Conference Organizers

MEET THE CO-CHAIRS 

J. John Mann is The Paul Janssen Professor of Translational Neuroscience (in Psychiatry and in Radiology) at Columbia University and Director, Molecular Imaging and Neuropathology Division at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He is a Past President of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, the International Academy of Suicide Research and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. He is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.

Dr. Mann received his medical degree from the University of Melbourne, and then completed his internship and residency at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He was trained in Psychiatry and Internal Medicine and has a Doctorate in Neurochemistry. His research employs functional brain imaging, neurochemistry and molecular genetics to probe the causes of depression and suicide. Dr. Mann has published over 795 peer-reviewed papers and edited 11 books on the subjects of the biology and treatment of mood disorders, suicidal behavior and other psychiatric disorders and has been continuously funded by the NIH since 1984. In private practice he specializes in the treatment of mood disorders and has been repeatedly named as America’s and New York Best Doctors by Castle Connolly.

Dr. Mann has received numerous research and teaching awards, including the American Suicide Foundation Research Award, the American Association of Suicidology Louis I. Dublin Award, the New York State Office of Mental Health Research Award, the Klerman Senior Investigator Award from the National Depressive and Manic Depressive Association, the Columbia University Department of Psychiatry Medical Student Teaching Award, the Stengel Award from the International Association for Suicide Prevention, the Morselli Medal from the International Academy of Suicide Research and the Mood Disorders Research Award from the American College of Psychiatrists.

Dr. Mann is an Honorary Professor of the University “Ss. Cyril and Methodius”, Skopje, Macedonia.

Ping Qin, M.D., Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology at National Center for Suicide Research and Prevention, University of Oslo, Norway, and Head of the research group for register-based studies on suicide and deliberate self-harm. Professor Qin has devoted her professional life to studying suicidal behavior with extensive experience in population studies with data from longitudinal registries, previously in Denmark and since 2012 in Norway. Her research interest has been into quantitative investigation on the contextual effect of multifactorial exposures on risk for suicide and suicidal behavior and prospective outcomes of psychosocial intervention and prevention strategies for deliberate self-harm. Professor Qin has led a large number of research projects funded by various funding bodies in Denmark, USA, China and Norway. With more than 20 years of research in this area, she has published over 100 research articles and book chapters including a series of influential epidemiological studies on suicidal behavior in relation to socio-economic status, physical and psychiatric illnesses, life stresses, clinical treatment and bio-genetic vulnerabilities.

Professor Qin is active in the international society for suicide research and prevention and devotes her time extensively for scientific assessments and supervisions in a variety of contexts. She has served on the scientific committee for many conferences and was the international advisory committee of the past 3 IASR/AFSP summits. She is also distinguished visiting professor and co-founder of Shandong University Center for Suicide Prevention Research in China and the co-chair of IASP special interest group on suicide and self-harm in middle-aged adults, and has served as vice-president of the International Association for Suicide Prevention since 2017.