Project leader
	Prof. Dr. Tobias Banaschewski, MD, PhD, Medical Director Phone: +49 (0) 621/1703-4502 Fax:      +49 (0) 621/1703-4505 Email: tobias.banaschewski@zi-mannheim.de
	Prof. Dr. Ralf W. Dittmann, MD, PhD     Professor of Pediatric Psychopharmacology  Phone: +49 (0) 621/1703-4941                Fax:       +49 (0) 621/1703-4945   Email:    ralf.dittmann@zi-mannheim.de

Description of the organization:

The Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH) in Mannheim, Germany is an independent public foundation of the State of Baden-Württemberg associated with the University of Heidelberg and is one of Europe’s premier research institutions dedicated to mental health. It is dedicated to research in psychiatry, addiction medicine, psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy, neuroscience, clinical psychology, medical sociology and epidemiology. The Institute has been a Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health with the WHO since 1980. The Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (CAP), headed by Prof. Tobias Banaschewski, MD, PhD, at the (CIMH), specialises in psychiatric treatment and research in neuropsychiatric disorders (e.g., ADHD, Conduct Disorders, Tourette Syndrome and Autism). Research on efficacy and safety of medication treatment for psychiatric disorders in youths is a main focus of the department’s research agenda. In the summer of 2008, the Eli Lilly Endowed Chair for Paediatric Psychopharmacology was established at CAP focusing on clinical research with psychotropic compounds in children and adolescents (Prof Ralf W. Dittmann). The CAP is equipped with 52 inpatient beds distributed in 4 units/wards plus an outpatient facility. The Department’s outpatient clinic has about 400 new child and adolescent ADHD patients per year. The clinical and research teams include a total of 18 child and adolescent psychiatrists, 12 senior psychologists and 2 post-doctoral staffs.

Previous experience:

CAP CIMH has been involved in several international collaborations including various multisite medication trials. Prof. Banaschewski has been the principle investigator in several research projects including a current registration trial for a new ADHD compound. He has also been Co-PI on a NIH sponsored project on the genetics of ADHD (International Multisite ADHD Genetics – IMAGE, R01MH62873 to Steve Faraone, P.I.). The CIMH also has extensive experience in the management and implementation of earlier EU FP projects. The CAP CIMH (R.W. Dittmann & T. Banaschewski) is also participating in the Pediatric European Risperidone Study (PERS) which will be funded by FP7 (PI: Jan Buitelaar) and is responsible for the work package ‘Risperidone in Conduct Disorder, acute trial’ (R.W.Dittmann).

Profile of staff members

Tobias Banaschewski (MD, PhD) is an expert in the neurobiology and neuropsychology of ADHD and associated child psychiatric disorders. He is currently Co-PI of the NIMH-funded International Multi-Centre ADHD Genetics Project and is a member of the Advisory Board of the European Network of Research on Hyperkinetic Disorders. He was awarded the Kramer-Pollnow-Award for research on ADHD in 2003. He is the Co-Editor of the JCPP and Member of the EUNETHYDIS Guidelines Group on diagnosis and treatment of ADHD. He is also the director of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, CIMH, Mannheim, and a Chair at the University of Heidelberg.

Ralf W. Dittmann (MD, PhD) is a child and adolescent psychiatrist, clinical psychologist and Professor of Paediatric Psychopharmacology and also a recipient of the H. Emminghaus award. He has been responsible for more than 70 clinical trials including the role of principal investigator.

Daniel Brandeis is Professor for Developmental Clinical Neurophysiology at the Universities of Heidelberg and at Zürich, holds degrees in neurobiology and psychology, and is a recipient of the Kramer-Pollnow award. His research focuses on the developmental neuroscience of state regulation, attention, reading, ADHD and dyslexia, mainly using multimodal functional imaging with EEG-fMRI.

Manfred Laucht (PhD) is Professor of Neuropsychology at the CAP CIMH and head of the working group on neuropsychology. Furthermore, Prof. Laucht has broad research experience in epidemiology and gene-environment interactions and received the H. Emminghaus Award for his group in 2007.

Luise Poustka (MD) is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and focuses her research on various projects concerned with Pervasive Developmental Disorders (‘autism’).

Main tasks in the project:

This partner is responsible for the WP2 “Retrospective Cohort Data Acquisition”. In addition, it will contribute to patient recruitment in WP3.