Meet Our Plenary Speakers
Friday, March 5, 2027 | 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM
Ruth A. Lanius, MD, PhD is a Psychiatry Professor and Harris-Woodman Chair at Western University of Canada, where she is the director of the Clinical Research Program for PTSD. Ruth has over 25 years of clinical and research experience with trauma-related disorders. She established the Traumatic Stress Service at London Health Sciences Center, a program that specializes in the treatment of psychological trauma. Ruth has received numerous research and teaching awards, including the Banting Award for Military Health Research. She has published over 200 research articles and book chapters focusing on brain adaptations to psychological trauma and novel adjunct treatments for PTSD. Ruth regularly lectures on the topic of psychological trauma both nationally and internationally. Ruth has co-authored five books: The Effects of Early Life Trauma on Health and Disease: The Hidden Epidemic, Healing the Traumatized Self: Consciousness, Neuroscience, Treatment, Finding Solid Ground (textbook and workbook), and most recently Sensory Pathways to Healing from Trauma; Harnessing the Brain’s Capacity for Change. Ruth is a passionate clinician scientist who endeavours to understand the first person experience of traumatized individuals throughout treatment and how it relates to brain functioning.
Friday, March 5, 2027 | 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Usha Tummala-Narra, PhD is a Professor of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology at Boston College. Her research and scholarship focus on immigration, trauma, and culturally informed psychoanalytic psychotherapy. She is also a clinical psychologist in Independent Practice. Dr. Tummala-Narra is a Consulting Editor for several journals, including Psychoanalytic Dialogues, the Journal of Counseling Psychology, The Humanistic Psychologist, and the American Psychologist. She is a member of the Holmes Commission on Racial Equality in American Psychoanalysis, initiated by the American Psychoanalytic Association. Dr. Tummala-Narra is the author of Psychoanalytic Theory and Cultural Competence in Psychotherapy (2016), the editor of Trauma and Racial Minority Immigrants: Turmoil, Uncertainty, and Resistance (2021), and co-author of Applying Multiculturalism: An Ecological Approach to the Multicultural Guidelines (2023), all published by the American Psychological Association Books. Dr. Tummala-Narra is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, such as the Joseph L. White Distinguished Alumni Award, and being listed among the top 2% of Highly-Cited Scholars Worldwide (Stanford University Report).
Sunday, March 7, 2026 | 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM
Dr John Read is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of East London. He has published over 200 research papers, primarily on the relationship between adverse life events and psychosis; the negative effects of bio-genetic causal explanations on prejudice; anti-psychotic and anti-depressant medication; electroconvulsive therapy; and the toxic influence of the pharmaceutical industry on clinical research and practice.
John is Chair of the International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal and is on the Board of Hearing Voices Network, England.
He has been the editor of the scientific journal Psychosis since 2009 and is the editor/author of several books, including A Straight Talking Introduction to the Causes of Mental Health Problems (2013) and Models of Madness (2004).
