Join us on Wednesday 25 June, 10.00 – 11.00am GMT

(Bangkok and Jakarta - 4.00 – 5.00pm local time. Hong Kong, Singapore and Beijing - 5.00 – 6.00pm local time)

Hosted by Professor Glenn Robert, Vice Dean Research and Impact, this session will cover:

Intergenerational transmission of mental health risks in families: risk factors and mechanisms
Dr Iryna Culpin, Lecturer in Child and Adolescent Mental Health

Maternal and paternal perinatal (pregnancy and post-partum) mental health disorders are highly prevalent, with ample research supporting the adverse effects of parental depression on offspring cognitive, behavioural and emotional development. The societal, economic and health burdens of maternal and paternal mental health disorders are also well documented. Maternal depression consistently emerges as one of the strongest risk factors for adverse offspring mental health in childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Depression in fathers is also associated with increased risk of emotional, behavioural and peer difficulties in childhood and adolescence. Maternal and paternal depression may be reciprocally associated, further exacerbating adverse offspring developmental outcomes. Mechanisms that underly transmission of mental health risks in families are still not well understood and require further research to identify potential targets for preventive and intervention programmes to support families at-risk.

Dr Culpin will highlight her interdisciplinary research using quantitative (prospective longitudinal analyses and behavioural observations of parent-child interactions) and qualitative (in-depths interviews with mothers and fathers) methodological approaches to examine individual, environmental and familial risk factors and mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of mental health risks in families. She is particularly interested in the role of parental involvement, parenting and parent-child relationships as one of the key risk transmission mechanisms.

Diabetes: Addressing the needs of Young People and Women of Reproductive Age living with diabetes - a collection of studies
Professor Angus Forbes, Professor of Diabetes Nursing and Dr Judith Parsons, Lecturer in Women’s Health in Long-Term Conditions

Professor Angus Forbes and Dr Judith Parsons will explore the interaction between women's health and diabetes (based on their research) and will outline why women's health is important in many long conditions, particularly in regard to diabetes. They will present current research that they are undertaking in the following areas: stigma in the context of gestational diabetes; pregnancy and pre-pregnancy care in type 2 diabetes; and female sexual dysfunction in women with type 1 diabetes.

For the stigma project, they will present some of the triggers and drivers of stigma and how they are using these to develop anti-stigma messages. In relation to pregnancy and pre-pregnancy care, they will outline the findings from studies that they have conducted to boost pre-conception care uptake. Finally, for the female sexual dysfunction study, they will present the development of a new diabetes specific measure for women with type 1 diabetes.

Leveraging big data to track neurological trajectories in children with complex needs
Dr Kimberley Whitehead, Senior Lecturer (Research and Teaching)

Dr Kimberley Whitehead will describe two projects which leverage big, routine data to characterise complex neurology in high-risk children. First, she will focus on fetal growth restriction, and discuss how integrating fetal with postnatal weight data to five years of age identifies signatures of adverse neurodevelopment, potentially flagging intervention opportunities. Second, she will turn to children with suspected epilepsy, presenting early work to characterise the complexity of their needs, and the clinical value of home-based diagnostics in this group.

For any questions about this event, please contact NMPC-Events@kcl.ac.uk