INA Board Members

Valsamma Eapen
President

 

Valsamma Eapen is Scientia Professor and Chair of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, UNSW Sydney, National Heath and Medical Research (NHMRC) Senior Research Fellow & Head, Academic Unit of Child Psychiatry South West Sydney Health District (AUCS). Eapen serves as President of International Neuropsychiatric Association; Chair of Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry (RANZCP); and Board member, World Psychiatric Association (WPA). Eapen has published 500 journal articles, 6 books, 50 book chapters and is currently part of research programs totaling over 40 million dollars in funding including leading a NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence.
Ludger Tebartz van Elst
President Elect

 

Ludger Tebartz van Elst is a professor of psychiatry and psychotherapy, as well as being the deputy director of the clinic for psychiatry and psychotherapy at the university clinic Freiburg. He heads the Neuropsychiatry section of the German Society for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (DGPPN).

Dr. Tebartz van Elst trained in neurology and psychiatry at the University of Freiburg and the Institute of Neurology in Queen Square, London. His research focuses on autism, neurodevelopmental disorders and schizophrenia spectrum disorders, applying cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and immuno-psychiatry techniques, as well as neuroimaging, visual neuroscience and psychotherapy research. He is also interested in theoretical medicine and philosophy, having published books on the theory of knowledge (epistemology), free will, and the ontology of motivation and intentional behaviour. To date, he has published over 300 peer-reviewed papers, 10 books, and numerous book chapters in these fields (https://www.uniklinik-freiburg.de/psych/team/tebartz-van-elst/en.html).

Anthony David
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT

 

Dr David graduated in medicine from Glasgow University, Scotland and did some neurology training there before joining the Maudsley Hospital, London to do psychiatry training. There he worked with Alwyn Lishman and others who inspired him to become a neuropsychiatrist.

Dr David’s research has used neuropsychology and neuroimaging to help understand psychiatric disorders, especially schizophrenia but also FND and depersonalisation disorder. An overriding interest has been the concept of insight in neuropsychiatry.

He was awarded a personal chair in Cognitive Neuropsychiatry in 1996 and was Vice Dean at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London from 2013 until 2018 when he moved to University College London to become director of the UCL Institute of Mental Health. He remains clinically active and is currently honorary consultant neuropsychiatrist at the National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London.

Elvina Chu
TREASURER

 

Dr Elvina Chu is a Neuropsychiatrist at Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. A graduate from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Medical Schools in London, England, she completed the Maudsley training scheme gaining her MRCPsych in 2005, PhD at the Institute of Neurology UCL in 2013 and FRCPsych in 2023. Dr Chu has run community neuropsychiatry services, managed in-patient brain injury services, a dementia unit and developed the first in-patient Huntington’s disease service in the UK. Following a visiting scholar post at the Montreal Neurological Institute, she moved to join the faculty at Queen’s University in 2019. She now runs a neuropsychiatry clinic at KHSC with a special interest in Huntington’s disease and also works in consultation liaison psychiatry. As an enthusiastic educator, she launched a neuropsychiatry training day for residents, lectures in neurosciences at Queen’s University and has supervised numerous student projects. She served as former CME chair and is program director for the neuropsychiatry fellowship. Her research group is investigating music-based therapies in neurorehabilitation, and eye movements in Huntington’s disease. She is delighted to now serve as your INA treasurer following election in 2024.
Sheldon Benjamin
Secretary

 

Sheldon Benjamin, MD is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Neurology, Director of Neuropsychiatry, past director of the Psychiatry and Combined Neurology/Psychiatry residency programs, and past Department Chair at the University of Massachusetts T H Chan School of Medicine. After graduating from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, he completed psychiatry and neurology residencies at Tufts and Boston University and fellowship in Behavioral Neurology at the Boston Veterans Administration Hospital. He is board certified in Psychiatry, Neurology and Behavioral Neurology/Neuropsychiatry; is a Past President of the American Neuropsychiatric Association and the American Association of Directors of Psychiatry Residency Training; is a Director of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and a member of the Psychiatry Review Committee of the US Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education. He is a distinguished life fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and a fellow of the American Neuropsychiatric Association and the American Academy of Neurology.

Dr. Benjamin has received lifetime achievement awards from the UMass Chan Medical School, The American Neuropsychiatric Association, the American Association of Directors of Psychiatry Residency Training, and the American Psychiatric Association. He lectures and publishes widely in neuropsychiatry, with a focus on neuropsychiatry education.

Tim Nicholson
Education  Training Chair

 

Dr Nicholson is a Reader in Neuropsychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King’s College London where he leads the Neuropsychiatry Research and Education Group (NREG). He is an Honorary Consultant Neuropsychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trusts. His clinical and research work focuses on Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), immunopsychiatry and broader neuropsychiatric disorders – including those resulting from COVID-19. He has published over 200 journal articles, 12 books, 8 book chapters and led UK and international consensus recommendations on outcome measures for neuropsychiatric disorders. He co-founded the MSc in Clinical Neuropsychiatry at King’s College London and is widely involved in neuropsychiatry training and education of both of clinical and academic professionals as well as the general public in the UK and beyond.

Eileen Joyce
INA Curriculum Coordinator

 

Eileen Joyce is Emeritus Professor of Neuropsychiatry at Queen Square UCL Institute of Neurology and an honorary consultant neuropsychiatrist at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neuropsychiatry. Her research has focused on interventions for neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, OCD and Tourette’s syndrome and their mechanisms of action. Her clinic work has involved the management of complex neuropsychiatric disorders. She obtained her first degree in experimental psychology and PhD in dopamine psychopharmacology from the University of Cambridge. She went on to study medicine also at Cambridge. She trained in psychiatry at the Bethlem and Maudsley Hospitals. She has served as Chair of the British Neuropsychiatry Association, the RCPsych Faculty of Neuropsychiatry and the International Neuropsychiatric Association. She is a professional advisor to the charity Tourette’s Action.

Jasvinder Singh
GNG Liaison

 

Dr Jasvinder Singh, a consultant neuropsychiatrist based in Brisbane, Australia, has extensive experience assessing and managing neurological conditions with a neuropsychiatric profile, including epilepsy, stroke, multiple sclerosis, functional neurological disorders, traumatic brain injuries, movement disorders, sleep disorders, and dementias. His areas of interest include neurodevelopmental disorders and intellectual disability.

He completed his undergraduate medical training in India in 2001, postgraduate training in psychiatry with the Yorkshire and Humber Deanery, UK, in 2008, and later gained Membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (MRCPsych). Dr Singh completed his specialist training in psychiatry in the UK, with accreditation as a CCT in old age in 2012. He also completed his psychiatry fellowship with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (FRANZCP) in 2019. He holds a Senior Lecturer position at the University of Queensland, Brisbane. He is involved in research and has published in academic journals. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family, travelling, playing racquet sports, listening to music, and reading non-fiction books on culture, history, spirituality, philosophy, and the mind and brain.

Dr Singh is also the founder of the Global Neuropsychiatry Group. https://globalneuropsychiatry.org/.

Richard Kanaan
Board Member

 

Professor Richard Kanaan studied mathematics and philosophy in Oxford and Los Angeles, before training in medicine and psychiatry in London. He was a clinician and academic at the Maudsley Hospital/Institute of Psychiatry in London until he was appointed Chair of Psychiatry at Austin Hospital, and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne in 2013. His special interests include functional syndromes, schizophrenia and the philosophy of psychiatry. He started the first functional neurology clinic at King’s College Hospital in London, and the first functional neurology clinic at Austin Health in Melbourne. Professor Kanaan is currently chair of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists Section of Neuropsychiatry.
Vivek Misra
Board Member

 

Vivek Misra, M.S., MIANS, is a Senior Consultant for Neuromodulation and Clinical Neurosciences at Buddhi Clinic, where he established state-of-the-art neuromodulation units across five centers.  He serves as consulting specialist to the UNM Foundation at Sankalan Neurorehabilitation Centre in Ahmedabad, guiding research strategy for underserved populations with acquired brain injuries and neurodegenerative conditions. He is also founder of Uberbrain Research Frontier, a platform dedicated to translating neuroscience discoveries into clinical practice through strategic industry-academic partnerships.

His clinical and translational research focuses on non-invasive brain stimulation technologies—including rTMS, tES, and taVNS—in neuropsychiatric disorders. With over 13 years of experience, his current investigations center around precision neuromodulation for unexplained pain syndromes and novel therapeutics in non-invasive brain and spine stimulation. He serves as Assistant Editor for Cambridge University Press’s Global Approach book series and on review boards of multiple journals. He advocates passionately for science communication and digital transformation of healthcare systems, working to ensure cutting-edge neurotechnology reaches community and specialty practices alike.

Toshiya Murai
Board Member

 

Toshiya Murai, MD, PhD, is Director and Professor of the Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University. He was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1966. Dr. Murai graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, in 1991 and received his PhD from the same university in 1998. Following his doctoral training, he served as a research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience in Germany from 1998 to 2000.

He was appointed Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, from 2005 to 2009, and has held his current position as Director and Professor since 2009. In addition, since 2025, he has served as President of the Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology, the principal professional organization for psychiatrists in Japan, with over 20,000 members.

Dr. Murai’s research interests include general psychiatry, neuropsychology, neuroimaging, and the interface between psychiatry and philosophy.

Florence Thibaut
Board Member

 

Florence Thibaut, M.D., Ph.D., is Professor of Psychiatry at the University Hospital Cochin Paris and the University of Paris Cité, France. Her main interests are in psychopharmacology, addictive disorders, genetics of schizophrenia, sexual violence and in women’s mental health. She is a member of INSERM U1266, Institute for Psychiatry and Neurosciences.

Dr. Thibaut was President of the French Association for Biological Psychiatry (2007-2009). She is Honorary President of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (2013-), Immediate Past President of the International Association for Women’s Mental Health (President 2019-2022), Chair of the Women’s Mental Health Section of the World Psychiatric Association (2023-), and current Chair of the Scientific Committee of the French Association of Families of Mentally Ill people (UNAFAM) (member of GAMIAN).

Dr. Thibaut is Editor-in-Chief of Dialogues in Clinical Neurosciences (2014-) (IF 5.3); author or coauthor of more than 300 papers (190 in PubMed), and 7 books (Factor H: 42.). She has been an invited speaker at many national and international meetings.

Julian Trollor
Board Member

 

Julian Trollor MBBS is a Scientia Professor, NHMRC Leadership Fellow, and Director of the National Centre of Excellence in Intellectual Disability Health at UNSW Sydney. In 2025 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to people with disability, particularly as a clinician and academic, and elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, recognising his important contribution to health and medical research in Australia.

He previously held UNSW’s inaugural Chair of Intellectual Disability Mental Health (UNSW Sydney) and was head of the Department of Developmental Disability Neuropsychiatry (3DN).

Julian and the Centre work to improve health policy, practice and supports for people with intellectual or developmental disability.  They lead educational resource development, health promotion, consultancy, advocacy and contributions to policy and legislation. The team also conducts translational research of benefit to people with disability and the health sector.

Mathew Varghese
Board Member

 

Dr Mathew Varghese is a Senior Professor of Psychiatry currently at St John’s Medical College, Bangalore, India at the Geriatric Psychiatry Services. Formerly, he was a faculty member at the Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore for over 35 years. He worked in General Adult Psychiatry and Geriatric Psychiatry and was responsible for developing the Geriatric Psychiatry Services and Specialised training programs. He held different positions as the Head of the Department of Psychiatry and the Head of the Geriatric Psychiatry Services at NIMHANS, Bangalore. His main areas of research are in Geriatric Psychiatry, Family Interventions and Psychiatric Epidemiology.
Valerie Voon
Board Member

 

Valerie Voon MD, PhD is a Professor of Neuropsychiatry and Neuromodulation at the University of Cambridge and a Distinguished Professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, China. Her theoretical research focuses on understanding human impulsivity- compulsivity constructs and their relationship to emotional and incentive processes. She uses multimodal approaches focusing particularly on addictions and compulsivity. Her work aims to develop biomarker prediction with a highly translational arm in the development of novel neuromodulation techniques aiming towards intelligent personalized brain-computer interface designs. She was the past President of the British Neuropsychiatry Association and is a Fellow of the American Neuropsychiatric Association. She is the lead investigator responsible for more than £6 million in grant funding. Her research is highly impactful with over 250 publications and is in the top 5% of the most highly cited neuroscientists. She has numerous international invitations to speak and is active in media outreach.
Leigh van den Heuvel
2026 Conference Liaison Officer

 

Leigh van den Heuvel is a neuropsychiatrist and leads the neuropsychiatry unit at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. She is also an associate professor of psychiatry at Stellenbosch University. Her research interests include trauma, stress, psychoneurendocrinology, neuropsychiatry, and healthcare worker wellness.