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Robert Plomin PhD

Professor of Developmental Psychology and Deputy Director of the MRC SGDP centre

Robert Plomin is professor of behavioural genetics at the Institute of Psychiatry, where he is deputy director of the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research at the Institute. Robert is currently conducting a study of all twins born in England during the period 1994 to 1996, focussing on developmental delays in early childhood and their association with behavioral problems. After receiving his doctorate in Psychology from the University of Texas, Austin, in 1974, he worked at the Institute for Behavioral Genetics at the University of Colorado, Boulder. From 1986 until 1994 he worked at Pennsylvania State University studying elderly twins reared apart and twins reared together to study aging, and developing mouse models to identify genes in complex behavioral systems. His current interest is in harnessing the power of molecular genetics to identify genes for psychological traits and developmental disorders, including autism. He has been president of the Behavior Genetic Association.

John Powell BA DPhil

Reader in Genetics

After completing a PhD in Genetics in Oxford, John Powell gained postdoctoral experience in anatomical neuroscience with Professor David Smith in the University Department of Pharmacology at Oxford. Subsequently, he received training in molecular neuroscience with Professor Jacques Mallet in France and Professor Xandra Breakefield then at Yale University Medical School. He joined the Department of Neuroscience at the Institute of Psychiatry in 1989 and has concentrated on the molecular genetics of Neurological and Psychiatric disease. He is now Reader in Genetics in the Departments of Psychological Medicine and Neuroscience at the Institute of Psychiatry.

Jenny Ronayne

Mental Health Worker

Jenny Ronayne is the mental health worker on the autism spectrum disorders service. She is herself a parent of a child with autism and has a special understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of children with autism spectrum disorders and the challenges parents face in raising children with special needs. Her role on the team is help parents access appropriate educational and social care provision. She also organises and runs a three-day psycho-educational course for parents. The course outlines the nature and causes of autism and describes various approaches to treatment. More recently she has developed a web-based package of information and guidance for parents and families.

Katya Rubia PhD

Reader in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

Katya Rubia gained her PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at Munich University, Germany. She subsequently joined the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry and was appointed senior lecturer in 1999. Her research has focused on delineating neuropsychological deficits in children with developmental disorders and the associated neurophysiological abnormalities using functional and structural MRI and by extension, the neural substrates of normative development of executive functions. The main current interest is the investigation of the neurophysiological substrates of normal and abnormal development by comparing children and adults in the normal population and within specific childhood disorders. A second important aim is the comparison of the neurophysiological substrates underlying specific childhood disorders using functional and structural imaging. Current between and within patient comparisons include adult and childhood autism, adult and childhood ADHD, adult and childhood obsessive-compulsive disorders, adolescent conduct disorder and adolescent depression.

Michael Rutter FRS

Michael Rutter completed his basic medical education at the University of Birmingham, England, qualifying in 1955. After taking residencies in internal medicine, neurology and paediatrics, he proceeded to the Maudsley Hospital, London, for training in general psychiatry and then child psychiatry. He spent the 1961/62 year on a research Fellowship studying child development at the Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, returning then to work in the Medical Research Council Social Psychiatry Research Unit. In 1965 he took an academic position at the University of London's Institute of Psychiatry where he has remained ever since, becoming Professor of Child Psychiatry, and Head of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in 1973 (until 1995). During the academic year 1979-80 he was a Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, California. In July 1984 he was appointed Honorary Director of the newly established Medical Research Council Child Psychiatry Unit, based at the Institute of Psychiatry (until September 1998). In 1994, the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre was established at the Institute of Psychiatry and he was appointed Honorary Director (until September 1998), and Professor of Developmental Psychopathology from October 1998. He has had a long and distinguished track record in research into the causes, assessment, diagnosis and treatment of child psychiatric disorders especially autism.

Pak Sham BA BM Bch MSc MA MRCPsych

Professor of Statistical and Psychiatric Genetics

Pak studied medicine in Cambridge and Oxford and then trained in psychiatry at the Maudsley and Institute of Psychiatry. Following his training in psychiatry he went on to do a masters degree in applied statistics at the Applied Statistics and Operational Research Unit, London. He is internationally renowned for his contributions to statistical genetics, particularly as applied to complex psychiatric disorders. He provides support and advice to various studies in the Centre for Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychology and the Institute more broadly. This includes several projects on autism and related disorders.

Emily Simonoff BA MD FRCPsych

Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Emily Simonoff studied psychology and social relations and then medicine at Harvard University. After qualification she moved from the US to the Maudsley Hospital and MRC Child Psychiatry Unit in UK, where she trained in general and child psychiatry. She spent a year on a training fellowship in the Department of Human Genetics in the Medical College of Virginia and following her training was appointed as Senior MRC Scientists in child psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry. She was appointed Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Guy’s Kings and St Thomas’s Hospital Medical school in 1998 and following the merger between GKT and the Institute of Psychiatry in 2004, became a Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Institute. She has special expertise in psychiatric genetics and was one of the investigators in the UK national twin study of autism. She has continued her interest in autism research as one of the Principle Investigators on a Wellcome Trust funded research study on the prevalence and causes of autism and is also supported by NAAR to undertake immunological investigations in autism. She has extended her interest to include learning disabilities and ADHD and currently holds a major award to investigate the efficacy of drug treatments for hyperactivity in children with learning disabilities.

Vicky Slonims PhD

Speech and Language Pathologist

Dr Vicky Slonims qualified as a speech and language therapist in 1982 and maintained a wide range of interests working initially with children in health centres, school settings (SLD and MLD schools) and for a long period as a domiciliary therapist visiting mothers and newly diagnosed babies. She has taught on undergraduate speech and language therapy courses and regularly provides postgraduate courses at NHCSS and the Institute of Child Health. She regularly contributes to the post-diagnosis courses for parents of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders at the Institute of Psychiatry. Vicky is a trainer for the National Children’s Bureau providing training for early years workers in the voluntary, statutory and private sectors. Her thesis was on the interaction between mothers and their infants with Down syndrome and she continues to provide training on working with preverbal children. Vicky is the Speech and Language Therapy advisor to the UK Rett Association and she has an interest in the communication needs of individuals with PMLD. She currently has a post as Research Fellow at Kings College, London involved in a multi-centre study into the genetic component of developmental language disorders. Other research interests include early intervention to improve communication and behavioural management in children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders and educational/treatment strategies for supporting the social development of adolescents and children with Asperger syndrome. Vicky works at Guy’s Hospital in the assessment service for children with complex needs, particularly in the assessment and management of children with learning difficulties, communication disorders and autistic spectrum disorders. Vicky is a trainer for the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-G) and is currently organising this year’s London course. Vicky has recently been invited to become a member of the Scientific and Advisory Committee of the Autism Intervention Research Trust for the National Autistic Society.