Keynote speakers

 

Pr Marc Auriacombe
University of Bordeaux (France)

Chairman  - Plenary Session 1

---

 

			Pr Marc Auriacombe is a Professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bordeaux, and a Deputy Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (USA). He is Deputy Director of the Sanpsy Laboratory (CNRS USR 3413) and manages the « Phenomenology and determinants of appetitive behavior » team. Pr Marc Auriacombe also heads the Addictology Unit at the Charles Perrens hospital in Bordeaux, in connection with Bordeaux University Hospital. This unit is a set of health and medico-social services dedicated to managing and preventing addictions with or without substance use, composed among others of the Regional Expert Center of Pathological Gambling in Aquitaine (RECPGA), and of a continuous training and research unit. Marc Auriacombe gathered a multiprofessional team and conducts with Mélina Fatséas (MD, PhD, HDR) a research program on addictive behaviors, which main goal is to better characterize the phenomenology of addictive behaviors and its determinants. This research relies on epidemiology, sociology, clinical neurosciences and psychology methods.

 

Pr Michel Reynaud
University Hospital Paul Brousse (France)

Co-Chairman - Plenary Session 1

---

 

			Michel REYNAUD, Professor of Psychiatry, Head of the Department of Psychiatry and Addictology at Paul Brousse University Hospital (Villejuif) (since 2005). His research interests cover neurobiology of addictive behaviors : genetics, neuroimaging,  pharmacology and sociology and policy of addictions He is the coordinator for various diplomas in addictology. President of the French Addictology Federation, he held the post of operations manager of psychiatric policy to the DHOS (Hospital and Health Care Administration) until 1997, and then of addictology policy to the General Director of Health and the MILDT (Inter-ministerial Mission in the Fight against Drugs and Drug Addictions) until 2000 and from Health Minister in 2006. He is principal investigator of ALPADIR (double blind randomized study on high doses of baclofen) ; and the two other studies on new alcohol treatments (nalmefen and  sodium oxybate) has been directed, for France, in the research unit of Paul Brousse. He developped a specific research team on addictions within the U669 unit, which should be officialised has a specific INSERM unit in 2015. He is the author and director of over 20 textbooks for specialists including the  « Traité d’addictologie » (A Treatise of Addictology) and of numerous national and international publications. He is member of the board of the International Society of Biological Alcohol Researches (ISBRA).

 

Pr Marc Potenza
Yale School of Medicine (USA)

Plenary Speaker - Plenary Session 1   -  Chairman - Plenary Session 3

---

 

			Le Pr Marc Potenza est professeur de psychiatrie au Yale Child Study Center, ainsi qu’au Département de neurobiologie de l’université. Il est également directeur du Centre d’excellence en recherche sur le jeu, directeur du programme de recherche sur l’impulsivité et les troubles du contrôle des impulsions, et directeur du programme sur les femmes et les troubles addictifs, au sein du programme de recherche sur la santé des femmes, à Yale. Le Dr Potenza est un psychiatre certifié, titulaire d’une sous-spécialité en psychiatrie addictive. Il a été formé à l’université de Yale où il a obtenu une licence puis un master avec mention en biochimie moléculaire et biophysique, ainsi qu’un doctorat en biologie cellulaire en parallèle de son doctorat dans le cadre du Programme de formation en médecine scientifique. Il a réalisé son internat en psychiatrie et son externat en psychiatrie addictive à Yale. Il est actuellement professeur de psychiatrie, de pédiatrie et de neurobiologie à l’hôpital universitaire de Yale où il dirige la clinique dédiée aux troubles du jeu, le Centre d’excellence en recherche sur le jeu, ainsi que le programme sur les femmes et les troubles addictifs, au sein du programme de recherche sur la santé des femmes. Il est également directeur de neuroimagerie pour le VISN1 MIRECC au VA Connecticut Healthcare System. Il fait partie du comité de rédaction de huit revues médicales et a reçu de multiples distinctions d’excellence à la fois nationales et internationales en recherche et soins cliniques. Il a été consultant pour l’Administration des services de santé sur la toxicomanie et les maladies mentales, le Registre national des programmes performants, l’Institut national de la santé, l’Association américaine de psychiatrie, et l’Organisation mondiale de la santé en matière d’addictions.

 

Dr Mélina Fatseas
University of Bordeaux (France)

Plenary Speaker - Plenary Session 1

---

 

			Melina Fatseas (MD, PhD, HDR) is an addiction psychiatrist within the Addictology Unit at the Charles Perrens Hospital Center in Bordeaux. She is the co-director, along with Marc Auriacombe, of a research program on addictive behaviors overseen by the Sanspsy Laboratory (CNRS USR 3413), which main goal is to better define the phenomenology of addictive conducts and its determinants. With this in mind, her research focused on the role of craving and psychophysiological responsiveness in drawbacks. Her teaching activity at the University of Bordeaux is related to addictions and focuses on research training and on training health professionals in the fields of medicine, psychology and neurosciences.

 

Pr Jean-Luc Vénisse
University Hospital of Nantes (France)

Chairman  - Plenary Session 2

---

 

			For more than 25 years, Pr Jean-Luc Vénisse has been focusing his research on addictive behaviors with or without the use of drugs, and advocates for a dedicated clinic and a transversal approach on addictive behaviors. He grants a particular interest in behavioral addictions such as chance and money gambling (or pathological gambling), video games addiction, cyberdependences, compulsive shopping and food addictions. In April 1990, Nantes University Hospital opened the first French hospital unit entirely dedicated to patients confronted with a behavioral addiction. In 2008, Pr Jean-Luc Vénisse initiated the Reference Center on Excessive Gambling (RCEG), which was one of the first components of the Federative Institute for Behavioral Addictions.

 

Dr Didier Acier
University of Nantes (France)

Co-Chairman - Plenary Session 2

---

 

			Didier Acier, Ph.D., is a Professor in Clinical Psychology at the University of Nantes who graduated from the University of Montreal. His background is focused on Psychotherapy from a plural perspective, and in fundamental research. He is specialized in addictions, mainly in the problematic use of the Internet. He has published articles in Canada and in France regarding cyberdependence, but also regarding possible therapeutic interventions with drug users using IT tools.

 

Dr Susana Jimenez-Murcia
Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (Spain)

Plenary Speaker - Plenary Session 2

---

 

			Ph. D. in Psychology, Susana Jiménez-Murcia has chosen as subject of her thesis « Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders and Eating Disorders ». She is head of the Pathological Gambling Unit at the Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Bellvitge (Barcelona, Spain). Since 2006, she has been Associated Professor in Psychology, School of Medicine at the University of Barcelona. She published many articles on obsessive-compulsive disorders and behavioral addictions. She was invited at more than 100 lectures in International/National Conferences.

 

Dr Boris Beaude
EPFL - Polytechnic school of Lausanne (Switzerland)

Plenary Speaker - Plenary Session 2

---

 

			Dr Boris Beaude has a Ph.D. in Geography, and conducts research within the Chôros laboratory at the École Polytechnique Fédérale of Lausanne. He was a teacher for 8 years at the Institut d’études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). His work is related to the spatial dimension of telecommunications and more generally regards the spatial context of social interaction. He is interested in the means individuals provide themselves with to master space, and he is particularly interested in the Internet as a singular space of coexistence. He authored « Internet, changer l’espace, changer la société » (2012, FYP) and « Les fins d’Internet » (2014, FYP).

  

Jean-Michel Costes
Observatory Games (France)

Plenary Speaker - Plenary Session 2

---

 

Jean-Michel Costes is holding a master in sociology and a degree in demography acquired in the University of Paris I. Head of studies at the beginning of his career, in the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, he became in 1986 manager of the hospital statistics office then project manager for the hospital reform implementation and more precisely the change of information system.   Head of mission in the Interministerial Mission for the Fight Against Drug and Drug Addiction in 1993, he was Director of the French monitoring centre on drugs and drug addictions (OFDT) from 1995 to 2011. He is currently Director of Studies of the French monitoring centre on gambling whose mission is to study gambling patterns and gambling related social impacts in France.

 

Olivier Simon
University Hospital of Lausanne (Switzerland)

Co-Chairman - Plenary Session 3

---

 

			Addiction psychiatrist, Olivier Simon has worked in various specialised University Hospital units in Western Switzerland. Since 2003, he has been Medical Director of the Centre for Gambling Addiction, in Lausanne. The unit specialises in gambling-related disorders and behavioral addictions.

 

Pr Alex Blaszczynski
University of Sydney (Australia)

Plenary Speaker - Plenary Session 3

---

 

			Pr Alex Blaszczynski is the Professor of Psychology at the School of Psychology, University of Sydney and Head of Department, Department of Medical Psychology, Westmead Hospital, Sydney. He is a Co-Director of the University of Sydney’s Gambling Research Unit. He is a founding member of the Australian National Council for Problem Gambling, the National Association for Gambling Studies, and a foundation director of the Australian Institute of Gambling Studies. He is a clinical psychologist with a long history of involvement in treatment and clinical research of a range of impulse control disorders, in particular pathological gambling. In addition to the psychology of gambling, Professor Blaszczynski has research and clinical interests in the treatment of sexual paraphilic behaviours. Professor Blaszczynski has published extensively on the topic of gambling, carried out randomised treatment outcomes studies using behavioural interventions, assessed the prevalence of depression and suicidality, the relationship between crime, gambling, and personality characteristics of impulsivity and sensation-seeking in pathological gamblers. He has developed a conceptual pathways model explaining the aetiology of pathological gamblers, evaluated the impact of changes to the design of electronic gaming machines and worked in conjunction with collaborators from Harvard and Laval Universities.

 

Dr Hervé Montès
Psychiatrist (France)

Plenary Speaker - Plenary Session 3

---

 

Trained as a psychiatrist, Dr. Hervé Montes early in his career became very interested in understanding the fundamental theories behind motivation and decision, as well as in the process of change underlying psychotherapy. Dr. Montes is a specialist in addictions, and is the head of an addiction treatment center in Orléans (France). Dr. Montes has been a Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) therapist for over 15 years, teaching in continuing education programs supervising therapists. He was elected Vice President of the Association Française de Thérapie Comportementale et Cognitive (AFTCC – French Association for CBT) in 2011. More recently, Dr. Montes has continued his interest in CBT focusing on more recent therapeutic approaches (ACT, Mindfulness, etc) and applying them to addiction treatment.

 

 

Pr Isabelle Giroux
University of Laval  de Québec (Canada)

Plenary Speaker - Plenary Session 3

---

 

			Pr Isabelle Giroux is an Associate Professor at the School of Psychology at the University of Laval in Quebec, Canada. She has an 18-year experience as a formative, researcher and practitioner in gambling psychology. Isabelle Giroux has been heading the Excellence Québécois Center for Gambling Treatment and Prevention (EQCGTP) since 2008, a center that has gained international renown for the quality and the practical benefits of its research. She published no less than 34 publications and 68 scientific presentations at national and international congresses. Her publications illustrate the versatility of her expertise based on extensive knowledge of the fundamental mechanisms involved in the development of gambling, interventions with gamblers and the assessment of gambling sensitization and prevention programs with diverse audiences.

 

Pr Joël Billieux
Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium)

Chairman  - Plenary Session 4

---

 

			Joël Billieux is Professor of clinical psychology and psychopathology in the catholic University of Louvain (Belgium), and codirector of the Laboratory for Experimental Psychopathology. His main area of research regards the psychological factors (cognitive, affective, motivational) involved in the etiology of addictive behaviors (e.g., cyber addiction, gambling addiction, tobacco addiction), with a particular focus on self-regulation-related processes (e.g., impulsivity, inhibitory control). He has currently published around 60 papers in peer-review international journals and several books and books chapters. He is Regional Assistant Editor for the journal International Gambling Studies and member of several other editorial advisory boards.

 

Dr Jean-Claude Dreher
University of Lyon (France)

Co-Chairman - Plenary Session 4

---

 

			The goal of our researches in our laboratory is to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying decision making, motivation and reward processing in humans, using concepts from cognitive neuroscience, psychology and psychopathology. We use experimental tools such as model-based functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, intracranial electrophysiological recordings in patients with epilepsy and pharmacological manipulations combined with multimodal neuroimaging. Our goal is to understand the functional organization of the prefrontal cortex in humans, the various functions that the reward dopaminergic system exerts on cognition and motivation and the neural mechanisms underlying dysfunctions of these two systems in patients with psychiatric or neurological disorders (schizophrenia, pathological gambling, impulse control disorders in Parkinson’s disease, patients with focal prefrontal cortex lesions and women with anorexia). In parallel, we are also studying how individual variations in hormones and genes involved in dopamine transmission influence reward processing and decision-making.

 

Dr Ruud van den Bos
Radboud University Nijmegen (Netherlands)

Plenary Speaker - Plenary Session 4

---

 

			Ruud van den Bos (1960) obtained his PhD in neurobiology from Radboud University Nijmegen in 1991. Since then he has worked at different universities in the Netherlands (Utrecht and Leiden) and abroad (Southampton, UK) as researcher and lecturer. His current affiliation is Radboud University Nijmegen. The overarching theme of his research is the interaction between emotion and cognitive control. This comprises among others studies on (reward-related) decision-making in humans and animals. He has been using and developing cross-species specific tasks to unravel choice-behaviour related to, and the neural underpinnings of, the interaction between emotion and cognitive control. Topics that he recently has studied are the effects of stress and sex differences on decision-making and risk-taking. He applies knowledge emerging from his research to understand, prevent and treat stress-related behavioural problems and disorders in humans and animals.

 

Pr Luke Clark
University of British Columbia (Canada)

Plenary Speaker - Plenary Session 4

---

 

Dr Clark was appointed the inaugural Director of the Centre for Gambling Research at UBC, Vancouver, in July 2014. Prior to moving to Canada, he was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge, UK. His research focuses on the psychological and neural mechanisms that support decision-making during gambling, and how these processes are altered in disordered gambling. He has published over 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals, and serves on the editorial boards for « Addiction », « International Gambling Studies », and the « Journal of Gambling Studies ».

 

Dr Isabelle Amado
Hospital of Sainte Anne (France)

Plenary Speaker - Plenary Session 4

---

 

			Dr Isabelle Amado is a psychatrist and a hospital practioner at the Sainte-Anne hospital, and led extensive research in the field of attentional cognitive functions and oculomotor disorders in schizophrenia. Since 2010, Isabelle Amado focused her interest in cognitive remediation and its implementation in schizophrenia and in pathologies linked to the development of young adults. Within Sainte-Anne hospital, she created the Reference Center for Cognitive Remediation and Psychosocial Rehabilitation (C3RP). Dr Amado’s current work explores cognitive remediation –for which she incidentally received the « Science to Practice Award » - and she is a founding member of the Francophone Association of Cognitive Remediation (FACR), which creates new programs and publishes manuals on the latest techniques used in cognitive remediation. She is a member of the french network of cognitive remediation, directed by Professeur Nicolas Franck in Lyon, which enables the development of homogeneous neuropsychological valuation techniques, along with the development of multicentric studies for new programs on remediation and social cognition.