This workshop was held Sep 19-20, 2013.
Prescriptions for second generation antipsychotic drugs (SGAs) to Canadian children and adolescents with mental health disorders have skyrocketed in the past 10 years. From 2005 to 2009, their use to treat a variety of mental health disorders, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, and mood disorders increased by 114%. Currently, over 6000 children in the province of British Columbia alone are believed to be taking antipsychotic medications. Despite the rapid growth rate, none of these medications have been adequeately studied in children for safety or efficacy, and none have been approved by Health Canada for use in this population.
This workshop is designed to bring together leading UBC and international experts to examine the ethical controversies surrounding recent increases in the off-label use of antypsychotic medications to treat mental health disorders in Canadian children.
The team will invite clinicians, researchers, ethicists, and advocates from a vareity of disciplinary backgrounds to identify ethical concerns, gaps in knowledge, and the strategize on how to move forward to address challenges.
Judy Illes
Wall Associate
Dr. Judy Illes is a Professor of Neurology and Canada Research Chair in Neuroethics at UBC. She is also the Director of Neuroethics Canada, and faculty in the Centre for Brain Health at UBC, as well as the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute. Dr. Illes has been appointed to the Standing Committee on Ethics for CIHR for a three year term beginning September 2014. She also holds affiliate appointments in the School of Population and Public Health and the School of Journalism at UBC, and in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA, USA. She is an elected fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. As a pioneer and eminent scholar in the field of neuroethics, she has made groundbreaking contributions to ethical, social, and policy challenges at the intersection of biomedical ethics and neuroscience, with a specific focus on aging and dementia, addiction and mental health, neuroimaging, stem cells, cross-cultural values, and the commercialization of health care.
