Speakers

The theme of the conference this year is PHYSICAL HEALTH AND SCHIZOPHRENIA.
This was chosen with a lot of deliberation. Physical health in persons with Schizophrenia often gets neglected, especially when there are other issues that catch clinical attention. We have three renowned speakers who have several decades of research behind them to speak on this very important subject.

Dr John McGrath M.D , PhD

A concise update on comorbidity in mental disorders

Director, Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research
Niels Bohr Professor, Aarhus University
Conjoint Professor, Queensland Brain Institute

The University of Queensland

Dr. John McGrath is a psychiatrist interested in discovering the causes of serious mental disorders. His research aims to generate and evaluate non-genetic risk factors for schizophrenia. Dr. McGrath has forged productive cross-disciplinary collaborations linking risk-factor epidemiology with developmental neurobiology. Dr. John McGrath has won the 2019 Lieber Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Schizophrenia Research.

Dr. Fiona Gaughran, M.D, PhD

Psychosis, Physical Health and Pandemic?

Fiona Gaughran (MD, FRCPI, FRCP, FRCPE, FRCPsych) is a Professor in Physical Health and Clinical Therapeutics in Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King’s College London and the Director of Research and Development at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, where she is the Lead Consultant for the National Psychosis Service. Professor Gaughran holds fellowships of the Royal Colleges of Physicians in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin and the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

As part of her clinical role, Professor Gaughran is responsible for implementing new, evidence-based approaches to help people who have psychotic illnesses that have been resistant to treatment. Her research interests are largely focused on the interface between physical health and severe mental illness and on the management of psychosis. She recently co-edited books on “Treatment Refractory Schizophrenia” and “The Maudsley Practice Guidelines for Physical Health in Psychiatry”. Professor Gaughran was named in the Web of Science “Highly-cited” list for 2020 reflecting multiple papers ranking in the top 1% by citations for their field.

Dr. G. Venkatasubramanian, M.D, PhD

Insulin & Schizophrenia: Current Clinical & Neurobiological Perspectives

Dr. Ganesan Venkatasubramanian is an Indian psychiatrist and clinician-scientist who works as a professor of psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore (NIMHANS). Venkatasubramanian is known for his studies in the fields of schizophrenia, transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), brain imaging, neuroimmunology, neurometabolic and several other areas of biological psychiatry. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to medical sciences in 2018.

Young Researcher Award
(31st, July 2021)

Researchers less than 35 years of age can apply for this award which enables you to show case to a large audience your research efforts. The award includes a Certificate and Cash Prize.

Apply Online

Full paper, the application form and an identity proof must be completed and submitted ONLINE by the 5th July 2021 APPLICATION FOR AWARD YOUNG MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS – vIConS 2021. Your paper must be named as follows: YourInitials_2021_YRAPaper.pdf

Evaluation process

The papers will be sent to external judges, who will evaluate the written papers and shortlist candidates for oral presentations. The selection by the judges will be final. Oral presentations will be made by the winners at the virtual conference

Oral presentations made at the conference will be evaluated

Marks obtained for the written and the oral papers will be consolidated to identify the Best Two Young Researchers.

Eligibility Criteria

The work should be original research and it should not have been published anywhere (fully or in part)

You should be less than 35 years in age – proof of age needs to be submitted (scanned copy of a government identification to be uploaded, file named as (Your initial_2020_ID)

You should have been the main researcher involved in the work that you are presenting

You MUST BE A REGISTERED DELEGATE FOR THE CONFERENCE, if the paper has to be considered for the award

Submission Criteria:

Your research submission should follow the guidelines of Indian journal of psychiatry

The Third Dr.Sarada Menon Oration by Dr. Kim Mueser, University of Boston, USA

In 2018, we had initiated the Dr. Sarada Menon Oration to honour Padma Bhushan, Dr M Sarada Menon -Founder of SCARF. One of the very early women psychiatrists in India, she has been instrumental in bringing visibility to Psychosocial Rehabilitation for persons with Serious Mental illness. After having introduced many reforms in the Madras Mental Hospital (Now Institute of Mental Health, Chennai) for close to two decades, she founded SCARF with many like-minded individuals in 1984. A committed and passionate teacher, she has continued to mold mental health professionals over several generations. In her late nineties, she still updates herself with the advancements in the field of Psychiatry. As a tribute to the immense contributions of Dr. Sarada Menon to the field of mental health, Prof Kim Mueser Boston University will deliver the virtual Dr. Sarada Menon Oration.

Dr. M.Sarada Menon

Dr. Kim T. Mueser, PhD

Dr. Kim T. Mueser, PhD

Dr. Kim T. Mueser, PhD is a clinical psychologist and Professor at the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation at Boston University. Dr. Mueser has many decades of work in the field of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, with a deep interest in family psychoeducation, the treatment of co-occurring psychiatric and substance use disorders, psychiatric rehabilitation for serious mental illnesses, and the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder. He has authored over 10 books and treatment manuals and has published extensively, In peer reviewed journals articles. Dr. Mueser has also given numerous lectures and workshops on psychiatric rehabilitation, both nationally and internationally.

You are invited to submit a poster related to any aspect of Schizophrenia.

The Final E poster in a ppt format and (ratio – 16:9) should be submitted as a soft copy to iconscommunication@scarfindia.org-General by 7th July 2021

Kindly make note to submit only the final posters, there is no need for abstracts to be sent to the email

Poster specification

All delegates submitting posters should be registered for the conference.

Each poster should include

  • Title
  • Names of the authors (the name of the presenting author should be underlined)
  • Institutional affiliation

General Guidelines:

    View Formate

  • Poster size : 10 in x 5.625 in (16:9)
  • Avoid crowding of text, data and figures. Illustrations and tables should be easily readable
  • All sources of financial sponsorship of the study should be stated in the poster.
  • No commercial activities / interests / advertising in any form should be displayed on the posters. Non-compliance with this rule will result in the poster being removed.

Submit Final Poster Online

All submitted posters will be reviewed by a panel of judges and the best posters will be selected for a presentation on the 7th July 2021

Contact Us

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Chennai 600 101, India