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Professor Stewart Einfeld

Professor Stewart Einfeld Qualifications:  MD, GradCertMana CSU DCH (RCP&S) FRANZCP MRACMA

Positions held:

  • Professor
  • Chair of Mental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences
  • Senior Scientist, Brain & Mind Research Institute
  • Convenor, Disability & Community Faculty Research Group

Contact information

Biography

Professor Stewart Einfeld is the Chair of Mental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, and is a Senior Scientist at the Brain and Mind Research Institute.

Professor Einfeld has research and teaching interests in the area of child and adolescent psychiatry, developmental disabilities, including intellectual disability and its genetic causes and autism.

He is co-developer of the Developmental Behaviour Checklist. This instrument is widely used in clinical and research settings both within Australia and internationally, and has been translated into 21 languages.

Professor Einfeld is co-Chief Investigator of the Australian Child to Adult Development (ACAD) Study, now in its 20th year, funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council and National Institutes of Health.  This study examines a broad range of biological, psychological and social factors of potential protection and vulnerability in the development of behavioural and emotional problems in children and adolescents with intellectual handicap. These include genetic, family, educational, vocational and residential aspects. A major report on the project was published in JAMA.

Through advocacy, presentations and writings, Professor Einfeld has played a major role in promoting a re-emergence of interest in intellectual disability in the psychiatric profession in NSW in particular.

Professor Einfeld's awards include the World Health Organisation Travelling Fellow, Australian Society for Psychiatric Research Junior Travel Award, National Research Prize from the Australian Society for Study of Intellectual Deficiency.

Professor Einfeld's competitive grants total AU$7,565,074.


Teaching and Service Responsibilities

  • Professor Stewart Einfeld teaches in mental health related subjects
  • Fellow, Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, 1989.
  • Fellow of Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, 1988.

Research Opportunities

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Selected Publications

  • Einfeld, S. L., Piccinin, A. M., Mackinnon, A., Hofer, S. M., Taffe, J., Gray, K. M., Bontempo, D. E., Hoffman, L. R., Parmenter, T. & Tonge, B. J. 2006. Psychopathology in Young People with Intellectual Disability. JAMA, 296, 1981-1989.
  • Einfeld, S. L. & Tonge, B. J. 1996. Population Prevalence of Behavioural and Emotional Disturbance in Children and Adolescents with Mental Retardation:  II Epidemiological Findings. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 40, 99-109.
  • Einfeld, S. L. & Tonge, B. J. 1995. The Developmental Behavior Checklist - The Development and Validation of an Instrument to Assess Behavioral And Emotional Disturbance in Children and Adolescents with Mental Retardation. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 25, 81-104.
  • Einfeld, S. L. & Brown, R. (In Press). Down Syndrome - New prospects for an ancient disorder. JAMA.
  • Einfeld, S. L. & Emerson, E. 2008. Intellectual Disability. In: M. Rutter, D. Bishop, D. Pine, S. Scott, J.S. Stevenson, E.A. Taylor & Thapar, A. (eds.) Rutter's Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 5th ed. London: Blackwell.
  • Tonge, B. J. & Einfeld, S. L. 2003. Psychopathology and Intellectual Disability. The Australian Child to Adult Longitudinal Study. In: Glidden, L. M. (ed.) International Review of Research in Mental Retardation. San Diego: Academic Press.
  • Brereton, A. V., Tonge, B. J., Mackinnon, A. J. & Einfeld, S. L. 2002. Screening young people for autism with the Developmental Behavior Checklist. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 41, 1369-1375.
  • Einfeld, S., Tonge, B., Turner, G., Parmenter, T. & Smith, A. 1999. Longitudinal course of behavioural and emotional problems of young persons with Prader-Willi, Fragile X, Williams and Downs Syndromes. Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, 24, 349-354.

Selected Grants

  • Einfeld, S., Sofronoff, K., Gray, K., Roberts, J., Beaumont, R. Effectiveness of social skills training in children with autism. ARC Linkage Grant (2010 $95,000, 2011 $67,000, 2012 $30,000)
  • Einfeld, S., Guastella, A., Smith, A.  NHMRC Project Grant # 632884. Oxytocin Treatment for Prader Willi Syndrome. 2010 $96,250; 2011 $86,250.
  • Guastella, A., Einfeld, S., Gray, K., & Rinehart, N. NHMRC Project Grant # 632625. A course of oxytocin nasal spray to improve social-communication in young people with autism. 2010-2012 $283,000
  • B. Tonge, S.Einfeld, T. Parmenter. A longitudinal study of psychopathology in people with intellectual disability.  NHMRC. 2006-2010 $962,250.
  • S. Hofer, B. Tonge , S. Einfeld, A. Mackinnon, A. Piccinin, D. Bontempo, K. Gray, F. Lawrence, J. Taffe.  National Institutes of Health, USA. 2005 US $63 750; 2006 US $63 750; 2007 US $63 750; *Continuing Grant Application: Risk Factors for Psychopathology Using Existing Data Sets: Psychopathology in Young People with Mental Retardation. 

Further grants and further publications

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