Global Addiction 2011 Speaker Profiles

Prof Nutt obtained his degree in Medicine from the University of Cambridge in 1972, and completed his clinical training at Guy's Hospital, London in 1975.  He was Clinical Scientist in the MRC Unit of Clinical Pharmacology, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford from 1978 – 1982 and a Lecturer in Psychiatry at the University of Oxford from 1983 – 1985.  In 1986 Prof Nutt moved to Maryland, USA where he was Fogarty Visiting Scientist NIH and Chief of the Section of Clinical Science at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in Bethesda.  Prof Nutt returned to the UK and joined the University of Bristol in 1988 as Director of the Psychopharmacology Unit, a position he held alongside other key roles until he joined Imperial College, London in December 2008 where he was appointed as the Edmond J Safra Chair in Neuropsychopharmacology in January 2009.  Prof Nutt has held government advisory posts for the Ministry of Defence, Department of Health and the Home Office. He also co-authored the influential 2005 Foresight Report on the Future of Brain Science, Addiction and Drugs. Prof Nutt has received several honours including FRCPsych, FRCP, FMedSci; visiting Professorships in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands; Presidency of the British Association of Psychopharmacology and membership of the European Brain Council. He is a past president of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology.

Dr Finnegan completed premedical studies at Ursinus College, Pennsylvania, and received her medical degree from Hahnemann University, Pennsylvania. Dr Finnegan completed a pediatric internship at Hahnemann University, a pediatric residency and fellowship in neonatology at the Philadelphia General Hospital.  Subsequent positions in Philadelphia included Chief of Newborn Services, University of Pennsylvania Division, Philadelphia General Hospital; Director of the Family Center, a comprehensive, multidisciplinary program for pregnant addicted women and their children, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital; and Professor of Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University. Her Federal Government positions in the Department of Health and Human Services include Associate Director of the Office for Treatment Improvement and Associate Director for Medical and Clinical Affairs, Office for Substance Abuse Prevention, Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Administration; Senior Advisor on Women's Issues, NIDA, NIH; and Director, Women's Health Initiative, Office of the Director, NIH. Dr. Finnegan has authored more than 150 scientific publications, spoken on topics related to the health issues of women and children at various scientific conferences, has been a visiting professor in 18 foreign countries, and has served as a consultant to many scientific, Federal, and lay organizations. She has received numerous Federal, State, local, and foundation grants to accomplish her research endeavors. Dr. Finnegan has also received numerous awards for outstanding achievements in the treatment, research, and prevention of drug abuse; for superior achievement in expanding the therapeutic capabilities of the health professions; for excellence in the healing arts; as an outstanding woman who has "made a difference" through her leadership in health care and for her distinguished contributions to humanity; for outstanding leadership and dedication to the alcohol and other drug fields, in recognition for outstanding leadership in development of the violence against women initiative; for outstanding interagency collaboration and innovation in developing the Women Living Long, Living Well Project; and for the advancement of knowledge about alcoholism and other drug dependencies. She has been awarded three honorary degrees: Doctor of Laws (Chestnut Hill College), Doctor of Science (Ursinus College), and Doctor of Science in Osteopathy (University of New England).Dr Finnegan is a member of the Society for Pediatric Research, the American Pediatric Society, the College on Problems of Drug Dependence and the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.

Prof Mann studied medicine at the University of Mainz with a semester abroad in Innsbruck and Vienna 1973-1974 and two studies in the United States 1974-1975, obtaining his medical degree in 1977.  He was a Research Fellow in Paris from 1978/79; Resident in Psychotherapy, University of Mainz, from 1979/80; Resident in Psychiatry and Neurology, University of Tuebingen, from 1980/88 and Consultant Psychiatrist, University of Tuebingen, from 1988/90.  Prof Mann’s research includes treatment of alcohol and nicotine dependence, addiction to prescription drugs and gambling, as well as neuroimaging, neurophysiology and psychopharmacology.  He has undertaken 22 projects concerning dependence on alcohol, drugs and nicotine, supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the European Union (EU), the industry and the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.  Since 1980 he has published approximately 160 original papers in international journals, more than 200 published abstracts, 14 books and 97 book chapters.  Prof Mann was awarded the Research Prize of the German Society for Biological Psychiatry in 1992, the German Addiction Research Award 2004 and the Hermann Simon Prize for Health Services Research 2007.  He was a member of the Selection Committee of the 2006 International Jellinek Award for Alcohol Research; Associate Editor (Europe) of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Researchand a member of the editorial board of Addiction, European Addiction Research, European Psychiatry and Journal of Studies on Alcohol.  Prof Mann has been a member of the European Psychiatric Association (EPA) since 1990 and is also a member of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP); European Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism (ESBRA); German Society for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Neurology (DGPPN) and was president of the German Society for Addiction Research and addiction treatment from 2007-2010.  He is currently president of the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism (ISBRA). 

Prof Lesch has been responsible for longterm studies in alcohol dependence since 1972 and has organised a large number of international clinical trials and basic research studies in alcohol and tobacco dependence.  He developed clinical assessment tools to define sub-groups of addiction for better treatment approaches and the Lesch Typology, devised by Professor Lesch himself, is used to categorise patients with alcohol dependence into four subgroups.  Prof Lesch was the secretary of the European Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism (ESBRA) for 12 years. 

He graduated at the Medical School of the University of Pisa, Italy in 1979 and went on to specialize in Psychiatry, taking his second degree cum laude in 1983. He is currently on the Board of Directors of the Department of Psychiatry at the Santa Chiara Hospital of the University of Pisa, Italy. He is Professor of Drug Addiction Medicine at the School of Psychiatry of the Universities of Pisa and Siena. He has been President of the European Opiate Addiction Treatment Association (EUROPAD) since its foundation in Geneva, Switzerland in 1994. As President of EUROPAD he has organized international symposia in the USA during the Conferences of the American Association for the Treatment of Opiate Dependence (AATOD) and Conferences in several European cities (Saint-Tropez, 1995; Lublijana, 1997; Arezzo 2000; Oslo 2002; Paris, 2004; Bratislava, 2006; Sofia, 2008). He received the Dole-Nyswander Award in Washington (DC), USA in 1994 and was the first non-American winner of that award. In 2004 he received the “Chimera Award” in Paris. In 1990 (Cagliari, Italy) he became a founding member of the Società Italiana Tossicodipendenze - Italian Society of Addiction Medicine (SITD-ItSAM), and is currently on its Board of Directors. He is author of the chapters on Drug Abuse and Aggression in the second edition of the Trattato Italiano di Psichiatria. To date he has 500 scientific publications and has given over 300 scientific presentations. He is Editor of Heroin Addiction and Related Clinical Problems, the official journal of EUROPAD, and board member of Journal of Maintenance in the Addictions, Italian Journal on Addictions, Addictive Disorders and their Treatment, and Odvinosky.

He earned his medical degree from the University of Ljubljana in 1981, with a specialization in psychiatry in 1989. Postgraduate training included psychopathology, child psychiatry, and group psychotherapy. Dr. Kastelic serves as guest editor of European Addiction Research on Buprenorphine: Current Perspectives, as well as editor-in-chief of the scientific journal SEEA Addictions, a Slovenian magazine titled Reflection, and a series of books titled Drugs Amongst Us.  The author of more than 300 books and articles on drug addiction as well as several manuals and leaflets for drug users and on prevention of drug use, Dr. Kastelic has participated in more than 200 international conferences and has offered about 900 lectures on the same subject. He serves as secretary general of the European Opiate Addiction Treatment Association, is a founding member of the World Federation for the Treatment of Opiate Dependence, is president of the SEEA Society, and president of the SEE Adriatic Addiction Treatment Network.
 

His undergraduate studies were in Physics, an interest he has maintained, especially as the concepts relate to consciousness and health. He has practised Transcendental Meditation (TM) since 1986, completed training in Maharishi Ayurveda in 1994 and provided Continuing Medical Education (CME) programs for physicians regarding the benefit of TM personally and for patients.

Dr Hajela served in the Canadian Forces from 1979 to 1995. His assignments included a Field Medical Officer, United Nations (Golan Heights), Flight Surgeon, Canadian Forces Europe, Staff Officer - Occupational Health/Surgeon General’s Office and Director, Addiction Rehabilitation Centre in Kingston, Ontario. He is a retired Major.
 
Dr Hajela is a Certificant of the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC), the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), the Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine (CSAM) and the International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM); and is a Fellow of ASAM and CFPC. He is a Certified Medical Review Officer (CMRO) and Civil Aviation Medical Examiner (CAME). He held faculty appointments in Family Medicine and Psychiatry at Queen's University (1992-2001), and has taught medical students and residents at the University of Toronto, Queen's and the University of Calgary. 

Prof Fischer has been involved in many epidemiological and psychopharmacological studies in substance  dependence, as well as her pioneering work in the research of substance dependence and pregnancy, which resulted in many scientific publications in addition to national & international funding eg:  NIH/NIDA funding on the topic of a prospective multicentre trial on methadone versus buprenorphine in pregnancy (MOTHER). She is a  consultant for several international and national groups including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), and is also a board member of the Quality Control Commission in Medicine in Austria. To date she has given over 400 scientific presentations and has over 150 scientific publications. Prof Fischer is also involved in editorial and review work for many psychiatric journals, is a board member of several addiction societies and is currently the President of the  CPDD International Committee.

Dr Patricio was the Ministry of Health Delegate in the E.C: Ad Hoc Addiction Group 1990/1992 and in the Observatory Group, Health Group 1990/1992.  He was a member of the board of the National Drugs Treatment Network SPTT - Ministry of Health from 1990 - 94 and national co-ordinator for the 1st and 3rd European Drug Prevention Week - U.E. 1991/92 and 1997/1998.  Luis Patricio was the founder of the first Portuguese Health Professionals NGO Therapeutic Community in 1986 - the first including pharmacotherapies – and founder and former president of the National Association of Drug Workers - ANIT in 1989.  He was co-founder and member of the Technical and Scientific Council of T3E – Drug Addiction Europe Exchanges Studies  in1991 and co-founder and former president of the European Federation of National Drug Workers Associations – ERIT in 1992.  Dr Patricio was a collaborator of the Lisbon Harm Reduction Emergency Plan in 2000 and author of Projects of Harm Reduction 2001/2002.  He was also the designated expert and consultant in the elaboration of the Law of Harm Reduction and Damage minimization (1983/2001).  Dr Patricio was a consultant to the Cape Verde Republic in 1997 & 2009 and Social Affairs Secretary of the Azores from 2003 - 2008 and the Andin Nations Community, Synthetics Drugs Prevention in 2009.  Dr Patricio was the Portuguese representative to the Scientific Committee of EMCDDA 2006/2007 and has been a member of the Scientific Board of EUROPAD since 2006.  He is also a member of Sociedad Científica Española – Socidrogalcohol. In 2008 he was awarded a Silver Medal for Distinguished Services by the Portuguese Ministry of Health.  Dr Patricio is also the author of the following books:  Os Profissionais de Saúde e a droga, Droga de Vida, Vidas de Droga, Face à droga com Re(agir),Droga para que se saiba, Droga. Aprender para Prevenir, Tratamento da dependência de heroína. A manutenção opioide.  Luis Patricio also produced an 80 minute film entitled "Drugs - Risks and Dependencies", as an audiovisual aid to be delivered in DVD format to Portuguese family physicians, intended to update knowledge about risk behaviours, substance abuse (legal or illegal) and therapeutic options.

Neil McKeganey graduated from the Universities of Sussex, London and Aberdeen. For the last fifteen years he has concentrated on research within the drug misuse field and has undertaken work on drug injectors and HIV, prostitution, and drugs and young people. Professor McKeganey led the research team which undertook a pilot of the ADAM methodology of interviewing and drug testing arrestees. He is the founding director of the Centre for Drug Misuse Research within the University of Glasgow and has directed the research programme of the Centre since 1994. He is a member of the Greater Glasgow Drug Action Team. He has acted as an advisor to the UK Home Office, the World Health Organisation and the United States Department of Justice. He is the author of many published books and articles and his most recent book, co-authored with Professor James McIntosh, is "Beating the Dragon: the recovery from dependent drug use". Neil McKeganey has also recently published work on pre-teen drug misuse, the impact of parental drug use on children, and drug users' views of methadone.

Heino Stoever has been director of the Archive and Documentation Centre for Drug Literature and Research at the University of Bremen since 1987. He is co-founder of the Bremen Institute for Drug Research (BISDRO), president of the national umbrella organisation working in the field of harm reduction for drug users called akzept e.V. (Bundesverband für akzeptierende Drogenarbeit und humane Drogenpolitik). He is also director of the Institute of Addiction Research of the University of Applied Sciences in Frankfurt am Main.  Heino Stoever’s main fields of research and project development expertise are health promotion for vulnerable groups, drug services, prisons and related health issues (especially HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C and drug dependence). His research and consultancy expertise includes working as a consultant for the European Commission, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), WHO, European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Open Society Institute (OSI) in various contexts.  He has published several articles in peer reviewed international journals and books on preventing and treating infectious diseases adequately (HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, STIs, and TB), opioid substitution programmes (including the provision of heroin) in the community and in prisons, and general health care issues in prisons. He is co-founder of the International Journal of Prisoner Health.

Jurgen Rehm is a leader in generating and analyzing the scientific data needed to inform policy makers of strategies to reduce alcohol- and tobacco-related harm. He and his team evaluate the economic costs of substance use and abuse. Dr Rehm was the Principal Investigator on the report “The Costs of Substance Abuse in Canada 2002” released in 2006 that estimated the effects of tobacco, alcohol and illegal drugs in terms of death, illness and economic costs. His current research is focused on estimating avoidable burden and costs of alcohol in Canada, and on conducting Comparative Risk Assessments on the burden of different risk factors in different countries.  Dr Rehm is a recipient of the Jellinek Award, a WHO expert committee member for Substance Abuse and a member of the scientific committee of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.