Neurophysiology and neuroendocrinology of psychological trauma. The role of the immune system in the association between health and illness and traumatic experience.

Instructors: Gonçalo Cotovio (Medical Researcher, Champalimaud Foundation), Margarida Figueiredo-Braga (Psychiatrist, FMUP, Trauma Observatory).

[For queries regarding late registration, please contact observatoriodotrauma@ces.uc.pt]

Programme
15h00 | Gonçalo Cotovio (Medical Researcher, Champalimaud Foundation)
Neurobiology of emotions

16h20 | Break

16h30 | Margarida Figueiredo-Braga (Psychiatrist, FMUP, Trauma Observatory)
Trauma and illness I - Chronic illness and trauma - a bidirectional relationship
Trauma and illness II - Traumatic experiences and depression - The role of the immune system

Bio notes

Gonçalo Cotovio completed his MA in Medicine at NOVA Medical School, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, in 2014. A year later, he joined the Champalimaud Foundation's Neuropsychiatry Unit as a research intern, where he recently completed his PhD. Over the years, he has focused his research on the neuroimaging of bipolar disorder and neuromodulation as a method of treating mood disorders. He is also currently a Psychiatry Intern at the Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Ocidental and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Neurosciences at the NOVA Medical School of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa. His speciality is the neurobiology of mood disorders, trying to develop strategies to study and treat them, using neuromodulation, for example. With regard to the study of the neurobiology of mood disorders, his focus has been on the use of advanced neuroimaging techniques, namely functional brain connectivity, allowing the clarification of neuroanatomical structures and circuits that are involved in these psychiatric disorders.

Margarida Figueiredo-Braga | Psychiatrist. Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto, Researcher at I3S - Institute for Research and Innovation in Health and Associate Researcher at CES - Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra. She is interested in researching and teaching clinical communication and the therapeutic relationship, and is a founding member of SP3CS (Portuguese Society for Clinical Communication in Health Care). She obtained her PhD in Medicine in 2009 with the thesis “Depression and Immunity: Lessons from a study of SLE Patients”. Figueiredo-Braga’s other scientific research interests include the impact of life events and stress on the immune system and psychological and biological factors in resilience to stress and depression. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the European Journal of Psychotraumatology. Psychotherapist and Supervisor in Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies accredited by the APTC. Founding member of the Portuguese Society for Clinical Communication in Healthcare (SP3CS), and National Representative of the International Association for Communication in Healthcare (EACH).