EAPM Fellows 2024
Margarita Beresnevaitė

Margarita Beresnevaite, MD, PhD

Kaunas, Lithuania

Margarita Beresnevaite, an accomplished medicine doctor with 42 years in physician, psychiatrist, doctor psychotherapist practice and psychosomatic science fields. Throughout her career she has demonstrated a strong track record psychosomatics, defended her thesis in the field of biomedicine. Margarita Beresnevaite holds a PhD in biomedicine from Lithuanian University of Health Sciences.
Since 1987, she worked at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences as a junior researcher, later as a researcher and senior researcher. She consistently studies the relationship between psychological factors and heart diseases and the effectiveness of psychotherapy in these patients. She is recognized for her strong research in psychosomatics and her ability to work as a psychotherapist.
In her current position at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Margarita Beresnevaite continues to work on the topics of the University’s psychosomatic direction and the international project of the psychosocial direction. Her expertise in psychosomatics is a valuable asset to the team.

Franziska Geiser

Prof. Dr. med. Dipl.-Psych. Franziska Geiser

Bonn, Germany

Franziska was born in Holland and grew up in Belgium, which is where her love of foreign languages comes from. Germany is the country of her mother tongue, but, as she says, Europe is her home. After a brief excursion into law, she studied psychology and, perhaps because her father was more interested in the natural sciences than in emotions, she also studied medicine. The new specialisation in psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy, which was introduced in Germany in 1992, was a stroke of luck for her. She worked in internal medicine, psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine and trained in Gestalt therapy and psychodynamic therapy. Also, she got married and got two stepchildren as a bonus, and a third child was born in 2003. It’s a paradox: she feels that having and raising children is nothing out of the ordinary, and yet it’s the greatest achievement she‘s had the privilege of experiencing. Otherwise, she is also quite dedicated to what she does, which allowed her to take over the head of the Psychosomatic Department of the University Clinic in Bonn in 2012. Her main areas of research are anxiety disorders, psycho-oncology and psycho-cardiology, and most recently the cooperation with the humanities and research into the concept of resilience. She attended her first EAPM conference in Budapest (when was that again?), after that she was infected with the EAPM virus and thinks she hasn‘t missed a single conference. What she loves about the EAPM are the exciting topics and lectures, the atmosphere characterised by openness, common goals and friendliness, the exchange with people from all over Europe and beyond, from which friendships have developed, and the strolling and marvelling in ever new European cities while she gets to practise her foreign languages.

Bernd Löwe

Prof. Dr. Bernd Löwe

Hamburg, Germany

Professor Bernd Löwe, MD, is Full Professor and Head of the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) in Hamburg, Germany. Prior to his current position, he held clinical and research roles at the University Hospitals in Heidelberg, Germany, and Indianapolis, USA. Löwe is a qualified internist, specialist in psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy, psychologist, and psychotherapist.

Dr Löwe’s research focuses on the interaction of somatic and psychological factors in various medical conditions, including gastroenterological, cardiac and infectious diseases, as well as functional somatic syndromes and somatic symptom disorders. His commitment to this field led to the establishment of the Research Unit 5211 “SOMACROSS”, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) since 2021, of which he is the spokesperson. Together with other scientists, Dr Löwe has developed and validated several internationally recognised psychometric instruments, including self-report questionnaires for anxiety (GAD-7), somatic symptom severity (SSS-8) and psychological distress related to somatic symptoms (SSD-12).

Dr Löwe has also been instrumental in founding several local, national and international research groups, such as EURONET-SOMA, a collective of European scientists dedicated to improving the diagnosis and treatment of persistent somatic symptoms. He has published over 400 scientific articles and book chapters.

Hans-Christian Deter

Professor Hans-Christian Deter MD

Berlin, Germany

After studying medicine and psychology, I completed training in the Department of General Clinical and Psychosomatic Medicine at Heidelberg University Hospital. I was recognized as a specialist in internal medicine and, after working for a year in the Psychiatric clinic of the Heidelberg University Medical Center, I was recognized as a psycho-therapist. I became head of the Psychosomatic Outpatient Clinic and the Psychosomatic Consultation Service at Heidelberg University Hospital and was awarded the Venia legendi on the subject of “Disease-oriented group therapy and its effect on the physical, mental and social situation of patients with bronchial asthma”. I was appointed senior physician in the Dept. of Psychosomatics at the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim. Later I became Professor of Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy and Director of the Medical Clinic, Dept. of Psychoso-matics at the Charité Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin and was elected Director of the Clinic for General Medicine, Naturopathy and Psychosomatics. I was responsible for medical, psychosomatic and psychotherapeutic patients who came to the clinic for outpatient or inpatient treatment, and regularly treated patients myself. In my medical work during my specialist training, I had the opportunity to acquire comprehensive knowledge in the entire field of medical diagnostics and therapy. Focus of research:
1. development of new psychosomatic treatment methods for physically ill patients: Disease-oriented group therapy, starting with asthma and further developed for other internal diseases
2. long-term follow-up studies in anorexia nervosa
3. studies on emotion regulation and stress reactivity in people at risk of essential hypertension.
4. randomized controlled trials following psychological/psychosomatic therapy in chronically ill patients (bronchial asthma, Crohn’s disease, coronary heart disease).
5. quality management programs for general practitioners in private practice

Together with K Orth-Gomerr (SE), B Wasilewski (POL), R Verissimo (PT), G Ancane (LV), M Beresnavaite (LIT), A Barbosa (PT), H C Deter (GER), D Dumitrascu (ROM), K Dropowa (POL), C Facekas (AU), G Fava (IT), P Fink (DK), M Kopp (HUN); U Malt (NOR), G Moser (AU), C Scheidt (GER), G Schüssler (AU), T Sivik (SE), W Söllner (GER), T Theorell (SE), A Vingerhoets (NL) we founded the European Network on Psychosomatic Medicine (ENPM) 2004/5 (Deter et al. BioPsychoSocial Medicine (2017) 11:3), which was unified 2013 with the EACLPP to the EAPM.
Within national and international societies of psychosomatic medicine the idea has emerged of bringing together and coordinating psychosomatic, behavioral, psychological and medical actions with common interests throughout Europe as a way to increase their scientific and political influence. It was felt that there was a strong need and opportunity of a common and unifying forum for scientific exchange. It was considered desirable to exchange scientific thoughts and experiences in an open minded and boundless way, among individuals and societies, between disciplines and across borders. Ideas and discussions within the group of European psychosomatic scientists should be stimulated to combine strengths and actions supporting clinical psychosomatic research and medical practice. Psycho-cardiology, psycho-oncology and GI-diseases are examples of such positive developments.
Psychosomatic and Behavioral Medicine have reached a strong position in Europe. There are studies in which the medical speciality is on equal terms with psychosomatic medicine representatives. There is a continuous need for scientific conferences, for teaching, and for better practice with patients. This could be coordinated by a network. Much energy and time is lost in isolated societies and countries. We want to focus our resources in scientific projects within the boundaries of a scientific network with the primary aim of developing psychosomatic scientific exchange.

Monika Keller

Monika Keller, MD, Priv.Doz.

Heidelberg, Germany

After completing her studies in Medicine at LMU University, Munich, Germany in 1976, followed by MD thesis and statal appointment as physician in 1979,
training & further education at various clinical institutions, she became a
-Board certified internist in 1988
-Board certified specialist in Psychosomatic Med & Family Therapy in 1995
– certified supervisor(IPOM) in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy in 2015.

Following ‘habilitation’ in 2006, appointment as “Privatdocent” at Medical Faculty, Heidelberg University.
From 1998 on head of the ‘Unit for C/L Psychosocial Cancer Care’, from 2005 on ‘Division of Psychooncology’ at Heidelberg University Hospital.
From 2015 until retiring 2018 consultant and deputy head at Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and C/L Medicine at Gemeinschaftsklinikum Mittelrhein, Koblenz.
Currently, she acts as lecturer, researcher and supervisor at Medical Faculty, Heidelberg University, and several institutions.

Her special interests – from a clinical, research and education/training perspective are
– enhancing quality of care, in particular with serious, life-limiting disease; through patient-centered (PC), family-oriented care; by promoting multidisciplinary, interprofessional, practical & research collaboration with somatic HP’s; particular enthusiasm on communication (com);
– Longstanding experience & expertise with intensive, experiential com trainings; mono-& multiprofessional, & research. > 600 physians and HP’s attended 3-day–KoMPASS-trainings; resulting in reduced burnout. Quasi-exper research confirming patient-sided effects of PC com!
– Providing continuous, effective support adapted to families’ needs dealing with varying conditions (life-threatening illness, EOL care, transgenerational impact on families, eg with hereditary diseases) Concomitant multi-method research

Monika is an enthusiastic, longstanding member of former EACLPP, now of EAPM. As Board member she served as treasurer from 2012 to 2016.

Silvia Ferrari

Silvia Ferrari, MD, Associate Professor

Modena, Italy

Silvia has been working in the field of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and Psychosomatics since very early in her career, as a medical student and, later on as a resident, so approximately since 1997. Back then, she had the opportunity to study and work with prof. Marco Rigatelli, one of the members of ECLW, the network within which the EACLPP and the EAPM took birth. Since then, CLPP was the core of her clinical, research and training activities as health care professional and academic professional.

Particularly, when she started working at the University of Modena & Reggio Emilia, she was assigned for her clinical obligations to the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Service of the Modena University Hospital. Since 2022, she is in charge of the CLP Service in the Reggio Emilia General Hospital.

She has been active within the EAPM since its inception in Cambridge in 2013, and also participated to its foundation and the previous experience of EACLPP. Within the EAPM, she has been involved in two SIGs directly connected to her research and clinical interests, namely Transcultural Psychiatry and Integrated Care, organizing research projects, events and symposia for the annual conference and supporting networking with other relevant research groups.

Josef Jenewein

Prof. Dr. Josef Jenewein

Meilen-Zurich, Switzerland

Josef Jenewein is a medical doctor and specialist in Psychiatry & Psychotherapy. He is currently Medical Director of the Private Clinic Hohenegg, Meilen, Switzerland, adjunct professor at the University of Zurich. Until 2021 he was professor for Medical Psychology, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics at the Medical University of Graz, Austria. From 2009 – 2018 he was responsible for the Consultation-Liaisonservice at the University Hospital Zurich. From 2014-2019 he was president of the Swiss Society of Consultation- and Liaisonpsychiatry (SSCLP). His research interests are stress and coping in patients suffering from medical diseases as well as stress and coping in close relatives of those patients. Further interests are psychosomatics and psychotherapy.

Carsten Leue

Carsten Leue, PhD, MD

Maastricht, The Netherlands

Dr., Dr.med. (PhD, MD) Carsten Leue is working as a CL psychiatrist at the Maastricht University Hospital (MUMC) since 2003. He finished his dissertation (Dr. med. (i.e., MD)) at the RWTH Aachen, Germany, in 1999 (‘Kontinuierliche veno-venöse Hämofiltration im akuten Nierenversagen: Vergleich von bikarbonathaltigen (SH-35-HEP) und laktathaltigen (SH-04) Substitutionslösungen’), and he publicly defended his PhD-thesis (‘Hyperarousal in the hospital and what to do about it: The Med-Psych-Net – a transitional network approach fostering personalized care in psychosomatic medicine’) in 2017 at Maastricht University. Dr. Leue is head of the somatic comorbidity team (psychosomatics) at the MUMC’s department of Psychiatry, delivering clinical and transitional care. In 2008 he introduced the Medical Psychiatric Network, which is a transitional care approach in order to integrate different collaborative health care solutions, form tertiary to primary care. Consecutively, he is involved in scientific research regarding cost-effectiveness of integrated care in patients with multi-conditional complaints. Part of this work has been awarded by the Dutch Association of Gastroenterology (‘Best Practice Award 2012’) and by the World Institute of Pain (‘WIP Excellence in Pain Practice Award for Comprehensive Multidisciplinary Pain Practice 2013). Regarding management of integrated care solutions, he has been chairman of the MUMC’s Pelvic Care Centre from January 2012 till December 2014. He was board member of the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Department of the Dutch Psychiatric Association till 2019. Furthermore, he was board member of the European Association of Psychosomatic Medicine (EAPM) form 2013 to 2019, and secretary of the EAPM from 2016 to 2019. In 2019, Dr. Leue organized the last non-virtual annual conference of the EAPM 2019 in Rotterdam before the corona pandemic (‘Integrating psychosomatic care across medical settings and specialties). He is further concerned in the education of medical students and (upcoming) psychiatrists, somatic consultants as well as general practitioners. Since 2023, the integrated care model for ‘Neuro-Gastro-Motility Disorders’ has been recognized as a national centre of expertise, leading to nationwide MUMC-referrals from other parts of the Netherlands.

Else Guthrie

Prof. Else Guthrie

Leeds, United Kingdom

Marta Novak

Marta Novak, MD

Toronto, Canada

Ursula Werneke

Ursula Werneke,  MD, MSc, PgDip (LSHTM), FRCPsych

Luleå, Sweden

Consultant Psychiatrist Sunderby Hospital, Luleå, and Adjunct Professor in psychiatry Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden. Undergraduate training and doctoral degree Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany. Specialist training in psychiatry Maudsley Hospital London, UK. Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Post-doctoral research, London Health Economic Consortium, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK, and University of La Plata, Argentina. MSc Health Services Management University of London, UK. Active research programmes in psychopharmacology, COVID-19 and perinatal psychiatry with collaborations in Kenya, UK and Sweden. Further research interests: nutrition, complementary alternative medicine, and philosophy. Founder and coordinator of Masterclass Psychiatry (www.masterclasspsychiatry.se) in collaboration with international teaching institutions such as the Maudsley Hospital and the Tavistock Clinic, London. Contributor to several titles in the Oxford Textbook series. Associate editor Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology.

Gerhard Schüssler

Em o Prof. Dr. Gerhard Schüßler

Innsbruck, Austria

Prof. Dr. Gerhard Schüßler studied at the medical universities in Würzburg, Vienna and Berlin. He worked for training as a neurologist and psychiatrist at the Free Univ. Berlin. At the Univ. Göttingen he specialised in Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine where he finished 1991 with the venia docendi. He became full professor 1994 at the Univ. Innsbruck. The Innsbruck Conference 2010 was the point where the different societies of the field agreed to constitute EAPM. After the foundation of EAPM Prof. Schüßler served as vice-president and treasurer. For scientific/clinical work see Wikipedia.

 

EAPM Junior Fellows 2024
Verónica Cabreira

Verónica Raquel Alheia Cabreira, MD, PhD Candidate

Edinburgh, UK
Porto, Portugal

Verónica Cabreira is a medical doctor who trained in Neurology in Portugal. She holds an interest in neurodegenerative conditions including dementia and functional neurological disorders. She completed her PhD at the University of Edinburgh, where she undertook further clinical training alongside her research. During her PhD she attempt to identify and validate positive clinical signs for Functional Cognitive Disorder and led an international Delphi study to develop a new diagnostic checklist. She also developed a self-help digital health intervention for Functional Cognitive Disorder delivered via a mobile app. This proof-of-concept personalised therapy was tested for feasibility and acceptability. Alongwise, she developed wider interests in digital health and patient and public involvement, and is keen to widen clinical-academic networking in the field of the functional disorders.

Asma Chaabouni

Asma Chaabouni MD, MSc, PhD candidate

Nijmegen, the Netherlands

Asma Chaabouni is a specialist in Family Medicine and holds an MSc in Psychology.

She is shortly due to complete her PhD on symptoms and persistent symptoms at the Department of Primary and Community Care at Radboud University Medical Centre in Nijmegen in the Netherlands funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie. Her current research includes analyzing large primary care data registries to explore morbidity rates and the course of symptoms, and to develop and externally validate a prediction model for persistent symptoms in primary care. She is also investigating the potential of AI in the clinical implementation of prediction models to support GPs in daily practice.

Besides research, Asma is passionate about teaching and supervision.
She is a lecturer in psychology at the Radboud University. She is also supporting medical students conduct their research projects.

Nick Mamo

Nick Mamo, MD MSc MRCGP

Zwolle, Netherlands

Nick Mamo is a family doctor since 2020, and PhD candidate at the UMCG. His research is focused on collaborative care networks for the treatment of functional disorders and persistent somatic symptoms. Nick is focused on qualitative research as a way to improve quality of care provision especially in primary care, both in functional disorders as well as in other areas.

Brodie McGhie-Fraser

Brodie McGhie-Fraser

Netherlands

Brodie McGhie-Fraser is a PhD student at Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, Netherlands. Currently, he is a member of the ETUDE network, which is a H2020 MSCA funded project aimed at researching mechanisms, diagnoses, treatments, and stigma behind functional disorders. Brodie’s project has a focus on stigmatisation by healthcare professionals towards patients with persistent somatic symptoms, and the development of a new measurement instrument for stigma reduction interventions.

Caoimhe McLoughlin

Dr Caoimhe Mcloughlin

Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Caoimhe Mcloughlin is currently in the final year of her PhD at University of Edinburgh as part of the ETUDE fellowship program. She is studying Stigma in Functional Neurological Disorder. She also undertakes clinical work in neuropsychiatry in the Royal Infirmary Hospital Edinburgh. She plans to work as a consultant liaison psychiatrist back in Ireland on completion of her studies.

Lina Münker,

Lina Münker, M.Sc.

Aarhus, Denmark

Lina Münker has a background in health and developmental psychology. Throughout her studies, she focussed her research on investigating various psychological factor in child developmental within the framework of a chronic somatic condition, with the ultimate goal of improving child and family health. In her PhD project, Lina focuses on underlying factors and mechanisms in the development of functional somatic symptoms in youths together with her primary supervisor Prof. Charlotte Ulrikka Rask. Here, she investigates different child- and parent- specific risk factors, developmental symptom patterns, associations with other psychopathology throughout development, and longitudinal associations of earlier symptoms with different psychiatric and somatic morbidity into early adulthood. After her PhD, Lina plans on staying in her current research enviroment and plans to pursue a career as a scientist/practitioner, where she wishes to continue her research on epidemiological and developmental factors and possible avenues of preventive measures for youths with functional somatic symtomps.

Saya Niwa

Saya Niwa

Wroclaw, Poland

Tara Petzke

Tara Marlena Petzke

Mainz, Germany

Tara M. Petzke is a PhD student at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. She studied psychology at the University of Würzburg and the University of Leiden from 2015-2021. As she has always been interested in translating research into different settings, she gained some work experience in research, healthcare-settings, and healthcare-related policymaking during her studies. Currently, she is a member of the ETUDE network, which is a H2020 MSCA funded project aimed at researching mechanisms, diagnoses, treatments, and stigma behind functional disorders. Tara’s project is on interoception and emotion regulation as transdiagnostic mechanisms in functional disorders. As a part of this project, she had secondments at the ELTE in Budapest (Hungary), Klinikum Rechts der Isar in Munich (Germany), and at a therapeutics center Leuven (Belgium).
As a truly European researcher, Tara speaks seven languages and has contributed to various cross-cultural projects. She is a German, Croatian, and Australian citizen and hopes to improve psychosomatic healthcare communication and information sharing in Serbo-Croatian one day.

Franziska Regnath

Franziska Regnath, M.Sc.

Munich, Germany

Franziska Regnath is a psychologist and PhD candidate at the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the University Hospital rechts der Isar (Technical University of Munich). Franziska grew up in the south of Germany, but had eventually left the village to go abroad and study in the Netherlands, where she completed her undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of Groningen. During this time, she discovered her love for research and subsequently obtained a Research Master’s degree in psychology at the University of Amsterdam. As a student and research assistant, she gained experience with research on eye movements and pupillometry, intrusive memories, detection of concealed memories, and sleep. Over the course of her studies, she became particularly fascinated by eye-tracking research and the field of clinical psychology. When she found out about the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovation Training Network ETUDE, she was thrilled to learn that one of the projects combined these two passions. For this project, Franziska has moved back to Germany to complete her doctoral studies at the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy of the Technical University Munich. Together with her supervisor Prof. Nadine Lehnen and her research team, she investigates sensory-motor processing in the brain as a transdiagnostic mechanism underlying functional disorders (FD). Her project focuses on individuals with functional dizziness, functional movement disorder, chronic (functional) pain, and irritable bowel syndrome and combines a computational-experimental approach to shed more light on a potentially unifying mechanism of FD. Apart from her academic interest, she loves dogs and birds, food, and a walk in nature.

Caroline Rometsch

Dr. med. Caroline Rometsch (M. Sc. Psychology)

Florence, Italy

Dr. med. Caroline Rometsch is a psychologist and physician specializing in psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy. Her academic journey is marked by a series of distinguished achievements. She completed her medical studies at the Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen in 2015. Her passion for understanding the human mind led her to pursue both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Psychology from the same university, followed by a Master of Science in Psychology from Fernuniversität Hagen.

Dr. Rometsch is professional career is equally impressive. She has held several significant positions, beginning as a Physician in Training specializing in Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the University Clinic of Tübingen, and continuing at the University Clinics of Essen and Magdeburg. She served as an Early Stage Researcher in the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovation Training Network at the University of Florence, Italy, focusing on functional disorders. Here, she investigated the prevalence of functional disorders in the European adult population and is currently working to identify predictors of treatment success for these disorders. Her scientific contributions are notable, particularly in the fields of functional disorders, chronic pain, and psychotraumatology.

Beyond her research and clinical duties, Dr. Rometsch is a dedicated educator, imparting knowledge to medical students and healthcare professionals. She is actively engaged in the medical chamber and pain organizations, supporting the revision of German pain guidelines. Furthermore, she holds a position in the community for doctors in education in psychosomatic medicine and regularly contributes to psychosomatic congresses. Dr. Rometsch is multilingual, proficient in German, English, Greek, and Italian, and she contributes to the academic community as a reviewer for several peer-reviewed journals.

Chloe Saunders

Chloe Saunders MBBS MA(Oxon) MRCPsych

Aarhus, Denmark

Chloe Saunders trained as a medical dotor and psychiatrist in the UK, before moving to Aarhus, Denmark to take part in the ETUDE PhD network. During their PhD they have been developing the website bodysymptoms.org through participatory design, with the view to developing and communicating explanations and health advice for functional somatic symptoms that are not currently accessible outside of the research literature, or specialist clinical settings. They are interested in body first approaches to therapy, and personalisation of explanations and treatments in functional somatic disorders.

Abigail Smakowski

Abigail Smakowski, MSc.

London, United Kingdom

She is an Experimental Psychology graduate from the University of Bristol and holds a Master’s degree from King’s College London in Clinical Neuropsychiatry. Since then she has worked in a variety of clinical research positions within the area of persistent physical symptoms, including Functional Stroke in hyper acute stroke units across London, and Dissociative Seizures and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in the Maudsley hospital of South London and Maudsley NHS Trust. She has published a number of peer-reviewed articles, from big-data observational study to meta-analyses. Abigail is due to finish her PhD in 2024 on the predictive validity of diagnostic criteria of Functional Disorders used in mental health care at the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany. This project is part of the ETUDE is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovation Training Network.

Mais Tattan

Dr. Mais Tattan

Groningen, The Netherlands

Dr. Mais Tattan is a dedicated medical professional with a rich background and diverse international experience. Originally from Syria, Mais earned her medical degree from Damascus University Faculty of Medicine in Syria, trained as junior doctor in the United Arab Emirates, then went on to further her expertise with a Master’s of Science degree in Public Health from Brighton and Sussex Medical School in the UK.

Currently, she is pursuing a PhD at the Interdisciplinary Center Psychopathology and Emotion Regulation at University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands. Her research is focused on the predictive validity of diagnostic criteria of Functional Disorders used in somatic healthcare.

Höbe Treufeldt

Höbe Treufeldt

Sheffield, UK

I am a Clinical psychologist and currently a PhD
candidate at the University of Sheffield researching persistent
physical symptoms and stigma. More precisely in the
communication around medically less established conditions, such as Functional Disorders. My research tackles all matters of communication – from the sociological ways we communicate medical knowledge, the language we use, to the wider societal structures that determine prevalent frameworks we have at our disposal. And of course the psychological, emotional and other deeply individual aspects that all play an important role in the consultation settings.
I hold two Bachelor Degrees in Special needs Education and another in Psychology and a Master’s Degree in experimental and clinical psychology. I am a certified clinical psychologist in Estonia and I hold a EuroPsy certification in Health and Clinical Psychology. I am passionate about the interconnection of mental and physical health, I have therefore specialised in helping people with chronic multi comorbid conditions. Perhaps due to my background in education, I have very much enjoyed sharing science-based knowledge on psychological functioning and creating informational content in both work settings and through volunteering. My experience has shown me that it is important to pursue a patient-centred approach to communication, so as to offer appropriate explanations, and to demonstrate empathy. My experience has also reinforced a willingness to remain up to date with the current research and implement new practices. This has shaped how I approach communication around well-being, and I have continued working with patients who suffer both from long term psychiatric disorders and chronic somatic symptoms.

The aim of my research would be to improve the therapeutic doctor-patient alliance in persistent physical symptoms and to reduce the stigmatisation that the patients saliently experience.

Aleksandra Kustra

Aleksandra Kustra-Mulder

Hamburg, Germany

Aleksandra Kustra-Mulder is a psychology graduate with a Master’s degree in Clinical and Psychosocial Epidemiology. She is currently completing a PhD at the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany. Her research focuses on healthcare organizations and systemic factors that impact the course of persistent somatic symptoms across European countries.

 

EAPM Fellows 2023
Jordi Blanch

Jordi Blanch, MD, Catalonia, Spain

Psychiatrist MD PhD and degree in Philosophy, is currently Consultant in Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry of the Clinical Institute of Neurosciences in Hospital Clínic of Barcelona, Associate Professor of Psychiatry of the University of Barcelona, and Director of Mental Health and Addiction Services in Santa Maria University Hospital in Lleida. Member of the research group CIBERSAM.

He has been Chief of the Outpatient and Inpatient Psychiatry Clinics in Hospital Clínic of Barcelona; Medical Coordinator in Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu in Barcelona; Chair for Educational Affairs of the Clinical Institute of Neurosciences in Hospital Clínic of Barcelona, past president of the Catalan Society of Psychiatry, past president of the European Association of Psychosomatic Medicine, and Director of the Mental Health and Addictions Program of the Department of Health of the Government of Catalonia.

For more than twenty years he has conducted clinical, research and educational work in HIV Psychiatry. His areas of expertise in HIV Mental Health include depression, psychopharmacology, drug interactions, and psychotherapy in HIV.

He has also been done clinical work in psychiatric and psychological disorders in severely ill medical patients (oncology, bone marrow transplantation, solid organ transplantation, and others), as well as in personality disorders and anxiety disorders.

Director of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Hospital Universitari de Santa Maria de Lleida / Gestió de Serveis Sanitaris
Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona
Associate Professor, University of Barcelona CIBERSAM.

Dan Dumitrascu

Dan Dumitrascu, MD

Prof. Dan L. Dumitrascu graduated the medical school of Cluj-Napoca, Romania and worked in the Research Institute of Physiology D. Danielopolu in Bucharest, the Institute of Hygiene and Public Health Cluj-Napoca, before being accepted as assistant professor after the fall of communism. With the years he became full professor, and vice-rector of the Iuliu Hatieganu University. Research fellowships in Germany (Humboldt Foundation and DAAD), training stages in France, UK, Netherlands. Since 2001 attended most of ICPM, ECPR and EAPM meetings, became member of APS, Brain-Gut Research Group, Rome Foundation.

read more about Prof. Dan Dumitrascu

He coordinated a CEEPUS network on PM, started optional courses and a master program for PM, organized many PM meetings with international participation, was elected the president of the Romanian Society of Biopsychosocial Medicine and served 6 years in the board of EAPM. He obtained two grants of the American Psychsomatic Society for Group of Interest in psychosomatic medicine 2006 and 2007 (only 10 grants were accorded worlwide, 8 in USA, and 2 abroad, which we recieved in two years consecutively). He served as Vice-president European Society of Clinical Investigations, member Steering committee European Society of Neurogastroenterology and Motility, Chairman National Societies Committee of UEG United European Gastroenteroogy.. He is Chairman of the Publication committee of WGO World Gastroenterology Organization; Member Romanian Academy of Medical Sciences and President EAGEN European Association of Gastroenterology, Endoscopy, and Nutrition 2020-2023 and Honorary President of the Romanian Society of Neurogastroenterology, Active in most of EAPM meetings, co-chair of the SIG Digestive diseases of EAPM, organizer of the EAPM annual meeting 2014 Sibiu. More than 350 papers indexed on Pubmed.

Joanna Rymaszewska

Joanna Rymaszewska, MD

Wolfgang Söllner

Wolfgang Söllner, MD

Wolfgang Söllner is professor emeritus of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at Paracelsus Medical University in Nuremberg, Germany. From 2002 to 2018 he was head of the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at Nuremberg General Hospital and from 2015-2021 Vice-president of Paracelsus Medical University.

He startet his academic career at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, where he performed a residency in Family Medicine as well as in Psychiatry and Neurology. In 1997 he finished his post-doctoral thesis on a psycho-oncological topic. He perfomed a training in client-centered psychotherapy, in psychoanalysis and in family therapy. He works in Germany and Austria as a teacher, supervisor and training analyst in psychodynamic psychotherapy.

Dr. Söllner’s main clinical and research interests are coping styles and psychiatric co-morbidities of medically ill patients, psycho-oncology, chronic pain, and psychotherapy with the medically ill. He has extensive clinical experience in training physicians in communication skills. Dr. Söllner published 170 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 81 book chapters and edited 10 books. He is principal author of the European guidelines for training in C-L psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine and one of the editors of Uexküll’s Textbook of Psychosomatic Medicine.

He is a Fellow of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and Oken Fellow of the American Psychosomatic Society. From 2012 to 2020 he was president of the EAPM.

 

EAPM Fellows 2022
Anne-Françoise Allaz

Dr. Anne – Françoise Allaz

University Hospital Geneva Switzerland

 

 

Charlotte Rask

Prof. Charlotte U. Rask

Aarhus University Hospital Denmark

Charlotte Ulrikka Rask is consultant and clinical professor in child and adolescent psychiatry since 2016 at Department of child and adolescent psychiatry, Psychiatry, Aarhus University Hospital and Aarhus University, Denmark. Her research is centered around functional disorders and health anxiety in children and adolescents in two areas: epidemiology/basic research and clinical projects, mainly on new treatment- both early intervention and more specialised psychological treatment programs targeting negative illness perceptions and maladaptive illness behaviours to improve the young person's daily functioning and overall quality of life.

Albert Leentjens

Prof. Albert Leentjens

Maastricht University Netherlands

Albert Leentjens is professor of neuropsychiatry at Maastricht University Medical Center. His main clinical and research interest is the psychopathology of movement disorders. In addition he leads the psychiatric deep brain stimulation (DBS) programme in Maastricht.

Frank Vitinius

PD Dr. Frank Vitinius

University Hospital Cologne Germany

Priv.-Doz. Dr. Frank Vitinius, MD was assistant professor in the Department of Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy in the University Hospital of Cologne. Since January 2023 he is the head of the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine of Robert-Bosch Hospital in Stuttgart (Germany).

His main research fields are communication trainings, coaching of patients and psychosocial aspects of transplantation medicine.

Christoph Pieh

Prof. Christoph Pieh

Donau-University Krems Austria

Prof. Christoph Pieh, MD is Head of Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the University of Continuous Education Krems, Austria. His main research field are epidemiology of mental health, the interaction of sleep and pain, and evidence based psychotherapy research.

 

EAPM Fellows 2021
Antonella Ciaramella

Dr. Antonella Ciaramella

Antonella Ciaramella MD, psychiatrist and psychotherapist, master in phytotherapy, director of the psychosomatic center, GIFT Institute of Integrative Medicine in Pisa that hosts more than twenty psychologist/psychotherapist university trainees per year. She worked for 20 years at the Pain Clinic of the University Hospital in Pisa and taught psychosomatic medicine in the degree course in Psychology in the University of Pisa. Research area: pain and hypnosis.

Mladenka Tkalčić

Prof. Mladenka Tkalčić

Mladenka Tkalčić, professor at the University of Rijeka, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences,Department of Psychology. Her research interest is in the field of the psychosomatic medicine and health psychology with a particular emphasis on the cognitive and affective aspects of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). In 2019 she has started collaboration with colleagues from the Nagoya University in Japan through joint scientific project financed by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

Meike Shedden Mora

Prof. Meike Shedden Mora

Meike Shedden Mora is Professor for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at the Medical School Hamburg and senior researcher at the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany. Her research focusses on the management of persistent somatic symptoms and somatic symptom disorders, as well as on interventions employing placebo mechanisms to improve medical treatments.

Dirk von Boetticher

Dr. Dirk von Boetticher

Leading senior physician at the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Göttingen, Germany. He is Medical Specialist in Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Psychiatry and General Medicine. His special research interests are clinical concepts, psychodynamic psychotherapy, emerging adulthood, and the relation between the humanities and medicine.