, Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, USA

Dr Koenen is a licensed clinical psychologist and epidemiologist who uses a life course epidemiologic approach to examine the interplay of genetic and environmental factors in the production of stress-related mental disorders. In particular, her work has sought to identify the determinants of stress-related mental disorders at multiple levels - from describing the social patterning of trauma exposure to examining the molecular mechanisms underlying disorder etiology. She has published over 150 scientific papers and is currently President of the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies.

Sasha Rudenstine is an early-career investigator. She is interested in how genetic and environmental factors affect the manifestation of psychopathology over the life course and in how determinants at multiple levels - individual, network, and community - influence the prevalence, trajectories, and treatment of mental disorders globally. She received her B.A. from Haverford College and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from City University of New York, USA.

Ezra Susser is Professor of Epidemiology and Psychiatry at Columbia University. He is Director of the Imprints Center for Genetic and Environmental Lifecourse Studies, and co-founder of the Global Mental Health Program at Columbia University. Much of his work has focused on neurodevelopmental disorders (ND) across the life course, including but not limited to autism and schizophrenia. He has studied early origins and prevention of ND, cross cultural differences in incidence and course of ND, improvement of mental health research and services for individuals with ND in low- and middle-income countries, and improvement of services for the most disadvantaged individuals with ND in high-income settings such as New York City. He is lead author of the only contemporary textbook (i.e. not edited chapters) on psychiatric epidemiology; won the 2011 Rema LaPousse Award for outstanding contributions in psychiatric epidemiology; and was in 2012 President of the American Psychopathological Association.

Dr Galea is a physician and an epidemiologist. He is the Anna Cheskis Gelman and Murray Charles Gelman Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Dr Galea's research program seeks to uncover how determinants at multiple levels including policies, features of the social environment, and genetic factors-jointly influence the health of urban populations. His work has documented the mental health consequences of mass trauma and conflict worldwide, including Hurricane Katrina, and the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dr Galea has published more than 400 scientific journal articles, 50 chapters and commentaries, and 7 books. Dr Galea serves as chair of the Community Services Board of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and on the New York City Health Board. He is also president of the Society for Epidemiologic Research and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science.

Ananda B. Amstadter
Department of Psychiatry
Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics
Richmond, USA

Andrew E. Skodol
New York State Psychiatric Institute
and Department of Psychiatry
University of Arizona College of Medicine
Arizona, USA

Arijit Nandi
Institute for Health and Social Policy and
The Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and
Occupational Health
McGill University
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Lauren Welsh
McGill University
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Ashley Winning
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Harvard School of Public Health
Harvard University
Boston, USA

Bekh Bradley
Atlanta VA Medical Center and
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Emory University School of Medicine
Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Candice L. Odgers
Center for Child and Family Policy
Sanford School of Public Policy
Duke University
North Carolina, USA

Charles A. Nelson, III
Boston Children's Hospital
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Center on the Developing Child
Boston, USA

Charley Liu
Department of Epidemiology
Columbia University
New York, USA

Clyde Hertzman
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, Canada

Cynthia M. Bulik
Departments of Psychiatry and Nutrition
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, USA

Michaeline Bresnahan
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University and
New York State Psychiatric Institute
New York, USA

Dan J. Stein
Department of Psychiatry
University of Cape Town
Cape Town, South Africa

Demetris Pillas
National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit
University of Oxford
Oxford, UK

Elisabeth B. Binder
Max-Planck Institute of Psychiatry
Munich, Germany and
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Emory University School of Medicine
Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Ezra Susser
Departments of Epidemiology and Psychiatry
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University and
New York State Psychiatric Institute
New York, USA

Golam M. Khandaker
Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Fellow
Department of Psychiatry
University of Cambridge
Cambridge, UK

Hannah Leslie
Division of Epidemiology
School of Public Health
University of California Berkeley
California, USA

Ian Colman
Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine
University of Ottawa
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Jennifer Ahern
Division of Epidemiology
School of Public Health
University of California, Berkeley
California, USA

Jessica Agnew-Blais
School of Public Health
Harvard University
Boston, MA, USA

Jessica Daniel
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Harvard School of Public Health
Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Karen S. Mitchell
Women's Health Sciences Division
National Center for PTSD
VA Boston Healthcare System and
Department of Psychiatry
Boston University
Massachusetts, USA

Karestan C. Koenen
Department of Epidemiology
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
New York, USA

Katherine Keyes
Department of Epidemiology
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
New York, USA

Katie A. McLaughlin
Boston Children's Hospital
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Center on the Developing Child
Boston, USA

Katja Beesdo-Baum
Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy and
Technische Universität Dresden
Dresden, Germany

Kelcey Stratton
Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center
and Department of Psychology
Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, USA

Kelly Skelton
Atlanta VA Medical Center and
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Emory University School of Medicine
Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Kerry Ressler
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Emory University School of Medicine and
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Maryland, USA

Kiyuri Naicker
Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine
University of Ottawa
Ontario, Canada

Larry J. Seidman
Director
Commonwealth Research Center,
Massachusetts Mental Health Center Public Psychiatry Division
of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and
Department of Psychiatry
Harvard Medical School
Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Laura D. Kubzansky
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Harvard School of Public Health
Harvard University
Boston, USA

Lauren M. McGrath
Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit
Center for Human Genetic Research
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Marcus Richards
MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing
London, UK

Leah Li
University College London
Institute of Child Health
London, UK

Leslie Hulvershorn
Department of Psychiatry
Indiana University School of Medicine
Indianapolis, USA

John Nurnberger Jr.
Institute of Psychiatric Research
Departments of Psychiatry and Medical and Molecular Genetics
Indiana University School of Medicine
Indianapolis, USA

Levent Sipahi
Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics
Wayne State University
Detroit, Michigan, USA

Margaret A. Sheridan
Boston Children's Hospital
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Center on the Developing Child
Boston, USA

Mary Cannon
Associate Professor
Department of Psychiatry
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and
Consultant Psychiatrist
Beaumont Hospital
Dublin, Ireland

Mary Clarke
Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
Dublin, Ireland

Mary E. Lacy
Department of Epidemiology
Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Monica Uddin
Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences
Wayne State University
Detroit, Michigan, USA

Myrna M Weissman
Department of Psychiatry
Columbia University College of Physician and Surgeons and
Department of Epidemiology
Mailman School of Public Health
New York State Psychiatric Institute
New York, USA

Nicole R. Nugent
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior
Brown Medical School and
Department of Psychiatry
Rhode Island Hospital
Providence, USA

Pam Factor-Litvak
Department of Epidemiology
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
New York, USA

Elise B. Robinson
Department of Epidemiology
Harvard School of Public Health
Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Patricia Cohen
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
New York, USA

Peter B. Jones
Professor of Psychiatry
University of Cambridge
Cambridge, UK

Renee D. Goodwin
Department of Psychology
Queens College and The Graduate Center
City University of New York (CUNY) and
Department of Epidemiology
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
New York, USA

Ruth Brown
Department of Psychiatry
Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics
Richmond, USA

Sandro Galea
Gelman Professor and Chair
Department of Epidemiology
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
New York, USA

Sara R. Jaffee
University of Pennsylvania, USA and
King's College London, UK

Sasha Rudenstine
Department of Epidemiology
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
New York, USA

Stephen E. Gilman
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
and Department of Epidemiology
Harvard School of Public Health and
Department of Psychiatry
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Stephen L Buka
Department of Epidemiology
Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Susan L. Santangelo
Department of Epidemiology
Harvard School of Public Health
Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Susanne Knappe
Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy and
Center of Clinical Epidemiology and Longitudinal Studies (CELOS)
Technische Universitaet Dresden
Dresden, Germany

Traolach Brugha
Department of Health Sciences
University of Leicester, UK

Virginia Warner
New York State Psychiatric Institute
New York, USA