... 學會通訊

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

How time flies! It felt like just yesterday that we embarked on this journey, yet all of a sudden, the Holiday Season is upon us again!

Reflecting on events that have taken place in this past year, and the progress we have made, I feel tremendously grateful to be part of this vibrant organization, and to have received so much warm support and assistance from so many of you throughout the year. In a few weeks, folks in the States will be celebrating Thanksgiving, and it is fitting and timely that I take this opportunity to express my gratitude for all the good things that we have shared for the entire year. In the following, I’ll briefly highlight some of the major milestones of our Society, and describe a number of initiatives and new developments that have either been started this year, and/or will take place in the coming Spring and beyond.

First of all, I am happy to report that the transition of the offices has gone well. This has been possible in large measure due to the guidance and advices from our Professor Wen-Ho Chang, our Founding President, and Dr. Shih-Ku Lin, our Founding Secretary General. Equally important has been the ingenuity and diligence of Dr. Kun-Po Chen, our current Secretary General, and Ms. Amy Chiahui Lin, the Society’s new secretary. Under their stewardship, the transition was seamless, and our Society is indeed in good and experienced hands.

As many of you might agree, this year’s annual conference, held at the National Health Research Institutes’ (NHRI) new campus in Zhu-Nan on April 24-25, 2005, was a remarkable success. The conference was unique and more challenging to organize in a number of ways, including the relative “remoteness” of the location, the length and format (including workshops) of the conference, the expanded panel of speakers coming from abroad, and the inclusion of basic researchers among the speakers. Amazingly, everything went well, and the conference proved exceptionally fruitful, not only in terms of the effective dissemination of knowledge, but also in regard to the promotion of cross-disciplinary and cross-national collaborative ties. Thanks are due to Dr. Chen and Ms. Lin for their hard work and adeptness in confronting logistic challenges, and equally so, for many of you for your active participation.

Throughout the year, many of our members have participated in various international meetings (e.g., the World Congress of Psychiatry in Cairo and the Congress of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology [ECNP] in Amsterdam) and have made significant contributions in world psychiatric literature that are too numerous to list. Instead, with the space limitation in mind, I’ll focus only on the following two items:

1. Participation at the 8th World Congress of Biological Psychiatry (June 28- July 3, 2005; Vienna, Austria). Both in number and in substance (i.e., quality of contributions), we were highly visible at the conference, which helped tremendously in ensuring the correct representation of our country’s name. This also was the first time our Society participated at the Congress as an official group of the World Federation for Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP), and we had the opportunity to participate at the Council and the General Assembly, and gained inside information on the organization and politics of the Federation. With the election of the new officers and the formation of the new Executive Committee, we have a window of opportunity to nominate members for various committees and taskforces, and I would like to encourage our members to check the Federation’s website (http://www.wfsbp.org/about.html) and serious consider volunteering to serve in one or more of these groups. Such participation is crucial for enhancing our visibility at the international level, and it might also foster new collaborative opportunities that are mutually beneficial, in addition to providing us with an opportunity to contribute to world psychiatry.


2. Along with other members of our Society, I also had the privilege of participating at two conferences in Japan, namely, the Joint Meeting of the 27th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Biological Psychiatry (JSBP) and the 35TH Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Neuropsychopharmacology (JSNP) (Osaka; July 6-8, 2005), and the 48th annual meeting of the Japanese Society for Neurochemistry (JSN2005) (Fukuoka; September 28 - 30, 2005). One thing I came away with after attending these meetings is that psychiatrists and psychiatric researchers in East Asia do share similar interests and outlooks, and we do need to continue to make concerted efforts to strengthen links with our colleagues in Asia, to foster collaboration and cross-fertilization.

1. Professional conferences:
   thanks to funds from our sponsors, we might be able to organize two conferences in the next year. The themes, dates and location are yet to be decided, and members’ input would be very much appreciated.At the same time, we should continue to actively participate in international conferences, and seek active roles in international professional organizations. As mentioned above, some of the efforts might include taking part in various component groups for WFSBP, and in fostering more active collaboration with colleagues around the world, but possibly with more specific focus on those in East Asia (the Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology Annual Meeting in Fukuoka [May 12-14, 2006] and the Pacific Rim Association of Clinical Pharmacogenetics Annual Meeting in Changsha, China [June 28-30, 2006] and a neuroscience meeting to be held in June in Hong Kong, represent some of these activities we might consider participating).


2. Training and career development programs:
   Perhaps one of the biggest stumbling blocks in promoting clinical and transnational research is the lack of “manpower.” Although we expect and encourage clinicians to engage or participate in such research, no formal programs have been established to provide systematic training, and little is available for the support of young clinicians to pursue such a career. To start to address such a void, NHRI recently develop a fellowship for psychiatric clinical research, which might be extended to cover other aspects of career development (junior faculty, etc) in the future.

   Similarly, a number of new funding mechanisms are supported by the Department of Health (DOH) to (1) provide systematic training for psychiatrists and nurses for good clinical practices and for conducting clinical trial research. The training for psychiatrists will also include instructions and mentorship for research protocol development. These training programs, specifically designed for psychiatric research, will be offered towards the end of this year, which will be repeated on an annual or bi-annual basis for at least the next several years; (2) career development awards for psychiatrists, research nurses and research pharmacists to develop careers along the line of clinical trial research. Substantive funds will be provided for qualified candidates to off-set a substantial portion of the salaries in order to free up time for training and career development; (3) support for travel and living expenses for up to 6 months for psychiatrists to study clinical trial research methodology at foreign institutions. Since items 2 and 3 are provided on a competitive basis across different medical disciplines, it is essential that we identify well-qualified researchers interested in clinical trial research and encourage them to apply for these supports.

   In addition, WFSBP also provides funds to support for international experts to come to a member country to conduct training for clinical and transnational research. The design and purpose are similar to that described under item 1 above. In addition to complementing our training programs, the participation in the WFSBP activities such as this will also help to foster and strengthen our relationship with our sister societies, as well as with colleagues from other parts of the world.

3. The establishment of infrastructure for clinical and transnational research:
   In consultation and collaboration with our Society and other psychiatric organizations, NHRI is currently implementing a number of major initiatives aiming at establishing the much-needed infrastructure for clinical research. These include (1) consensus groups for specific diseases/syndromes and for therapeutic modalities, to establish national consensus for practical clinical issues, which may then serve as the basis for consensus statements, clinical practice guidelines, clinical practice algorithm, as well as for identifying areas of conflicting opinions, pin-pointing questions that need further research. We’ll start initially with a small number of such groups, which will then serve as models for additional groups to cover other specific areas; (2) plans are under way to establish the Taiwanese Psychiatric Research Network (TPRN), an ongoing, multi-centered research network(s) to conduct primarily outpatient based clinical studies on issues crucial for improving patient care and for understanding mental and behavioral illnesses. Qualified researchers and institutions may join the network as well as designing and proposing specific studies to be conducted through TPRN. The network could also be used to conduct Phases III and IV studies for drug development; (3) Research ward(s) are being established or planned to provide the necessary psychiatric, nursing and ancillary support for clinical and transnational studies requiring inpatient milieus. NHRI has started the process of setting up the first psychiatric research ward at the Song-Te Branch of the Taipei City Hospital (TCPC), and hopes to use this as a model for similar outfits at other well qualified locations. In addition, starting this year, the DOH has set up new funding mechanisms for the establishment of centers of excellence for clinical trials research, and has initially funded two large centers for multiple disciplines and three centers for specific disciplines, including one on neurological disorders. We should act in concert to advocate for similar center(s) to focus on psychiatric and behavioral disorders.

Lastly, I am happy to report that the NHRI neuroscience, pharmacogenomics public health and pharmacoepidemiology programs have been progressing extremely well during this past year. In this relatively short time span, seven remarkably talented researchers have joined the Division, with expertise ranging from psychoneuroimmunology to neurophysiology and psychiatric genomics. Several other well-established and well- known neuroscientists in their fields also are on their way to join the Division. A wing at Zhunan’s new research buildings, with space totaling 20,000 sq. ft., has been assigned for the neuroscience group. The clinical pharmacogenomic and biomarker laboratory, located at TCPC, also will be refurbished and ready for use starting the beginning of next year. Various state of the art equipments have been procured or are available to us. Together, these represent important resources for researchers interested in collaborating with basic researchers to pursue issues of mutual interest. During this past year, a number of our members, together with NHRI researchers and leaders from other institutions, also have started exploring the feasibility of establishing a brain bank facility in Taiwan. We are currently planning for a consensus conference in Taiwan, which should take place towards the end of the year. To prepare for this, several of us previously have visited a number of leading brain tissue depository facilities in the U.S. and other countries. Ideally, if a consensus could be reached, we should join force with other neuroscientists to search for funding and make this a reality, which should further expand our repertoire and capacity in clinical neuroscience and genomic research.

Before closing, I would like to again express my gratitude to each and every one of you, for your support and trust throughout the year. We are off to another exciting year ahead, and I look forward to working closely with all of you, and have fun as well.

Best wishes and warmest regards to all,