Valsamma Eapen

UNSW Sydney Australia

Valsamma Eapen is Professor & Chair of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and Head of the Academic Unit of Child Psychiatry, South West Sydney (AUCS), Australia. Professor Eapen graduated from Kerala, India and continued her postgraduate training in India (NIMHANS) and the UK. She completed her Child Psychiatry training through the Great Ormond Street Hospital Scheme, and PhD work at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London. She started her academic career at the University College London, UK and then moved to the UAE University, where she was Professor of Child Psychiatry prior to taking up her current position in 2008. As a Child Psychiatrist with special expertise in neurodevelopmental disorders, her research interests include Tourette Syndrome, Autism, and ADHD, and her research has included epidemiological, genetic and clinical aspects of these disorders. Her other areas of research include neurobiology of attachment and separation anxiety disorder as well as developmental trajectory in normal and abnormal development.

Valsamma Eapen

1books edited

1chapters authored

Latest work with IntechOpen by Valsamma Eapen

The book covers some of the key research developments in autism and brings together the current state of evidence on the neurobiologic understanding of this intriguing disorder. The pathogenetic mechanisms are explored by contributors from diverse perspectives including genetics, neuroimaging, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neurochemistry, neuroimmunology, neuroendocrinology, functional organization of the brain and clinical applications from the role of diet to vaccines. It is hoped that understanding these interconnected neurobiological systems, the programming of which is genetically modulated during neurodevelopment and mediated through a range of neuropeptides and interacting neurotransmitter systems, would no doubt assist in developing interventions that accommodate the way the brains of individuals with autism function. In keeping with the multimodal and diverse origins of the disorder, a wide range of topics is covered and these include genetic underpinnings and environmental modulation leading to epigenetic changes in the aetiology; neural substrates, potential biomarkers and endophenotypes that underlie clinical characteristics; as well as neurochemical pathways and pathophysiological mechanisms that pave the way for therapeutic interventions.

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