September 2011, Paris, France
The 24th ECNP Congress, which was held from 3 to 7 September 2011 in Paris, France, was once again a great success, bringing together more than 6,700 psychiatrists, neurologists, psychologists and neuroscience researchers from all over the world. ECNP is especially pleased to see an increasing number of delegates coming from outside Europe.
The annual ECNP Congress is the largest scientific meeting on mental and neurological health in Europe, promoting fruitful dialogue between neuroscientists and medical professionals. With more than 150 distinguished speakers from 19 countries, more than 35 sessions and more than 700 poster presentations, the 24th ECNP Congress offered insight into the wide variety of research activities in this field.
In regard of current challenges such as the rising burden of mental disorders and a funding crisis restraining the future of drug development in Europe, the 24th ECNP Congress highlighted the key importance of neuropsychopharmacological research for better therapeutic and preventive management and marked ECNP's ongoing commitment to alleviating the burden and suffering associated with disorders of the brain.
Major topics of the 24th ECNP Congress included a broad scope of issues of public health concern in psychiatric as well as neurological disorders, for instance cutting edge research on Alzheimer´s and Parkinson´s disease, early intervention in schizophrenia, sex and gender differences in mental disorders, or novel drug targets in major depression. The programme was topped off with three press conferences addressing highly topical developments and scientific advances:
"Taken together with the large and increasing number of 'disorders of the brain', the true size and burden is even significantly higher, and worse than we thought", said ECNP vice-president Professor Hans-Ulrich Wittchen, principal investigator and joint first author from the Technische University Dresden, Germany. "Dramatically increased funding of research on the causes and the treatment of disorders of the brain as well as a better allocation of treatment resources and improved provision of care are needed to address this challenge."
Another highlight of the 24th ECNP Congress was the presentation of the ECNP Neuropsychopharmacology Award in Basic Science Research to Bertil Fredholm, Sweden, in recognition of his pioneering work in the brain adenosine system, which is of importance, among others, for the effect of the most widely used psychoactive drug, namely caffeine.
For more details, please see the press releases in the enclosure.
The next ECNP Congress will be held in Vienna, Austria, from 13-17 October 2012, where the ECNP's 25th anniversary will be celebrated.
ECNP is an independent scientific association whose mission is to advance the science of the brain, promote better treatment and enhance brain health. The annual ECNP Congress attracts scientists and clinicians from across the world to discuss the latest advances in brain research in Europe's largest meeting on brain science.
For further information about ECNP and its activities please visit the ECNP website: www.ecnp.eu