In response to PA-10-071 NIH Support for Conferences and Scientific Meetings (Parent R13/U13), we request support for the Biennial Meeting of the International Society for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology (ISRCAP) to be held June 15th through June 18th, 2011 in Chicago, IL, USA. ISRCAP was established in 1989 with the purpose of convening researchers in developmental psychopathology for biennial, highly focused meetings during which recent data on the causes, and course and prevention of mental disorders in children are presented and discussed. Since its founding in 1989, ISRCAP has significantly expanded its membership in terms of numbers and representation. Today it is one of the leading scientific organizations devoted to the discovery of new knowledge on children's mental health. The mission of ISRCAP is to promote through meetings and publications in the society journal, the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, to promote discover in basic, translational, and clinical research to gain understanding of the genetic, neurobiological, behavioral, environmental, and experiential factors that contribute to the development and recurrence of mental disorders in children and adolescents. The ISRCAP meetings are attended by large majority of the members. The relatively small venue provides a greater opportunity for discussion and participation over the three-day meeting than that found at many other meetings. In addition, the fact that a core of the membership has regularly attended the biennial meetings, has allowed for continuity in the quality of the discussion and a building of the knowledge base of the causes of mental disorders in children and adolescents. The primary aim of this application is to secure funding for the 2011 Biennial Meeting, the theme of which is Innovative Translational Models in Developmental Psychopathology. Funding is requested to support meeting activities such as providing support staff for registration, fees and travel costs for invited speakers, adding a workshop on methods for testing epigenetic models of developmental psychopathology, defraying the costs of the meeting rooms and refreshments, and covering registration fees and travel costs for three minority junior faculty. The goals of the biennial meeting of the ISRCAP are fully consistent with two NIMH strategic objectives: Strategic Objective 1: Promote Discovery in the Brain and Behavioral Sciences to Fuel Research on the Causes of Mental Disorders and Strategic Objective 2: Chart Mental Illness Trajectories to Determine When, Where, and How to Intervene. In fact, the unique qualities of the ISRCAP membership and biennial meeting provide an unprecedented opportunity to accelerate the type of discovery in brain and behavioral sciences that is rapidly translatable to prevention and intervention efforts.
PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: We request support for the biennial meeting of the International Society for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology (ISRCAP), to be held in Chicago in June, 2011. ISRCAP is a scientific organization that is devoted to providing a forum for the sharing of new knowledge on the genetic, neurobiological, behavioral, environmental, and experiential factors that contribute to the development and recurrence of mental disorders in children and adolescents The theme of the 2011 meeting, Innovative Translational Models in Developmental Psychopathology, will yield symposia that integrate diverse approaches to studying related emotional, behavioral, and cognitive processes underlying psychopathology including animal models, experimental human models, longitudinal studies of developmental processes, and prevention/intervention studies.