Pre-Conference Meetings

Global burden of disease Lifestyle And mental Disorder (GLAD) Symposium

Date: Monday 4 November 2024
Time: 12:30pm – 4:00p
Venue/Room: Tuscan Room, Sydney Masonic Centre, Sydney
Cost: Inclusive for SMHR Conference Delegate (includes lunch and afternoon tea). In-person attendance is limited however an online option will also be available.

Please join us for the second Global burden of disease Lifestyle And mental Disorder (GLAD) Symposium.

The GLAD Project is a global initiative involving 20+ epidemiological studies from 12+ countries. It is our aim to link lifestyle risk factors with common mental disorders in the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD), so that researchers, policy makers, and the like can calculate how much of the population burden for various psychiatric conditions could be averted by targeting a specific lifestyle factor across different settings, sexes, and age groups.

In this event, Professors Adrienne O’Neil and Felice Jacka will provide an overview and context for the GLAD study, and Dr Debbie Ashtree will provide a detailed update on the project; we will hear from Dr Damian Santomauro on meta-analyses for GBD; members will

present their results to date; and there will be opportunities to workshop or seek feedback from the GLAD Project Team. A full agenda and schedule will be released shortly.

If you are interested in attending the Symposium but not attending the SMHR Conference please contact glad-info@deakin.edu.au as spaces are limited.

Presenter Biographies

Doctor Damian Santomauro

Professor Adrienne O’Neil

Deakin Distinguished Professor Felice Jacka

Doctor Deborah Ashtree

Doctor Damian Santomauro
Dr Damian Santomauro leads the Epidemiology and Burden of Disease Research Stream based at the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research (QCMHR). He is also an affiliate assistant professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), University of Washington, for his work on the Global Burden of Disease Study where he is the head of the mental disorders team responsible for modelling the epidemiology and burden of mental disorders.

Professor Adrienne O’Neil
Professor Adrienne O'Neil is a behavioural scientist at Deakin University who specialises in lifestyle medicine and rehabilitation across mental and cardiovascular disorders. She is an NHMRC Emerging Leader Fellowship (2022-26) at the Food & Mood Centre, Institute for Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Translation (IMPACT) Institute at Deakin University. Prof O'Neil's research focuses on understanding shared pathways, pathophysiology, and treatment of mental and physical disorders, with a focus on lifestyle interventions.

Deakin Distinguished Professor Felice Jacka
Deakin Distinguished Professor Felice Jacka OAM is internationally recognised as a leader in the rapidly developing field of research focused on Nutritional Psychiatry and is the founder and immediate-past president of the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research (ISNPR). She is also founder and director of the Food & Mood Centre at Deakin University.

Felice is the author of the book ‘Brain Changer’ through Pan Macmillan in Australia and Yellow Kite Books in the UK (2019), and ‘There’s a Zoo in my Poo’, published by Pan Macmillan in July 2020. She is a Clarivate Highly Cited researcher (2020-23), putting her in the top 0.1% of scientists worldwide. In 2021 she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (Queen’s honour) for her contributions to Nutritional Psychiatry.

Doctor Deborah Ashtree
Debbie is an Associate Research Fellow at the Food & Mood Centre, with a focus on public health, epidemiology and biostatistics. Debbie's current research interest is understanding the role of lifestyle risk factors for mental disorders, with a focus on epidemiology and public health. She is the current project manager and lead biostatistician for the Global burden of disease Lifestyle And mental Disorder (GLAD) Taskforce, which focuses on the links between common mental disorders and lifestyle behaviours – including diet, exercise, sleep, and smoking. This work aims to introduce lifestyle factors as risk-outcome pairs for mental health in the Global Burden of Disease database.

3rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Mental Health Australian General Clinical Trials Network (MAGNET)

Date: Tuesday 5 November 2024
Time: 9:00am-5:00pm
Venue/Room: Ionic room, Sydney Masonic
Cost: Inclusive for SMHR Conference Delegates (includes morning/afternoon tea)