Committee - International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research (ISNPR)

Felice Jacka (Australia)

President

Professor Felice Jacka is an NHMRC Career Development Fellow at Deakin University where she is director of the Food & Mood Centre. She is founder and president of the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research (ISNPR). Professor Jacka has pioneered and led a highly innovative program of research that examines how individuals’ diets, and other lifestyle behaviours, interact with the risk for mental health problems. Her current work focuses closely on the links between diet, gut health and mental and brain health. This research is being carried out with the ultimate goal of developing new, evidence-based prevention and treatment strategies for mental disorders.

Yutaka Matsuoka (Japan)

Vice-President

Chief, Division of Health Care Research, Center for Public Health Sciences, National Cancer Center Japan; and Executive Director of Japan Supportive, Palliative and Psychosocial Oncology Group.

Yutaka’s ongoing research project focuses on diet, gut microbiome and exercise to minimize the psychological burdens (fear of cancer recurrence, anxiety and depression) and to enhance the quality of survival for all people diagnosed with cancer along with their family caregivers. His research goal is to develop and disseminate evidence-based preventive mental health approach for physically ill patients as well as general population.

Amelia McGuinness (Australia)

Secretary

Amelia is a PhD Candidate within the Food & Mood Centre, Australia. Amelia’s research focuses on the complex associations between diet and lifestyle, other determinants, mental health, and the gut microbiota. She is an active member and administrator for the ISNPR, and an Australian Rotary Health PhD scholarship recipient

Scott Teasdale

Treasurer

Dr. Scott Teasdale is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and postdoctoral researcher. He is a project manager and postdoctoral researcher with Nutrition Research Australia. He is a Visiting Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of New South Wales, School of Psychiatry and an Honorary Professional Associate at the University of Canberra, Faculty of Health.

Scott is experienced in a range of study types. His expertise is nutrition and lifestyle research in the field of mental health. His research program spans observational studies, non-randomised controlled trials, qualitative research, and systematic reviews and meta-analysis. Scott has a strong translational research background. He was the pioneer clinical dietitian and led the nutrition research for six years within a successful lifestyle program for people with severe mental illness at high risk for cardiometabolic disease and premature mortality. During this time his research program advocated a clear role for dietitians in mental health services. Scott continues to have a passion for the role nutrition plays in brain health and cognition, mental wellbeing and mental disorders.

Kuan-Pin Su (Taiwan)

Professor of Psychiatry & Neural and Cognitive Sciences | Director of Mind-Body Interface Laboratory (MBI-Lab) | China Medical University & Hospital TAIWAN | Honorary Faculty of Institute of Psychiatry-King’s College London UK

As depression is heterogenous and every antidepressant treatment only has modest effect, we colleagues at the Mind-Body Interface Laboratory (MBI-Lab) explore novel treatments and unknown biological mechanisms for depression

Julia Rucklidge (New Zealand)

Julia Rucklidge is a Professor of Clinical Psychology in the Department of Psychology at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand and Director of the Mental Health and Nutrition Research Group.
Julia investigates the role of micronutrients in the expression and treatment of psychiatric symptoms, including ADHD, mood disorders, anxiety and addiction. She is interested in why they might exert their effect by investigating the role of the microbiome, genetics and nutrient markers on outcomes.

Daisuke Nishi (Japan)

Associate Professor, Department of Mental Health, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo.

Zoltan Sarnyai (Australia)

Zoltan Sarnyai is Associate Professor and Head of Laboratory of Psychiatric Neuroscience at James Cook University, Townsville, Australia.

Zoltan’s research aims to find effective and safe biological treatment (e.g. therapeutic diets) suitable for the treatment of psychosis and depression, using animal models and translational approaches.

Vicent Balanza (Spain)

University Hospital Doctor Peset, University of Valencia, CIBERSAM, Valencia, Spain

I’m interested in the role of Omega-3 fatty acids in mood disorders,
from a clinical staging perspective

Jerome Sarris (Australia)

Jerome Sarris is Professor of Integrative Mental Health and Deputy Director of the NICM Health Research Institute at Western Sydney University. He holds an NHMRC Clinical Research Fellowship, in addition to an honorary position at the University of Melbourne, Department of Psychiatry as a Principal Research Fellow. Jerome moved from clinical practice as a Naturopath, Nutritionist, and Acupuncturist to academic work, and completed a doctorate at the field of psychiatry.

He has a particular interest in anxiety and mood disorder research pertaining to integrative medicine, nutraceutical psychopharmacology and psychotropic plant medicines, and lifestyle medicine. His research also utilises genomic technology to examine the pharmacogenomics of individual responses to nutraceuticals in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. He is currently involved in over a dozen clinical trials in the area of mental health. Jerome is a founding Vice Chair of The International Network of Integrative Mental Health & an Executive Committee Member of the ISNPR

Almudena Sanchez-Villegas (Spain)

PhD in Pharmacy (University of Navarra, 2001). Professor of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria since 2016. Research Fellow in the Department of Nutrition of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health during the academic year 2005-2006.

Coordinator and principal investigator of several research projects sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Health (FIS PI042241, FIS PI080819, FIS PI1601274), she is an expert in Mediterranean diet and in the analyses of dietary patterns and life-style factors and their role in depression risk in observational studies. She has also implicated in the analysis of diet and depression in Spanish large clinical trials (PREMIMED, PREDIMED-PLUS, PREDI-DEP).

Jeni Johnstone (United States)

Jeni Johnstone is a Research Investigator at the Helfgott Research Institute in Portland, Oregon, completing a National Institutes of Health (NIH) clinical research fellowship. She has a dual appointment at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) as an Assistant Professor and practicing Clinical Psychologist in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Her research focuses on micronutrient supplementation in populations with ADHD, mood issues, and aggression. She leads the Science of Nutrition Affect and Cognition in Kids (SNACK) Lab at OHSU. Dr. Johnstone is leading the Micronutrients in ADHD Youth, the “MADDY” Study, a three-site, international, randomized controlled trial for children who have ADHD and irritable mood. Through an examination of participant biological samples, she and her collaborators are examining the micronutrients’ biological signature, and potential mechanisms of action.

Tasnime Akbaraly (France)

Tasnime Akbaraly is a scientific researcher in Epidemiology. She holds a permanent position at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in Montpellier (France).

She is also honorary researcher at University College London in the Dept of Epidemiology and Public Health, working on the Whitehall II cohort. Specialising in nutritional epidemiology, Tasnime’s work aims to understand the role of diet in age-related chronic diseases and mental health by paying a special interest to the social gradient underlying dietary behavior and by investigating the biological and metabolic pathways through which overall diet is likely to influence mental and cognitive health. Currently she is also developing a research program on the role of diet in Autism Spectrum Disorders.