2022 AADPA Board of Directors Candidate Statements

I have more than 25 years treating ADHD in public and private practice. I understand the pressures for ADHD Professionals striving to provide care for increasing numbers of patients and would-be patients in the setting of insufficient resources and severe prescribing restrictions that limit access. I would like to see AADPA working more closely with the community ADHD organisations in advocating for better access to care and services for ADHD-affected adults and children.

I am an academic at Nepean Clinical School, University of Sydney. My research interests include stimulant medication including the effects on growth and physical development; I have published 3 papers demonstrating the lack of evidence for the current therapeutic dose restrictions. I am also involved in a database study investigating ADHD, crime and mortality and the moderating effects of treatment.

From my years in clinical practice, I have developed simple explanations for ADHD which are freely downloadable from my website (9000 visits per year) and published in my book: ADHD made Simple (2020). I served on the NSW Stimulants Subcommittee for more than 12 years including 5 years as Chair. I have served on the board of OZWAC -The Australian Women and Children’s Research Foundation.

I am working towards piloting a new model of integrated care for ADHD that involves upskilling GPs to diagnose and treat ADHD in primary care, supported by specialist services. This model is supported by community ADHD organisations, however, the administrative hurdles remain substantial.

Since February 2017, I have held a conjoint position as Professor of Child and Youth Psychiatry with the University of Queensland and the Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service. My research focus is on identifying factors that play a role in the development and persistence of ADHD and other common psychiatric symptoms in childhood.

As the co-chair of the EArly Genetics and Lifecourse Epidemiology (EAGLE) consortium, a large collaboration of birth and child cohorts across the globe, including Australia, I have led several large projects gaining insight into the overlap of genetic variants influencing childhood and adult mental disorders.

We have shown that genetic variants influencing adult depression also partly affect childhood ADHD symptoms, i.e., there are genetic variants that exert their effect across the lifespan and thus influence the outcome of childhood symptoms. This knowledge will eventually aid in targeting the more intense interventions to the children that need them most. In addition, as a member of the board since 2018, I have investigated the outcomes of children with ADHD treated in the public health system, showing that these children do somewhat worse at the end of treatment than children with emotional disorders.

Further projects are ongoing to gain more insight into how to improve the treatment results. Last but not least, as everybody working with people with ADHD, I am excited about the clinical guideline development and am keen to work with various stakeholders on the implementation of the recommendations.

I am an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology and a Clinical Psychologist working at Deakin University. I co-lead the Mental Health Care research stream of the Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development at Deakin University. I am also an Honorary Research Fellow at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. I have worked in the area of ADHD for 17 years. I hold a Medical Research Future Fund Investigator Grant (2021-2025) focused on supporting children with ADHD and their families.

I have served on the AADPA board for many years, currently leading the webinar program and co-leading the AADPA newsletter. I have contributed to numerous other AADPA activities e.g., costs of ADHD in Australia, and work establishing unmet consumer needs.

Through my position on the AADPA Board, I contribute expertise in Clinical Psychology and am a member of the Australian Psychological Society. My strong track record in ADHD research (>150 publications, ~$9M in research funding) will be invaluable in advocating for funding for the organisation and supporting AADPA activities more broadly. I will continue to contribute considerable community engagement experience.

I was awarded the Young Tall Poppy Science Award from the Australian Institute for Policy and Science in recognition of my community engagement activities and scientific excellence in 2016. I was also awarded the 2015 Early Career Research award by the Australian Psychological Society. I am committed to reducing the stigma associated with ADHD and working to ensure evidence-based information about ADHD is disseminated to the community.

I am a cognitive neuroscientist specializing in paediatric neuropsychiatric imaging in order to understand the brain-behaviour interface; when and where that goes awry. I head the Brain and Cognitive Development Lab at Deakin University and hold honorary positions with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, and the Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne. My research aims to identify ‘neuroimaging markers’ that can be used to distinguish common neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders and to monitor neurocognitive development.

I have worked in the ADHD field for over 15 years and have held two NHMRC Fellowships focusing on ADHD. I lead Australia’s largest longitudinal imaging cohort of children with ADHD, to understand how brain structure and function change across development, and how those changes reflect clinical and functional outcomes. Internationally, I also contribute to the ADHD working groups of the Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) and the Psychiatric Genetics Consortia.

I bring to the committee experience of having founded and chaired a charity raising public awareness and research funding for Bipolar Disorder, and been an elected executive for the Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society. Having been involved in AADPA since its conception and as a director over the last 3 years, and co-hosting the 2021 AADPA conference, I am enthusiastic to see its continued growth and implementation of the clinical guidelines.