Details of the chairs for the twelve accepted Symposia are today announced. Visit the programme pages for details and biographical information.

The following three new Symposia are today announced for presentation at ISAD 5th Biennial Conference: Screening for bipolar disorder; Oxidative biology in psychiatric disorders and CANMAT: Managing depression in the bipolar and unipolar patient

Online registration for is now open for the ISAD 5th Biennial Conference. Reductions on the registration fee apply for delegates registering before December 10, 2009.

The following speakers will give plenary lectures at the ISAD 5th Biennial Conference: Pierre Blier, University of Ottawa, Canada; Martin Knapp, London School of Economics, UK and Myrna Weissman, Columbia University, USA.

Details of the symposia to be presented at the ISAD 2010 conference are today announced. These will be arranged in parallel sessions with a keynote presentation on each day and supplemented by contributed oral and poster presentations.

Abstracts are invited by 30 September 2009 for oral and poster presentations at the conference. Please submit via the online submission form on the ISAD 2010 website.

ISAD would like to invite symposium proposals from the Fellowship on the conference topics. Proposals may focus on basic, translational and clinical research and integrative symposia are encouraged. Affective disorders are defined broadly and include Anxiety Disorders, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Posttraumatic Disorder. The deadline for submission is February 1, 2009.

The 5th Biennial Conference of the International Society for Affective Disorders will take place at the Westin Bayshore Hotel in Vancouver, Canada, April 16-19, 2010. The Conference will promote research into the affective disorders through all relevant scientific disciplines and will encourage networking, exchange of ideas and experiences, and advance awareness of the consequence of mental health to global health and human development.