The 30th APSAD conference features an exciting breadth of international and national keynote speakers. These will be announced as confirmations are received.
Professor Ernest Drucker
Ernest Drucker is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Family and Social Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health; and Senior Research Associate and Scholar in Residence at John Jay College Criminal Justice of The City University of NY. He is licensed as a Clinical Psychologist in NY State and conducts research in AIDS, drug policy and prisons and is active in public health and human rights efforts in the US and abroad. For 25 years (1980 – 2005) Dr Drucker was Director of the Division of Public Health and Policy Research at Montefiore/Einstein. He founded Montefiore’s 1000 patient drug treatment program in 1970 and served as its Director until 1990. He has been an NIH funded principal investigator since 1991 and is author of over 100 peer reviewed scientific articles, texts and book chapters. He was founding Associate Editor of The International Journal of Drug Policy; founder and Editor in Chief (with John Booth Davies) of Addiction Research and Theory (1993- 2005); and is the founding Editor in Chief of the open access Harm Reduction Journal. Dr Drucker is a founder (in 1994) and Honoured Life Member of the International Harm Reduction Association; and a founder and Chairman of the Board of Doctors of the World/USA (1993- 1997), affiliated with Medicins du Monde, France. He was a Fellow of the Lindesmith Center at the Open Society Institute and is a senior Soros Justice Fellow. He is now completing a book for The New Press – A Plague of Prisons: The Epidemiology of Mass Incarceration in America, to be published September 2010.
Professor Elizabeth Elliott AM
Elizabeth Elliott AM is Professor in Paediatrics and Child Health at The University of Sydney; Consultant Paediatrician at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Director of The Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit (APSU) and an NHMRC Practitioner Fellow. She is involved in diagnosis/management, research and teaching regarding Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). She was a member of The Royal Australasian College of Physician’s Alcohol Policy Working Party; the Intergovernmental Committee on Drugs Working Party on FASD; and the National Health and Medical Research Council Review of the Australian Alcohol guidelines Working Committee. Her research relating to FASD includes a national surveillance study of fetal alcohol syndrome; surveys of health professionals regarding their knowledge of and attitudes to alcohol use in pregnancy and FASD; an international audit of diagnostic services for FASD; a review of interventions for FASD; a review of international policy regarding alcohol use in pregnancy; a study to develop educational materials for health professionals; a national survey of women’s knowledge and attitudes regarding alcohol use in pregnancy; and a review of the literature relating to animal and cell culture models evaluating the effect of alcohol on the fetus. She is a chief investigator on Marulu, a FASD prevalence study in the Fitzroy Valley, WA. Elizabeth was awarded an AM in 2008 for services to paediatrics and child health.
Dr Hendree Jones
Hendree Jones, PhD received her doctorate in Psychology from the Virginia Commonwealth University in 1997 and then completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) School of Medicine. Dr Jones, a licensed psychologist in the state of Maryland, is currently a full Professor in both the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) School of Medicine. As part of her duties, Dr Jones is the Director of Research for the Center for Addiction and Pregnancy and the Executive Program Director of Cornerstone, an aftercare program for detoxified heroin dependent patients. Dr Jones is currently on sabbatical from JHU and working as a Senior Research Psychologist at Research Triangle Institute International. Since 1994, Dr Jones has been continuously funded by NIDA as a principal investigator designing and leading studies that focus on the in utero exposure to abused substances. Among her many research interests, she is best known for her work developing of both behavioral and pharmacologic treatments for drug dependent pregnant women. A recent example of her spearheading collaborative efforts with colleagues in the field is Dr Jones’ leading the NIDA funded Maternal Opioid Treatment Human Experimental Research (MOTHER) study, a multi-site randomised clinical trial comparing the maternal and neonatal safety and efficacy of methadone and buprenorphine. Dr Jones has published over 80 peer-reviewed publications, several book chapters, editorial letters and non-peer reviewed articles for clinicians. Dr Jones has served on numerous review panels for National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Institute of Medicine. She has held multiple leadership positions within Division 28 of the American Psychological Association (APA) (currently President for 2010). She is a member of the College on the Problems of Drug Dependence and a Fellow with both the Maryland Psychological Association and the national APA. She currently serves on several editorials board for peer-reviewed journals in the field of addiction.
Professor Alexander (Sandy) McFarlane
Professor Sandy McFarlane is currently the Head of the University of Adelaide Node of the Centre of Military and Veterans Health. He is an international expert in the field of the impact of disasters and post traumatic stress disorder. He is a Past President of both the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and the Australasian Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. He is the recipient for the Robert Laufer Award for outstanding scientific achievement in the study of the effects of traumatic stress. Professor McFarlane is currently the Senior Adviser in Psychiatry to the Australian Defence Force and the Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health. He holds the rank of Group Captain in the RAAF specialist reserve. He has acted as an advisor to many groups in post disaster situations, including the Kuwait Government and the United Nations. He has lectured and run workshops in Europe, United States of America, Asia and South Africa. Apart from his interest in post traumatic stress disorder in relation to disaster victims, military personnel and other civilian accidents, Professor McFarlane has broadened the relevance of this knowledge to the area of those suffering severe mental illness. His research has focused on the epidemiology and longitudinal course of PTSD as well as the neuro-imaging of the cognitive deficits in this disorder. Professor McFarlane has published over 200 articles and chapters in various refereed journals and has co-edited three books. He is a member of several international advisory boards in the field of traumatic stress. He frequently appears in the media as a commentator on the impact of war and disaster.
Dr Vladimir Poznyak
Vladimir B. Poznyak is a Coordinator of Management of Substance Abuse Team at the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse of the World Health Organization (WHO) Headquarters in Geneva. In this capacity he is responsible for coordination of normative, research and country support activities on alcohol, drugs and other psychoactive substances in WHO. During the last several years Dr Poznyak has coordinated the WHO global activities on public health problems caused by harmful use of alcohol, including the development of a draft global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol and building up the WHO Global Information System on Alcohol and Health (GISAH). Prior to his current position Dr Poznyak served as a Medical Officer at the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse with main responsibilities in the areas of management of alcohol and drug use disorders and international research on substance use and health. In WHO Dr Poznyak coordinated several large international research projects, including the WHO international studies on alcohol and injuries, injection drug use, treatment of opioid dependence and HIV/AIDS. Before joining the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse in Geneva in 2000, Dr Poznyak contributed to WHO activities on alcohol and drugs at the WHO Regional Office for Europe in Copenhagen. Dr Poznyak received his MD degree from Belarussian State Medical University in Minsk and had been trained and certified as a psychiatrist. After extensive clinical experience in different areas of clinical psychiatry Dr Poznyak focused his research on substance abuse and alcohol use disorders. He received PhD degree from the All-Union Research Institute of Medical and Biological Problems of Addictions in Moscow. After starting his academic career at the Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology of Belarussian State Medical University, Dr Poznyak successfully combined clinical, research and teaching responsibilities with international activities in his capacity as a national coordinator of several large international projects in the areas of mental health and substance abuse. Dr Poznyak was one of the founders of the first professional journal of Belarussian psychiatrists as well as its first Editor-in-Chief. He was a founder and first chair of the Section of Addictions of Belarussian Psychiatric Association, and also served as an adviser to the Ministry of Health on issues related to substance abuse. Before joining WHO Dr Poznyak held a position of Associate Professor of Psychiatry and a Head of Social and Clinical Psychiatry Research Unit at the Belarussian State Medical University.
Emeritus Professor Lloyd Sansom AO
Professor Sansom graduated in pharmacy in 1962 and completed his PhD in Biophysical Chemistry at the University of Adelaide in 1972. He retired in 2000 as the Head of the School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences at the University of South Australia. He was appointed the Chair of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee in January 2001 having been the Chair of the Australian Pharmaceutical Advisory Council since 1991. Professor Sansom has been involved in the development of Australia’s National Medicines Policy. He holds the title of Emeritus Professor at the University of South Australia and has received honorary Doctorates from the University of Queensland, University of Newcastle and Griffith University. His research interests are in the areas of pharmacokinetics, biopharmaceutics and the Quality Use of Medicines. In 2002 Professor Sansom was made an Officer in the Order of Australia for contributions to the development of national pharmaceutical policy.
