Webinar debate on depression and serotonin

BNA Event - 10th Oct 2023

We welcome you to attend this FREE joint webinar between COMPASS Pathways and the British Neuroscience Association, on Tuesday 10th October 11am - 12pm (BST).

This online event will feature a debate around depression and serotonin, with an expert panel chaired by Laura Ajram.

Join us on 10^th October, World Mental Health Day, when our expert panel will be discussing the relationship between Depression and Serotonin, and what this means for the future of mental health treatment. 

The link between depression and serotonin is often oversimplified, centring on the hypothesis that depressed patients are “serotonin deficient”. However, is there more to this relationship that we should be exploring? Through this discussion, our panel will consider the deeper connection between the two that is revealed by brain imaging and the role of serotonin in treatment.  Interest is only likely to increase with the renaissance in research into the serotonergic agonists that produce psychedelic experience and may provide new approaches for difficult to treat conditions.

This discussion is sponsored by COMPASS Pathways. Panellists are not being paid for their participation.

Register here for free

*This event is organised or co-organised by the sponsor as part of a supporter's package. Support for the BNA's work is gratefully acknowledged; see more about supporting the BNA here.

Speakers

Dr Guy Goodwin, Chief Medical Officer, COMPASS Pathways

Guy completed his medical degree and DPhil in physiology at the University of Oxford and, following training in psychiatry, worked as Clinical Scientist at the MRC Brain Metabolism Unit in Edinburgh for 10 years. He moved back to Oxford as head of the department of psychiatry and subsequently as a senior research fellow. His work has always included care of outpatients along with a primary commitment to research.

His research interests have been focused on the treatment of mood disorder and, increasingly, the potential to improve treatment using new technology and new drugs, notably psychedelics.

Dr David Erritzoe, Clinical Senior Lecturer and Consultant Psychiatrist, Imperial College London

David is Clinical Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry and Consultant Psychiatrist at Imperial College London and in CNWL Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. He is also the Clinical Director and Deputy Head in the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College, in which the team is investigating brain mechanisms and therapeutic potential of MDMA, ketamine and classic psychedelics. His research focus is experimental psychopharmacology using brain-imaging techniques such as PET and MRI.

In early 2021 David set up a new NHS-based psychopharmacology & psychedelic research clinic at St Charles Hospital in London, the CIPPRes Clinic.

Dr Sameer Jauhar, Senior Clinical Lecturer in Affective Disorders and Psychosis, King's College London, and Consultant Psychiatrist, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

Sameer Jauhar currently works as a Senior Clinical Lecturer in Affective Disorders and Psychosis at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, and as a Consultant Psychiatrist for people presenting with their first episode of psychosis, for South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. His research interests focus on understanding neurobiological causes of psychotic illness, with a focus on the affective psychoses, and treatment of psychotic and affective illnesses.

In 2019 he was awarded the Senior Clinical Award from the British Associaiton for Psychopharmacology, and in 2022 the Rafaelson Young Investigator Award from the International College of Neuropsychopharmacology.

Dr Beata Godlewska, Clinical Researcher, Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, University of Oxford

Beata is a medical doctor with a specialty in general adult psychiatry and a researcher in the field of mood disorders. She has worked at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford since 2007 and is currently working with Professor Philip Cowen's Clinical Psychopharmacology group.

Beata's research focuses on two main areas: the psychopharmacology of mood disorders - depression and bipolar disorder - and psychological mechanisms of antidepressant drug action. In her research she uses a range of methodologies: neuropsychological testing, fMRI, MRS, MEG in various populations: currently unwell people, people at risk of depression because of the previous history of this disorder and healthy volunteers.

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