Speakers

David Burgner trained in the UK and Australia and is currently a paediatric infectious diseases clinician scientist at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) and the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. He leads the Inflammatory Origins research group which investigates how infection, inflammation and traditional risk factors contribute to cardiovascular and metabolic disease across the life course, how they contribute to health inequalities, and how mechanisms underpinning epidemiological findings can be translated into more effective and targeted prevention.

Hanan El Marroun is an epidemiologist and neuroscientist, with research focusing on sensitive periods of brain development (prenatal, the first 1000 days of life and adolescence).

In population-based studies, Professor El Marroun examines the short- and long-term consequences of maternal, fetal and child health on brain developmental features, including behaviour and cognition, as well as brain morphology and connectivity. One of her specific focus areas is substance use (e.g. tobacco, nicotine and alcohol) in pregnancy and adolescence.

Next to her research, she also disseminates this knowledge and general research skills to bachelor and master students. Beyond her research and teaching, she is a vocal advocate for gender equality and diversity in academia, and her public outreach efforts show her dedication in making science accessible for a broad audience.

Professor Mark Bellis OBE is Director of the Public Health Institute and Professor of Public Health and Behavioural Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University. He has established and led two World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centres, focusing on Violence Prevention and on Investment for Health and Well-being. His research spans adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), life-course health, violence prevention, health economics, the commercial determinants of health, and public health history, integrating original research, evidence synthesis, and the translation of findings into policy and practice.

A registered Consultant in Public Health with the UK National Health Service (NHS), Professor Bellis was awarded an OBE in 2009 for services to healthcare. He has authored more than 250 peer-reviewed papers and over 300 reports and books, and continues to lead national and international collaborations addressing some of the most pressing and emerging challenges in public health.

Dr O’Donnell’s research integrates genomic and epigenomic data with measures of the social environment to better understand maternal and child health and aging.

He obtained his BSc in Psychology in 2005 from the University of Westminster in London, followed by a MSc in Neuroscience from the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London. Dr. O’Donnell then pursued his doctoral studies at Imperial College London where he obtained his PhD in Clinical Medicine in 2011. He completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2011-2016) in Social Epigenetics at the McGill University before joining the Department of Psychiatry at McGill as an Assistant Professor in 2016. Dr. O’Donnell was recruited to Yale University in 2020.

In 2019 Dr O’Donnell was awarded a Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (NARSAD) Young Investigator award and named a Jacobs Foundation Young Scholar. In 2022, O’Donnell was named a Scialog Fellow by the Research Corporation for the Advancement of Science. Dr. O’Donnell is a CIFAR Fellow in Child and Brain Development Program. Dr. O’Donnell has published over 90 peer-reviewed articles and has received funding from both the Canadian Institutes of Health, and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. O’Donnell currently serves on the Advisory Council of Postpartum Support International, a leading perinatal mental health training and advocacy organization.

Raquel Costa is a Clinical Psychologist, tenured Associate Professor at Lusófona University, Portugal, and Executive Director of the Human-Environment Interaction Lab (HEI-Lab). She holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology and hass 15 years of research experience in developmental psychopathology, perinatal mental health, and the early determinants of psychiatric disorders.

She is particularly interested in understanding how environmental and psychophysiological mechanisms interact from the earliest stages of life to shape developmental trajectories and vulnerability to mental health problems. She has a particular interest in the emergence of infant regulatory abilities, caregiver–infant co-regulation, and the role of early relational experiences in the development of self-regulation and subsequent psychopathology.

In 2023, she was awarded an individual research contract by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) to investigate brain synchrony and the biobehavioral pathways of caregiver–child co-regulation associated with early developmental and mental health difficulties. Her work seeks to identify modifiable mechanisms of developmental vulnerability and resilience that can inform early identification and preventive interventions.