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Oliver Chadwick PhD C Psychol

Senior Lecturer in Child Psychology

Oliver Chadwick trained in clinical psychology and research before specialising in child psychology. He has had a long standing interest in child neuropsychology and was one of the first to systematically investigate the effects of head injury on children’s cognitive and behavioural development. He now specialises in child learning disability and the assessment and treatment of challenging behaviour in children with learning disability. Often these children also suffer from autism spectrum disorders. He works closely with other members of the learning disability and autism and related disorders team in providing an expert national assessment and treatment service.

Tony Charman BA,MSc, C. Clin. Psychol), PhD

Reader in Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Tony Charman read Natural Sciences at Cambridge University before completing his clinical psychology training and a PhD at the Institute of Psychiatry. He was then a Lecturer in Clinical Psychology in the Psychology Department, University College London before moving to the Behavioural & Brain Sciences Unit at the Institute of Child Health, University College London in 1998. He is an Honorary Clinical Psychologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust where he works in a diagnostic service for children with complex neurodevelopmental conditions. His main research interest is the investigation of early social cognitive development in children with autism and the clinical application of this work via screening, early intervention and epidemiological studies. His work is funded by the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, the Department of Health and a number of UK and USA charities. He is an Associate Editor of Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders and is on the Editorial Board of Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice and The British Journal of Developmental Psychology. In 2003 he served on the NIH/NIMH Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee Science Panel. He is a scientific member of the Advisory Group to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism and has recently been invited to become a member of the 'College of Experts' for the Medical Research Council (Mental Health and Neuroscience Board)

Ian Craig PhD

Professor of Molecular Genetics

Ian Craig worked for many years in the Genetics Unit at the Department of Biochemistry at Oxford University and was appointed to the titular post of Professor in Genetics in 1997. His main research interests in Oxford have been in human gene mapping and genetic defects affecting eyes and kidney making use of molecular strategies to isolate genes implicated in both types of disorder. In 1972, he was appointed a Fellow of St Catherine's College, Oxford, where he is currently Tutorial Fellow in Human Sciences. He has also held positions at St Catherine's College as Senior Tutor and Domestic Bursar. He was seconded from his University post to the Institute of Psychiatry, London in 1998, for an initial period of five years. He is currently Head of Molecular Genetics within the MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry, where he is involved in molecular genetic analysis of behavioural and developmental disorders. He has particular interests in the inactivation and potential imprinting of the X chromosome and the contribution of the sex chromosomes to behaviour. His participation in human gene mapping have resulted in his involvement in the development of the Genome Database, GDB, as a Chromosome Editor and, most recently, through election to the Human Genome Organisation, HUGO, Council.

Sarah Curran MB BCh BAO MRCP (paeds) MRCPsych PhD

Senior Lecturer in Behaviour Genetics

Sarah Curran studied medicine at Cork University and following qualification trained in paediatrics. She obtained her membership exam in paediatrics before moving to the UK where she trained in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. She was awarded a Wellcome trust training fellowship to study the genetic risk factors for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and following completion of her research training was appointed Senior Lecturer and honorary consultant in Behaviour Genetics. She has extended her interest to include research into the genetic and brain basis of autism spectrum disorders and has been focussing on an examination of the role of serotonin and GABA pathways in the pathophysiology of the neurodevelopmental abnormalities associated with autism. She runs a national specialist clinical services for young people with autism and learning disabilities and is focussing on developing services to help with transition from child to adult services.

Katingo Giannoulis PhD MSc CPsychol AFBPsS

Consultant Clinical psychologist

Katingo Giannoulis has been working in the area of Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) for the past 9 years. Prior to specialising in ASD, she worked in a paediatric community child development team and has also worked with adults with learning difficulties. Her role in the current Autism and Related Disorders team at the MRC includes providing specialist neurocognitive assessments of the young people referred to our Service. She is particularly interested in developing and adapting the cognitive-behaviour model of therapy for use with people with ASD who also have co-morbid mental health problems (e.g. depression, anxiety, panic disorder, fears and phobias etc.) She has been actively involved in organising and running group treatments for young people with ASD, including social skills training and, more recently, has developed a group treatment initiative for boys with ASD who are bullied in school. This is currently being evaluated. She offers consultation to colleagues working in the borough teams and runs a regular PDD specialist supervision group for psychologists working in them; this is a forum whereby recent research and clinical developments within ASD are discussed and psychologist colleagues can present cases for discussion and consultation.

Robert Goodman PhD FRCPsyc

Professor of Brain and Behaviour

Robert Goodman trained in medicine at Cambridge and then paediatric neurology at Great Ormond Street before training in child psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry and Maudsley Hospital. After a period as Senior Lecturer in the department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Institute he was appointed Professor of Brain and Behaviour. His research has focussed on studying the nature of psychopathology in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy and the epidemiology and risk factors for childhood psychiatric disorders. In order to pursue these interests, he has developed a set of research instruments for epidemiological research in child psychiatry and used these in the UK Department of Health’s survey of 10,000 households. As part of this work he has published on the prevalence of autism spectrum and related disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorders and hyperkinesis. He is currently developing methods for assessment and diagnosis of autism for large-scale population surveys using on-line, semi-automated internet technologies.