Orgazational Structure
The Society is constituted into four regions
to reflect our international members
North America
Latin America
Europe – Africa
Asia – Australia
Committees
The Society has a number of Committees, all of which report to the Board of Directors. A summary of the Society’s current Committees is provided below.
For the rules governing the activities and membership of each of the Committees refer to the Society’s bylaws.
Biennial and Regional Congress Scientific Committees
The Committee members include a Chairperson and additional members who are appointed by the President and Vice-President with the approval of the Board of Directors.
Congress Organising Committee
Congress Organising Committees are established to oversee the local arrangements for the bi-annual and Regional Congresses.
Meet
our
Board
Members
President
Professor Brin Grenyer
Wollongong, Australia
I am the president of the ISSPD for the 2024-26 term and director of the Project Air Strategy for Personality Disorders and Senior Professor at the University of Wollongong Australia. My research is focused on the development and evaluation of new models of care with people experiencing challenges of personality disorder symptoms and their families, with a particular focus on process and outcome from psychotherapy and compassionate implementation within health services.
President Elect
Dr. Isabella Schneider
Heidelberg, Germany
I am working at the Department of General Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine of Heidelberg University Hospital, Germany. My research and clinical interests are in the study of social interaction, the effects of adverse early life experiences on mental health and parenting with personality disorders.
Vice-President, Europe
Professor Ueli Kramer
Lausanne, Switzerland
I am the current president of the European Society for the Study of Personality Disorder (ESSPD) and I co-represent the ESSPD at the ISSPD board. I am Professor for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University of Lausanne, Director of the Institute of Psychotherapy at the University Clinic of Lausanne (Switzerland), and affiliated with the University of Windsor (Canada). I am an expert in psychotherapy research, in addition to being a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist.
Vice-President, Europe
Professor Christian Schmahl
Mannheim, Germany
Vice-President, North America
Assoc Professor Shirley Yen
Boston, MA, USA
I am a founding member of NASSPD, and am currently the President for the 2022-2025 term. I am an Associate Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School, in the Department of Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. I am also a Training Director of the Clinical Psychology program at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Boston MA.
Vice-President, Asia-Pacific
Assoc Professor Sathya Rao
Melbourne Australia
I am the president of the AART-PD (Australasian Association for Research and Treatment for Personality Disorder) for the 2024-25 term. I am an Associate professor at the Monash University, Melbourne, and work as an Executive Clinical Director and consultant psychiatrist at Spectrum, a center of clinical excellence and statewide specialist service for personality disorder and complex trauma in Victoria, Australia”, My main interests are innovating models of care for personality disorder and translational clinical research.
Regional Group, Latin America
Glauco Valdivieso Jiménez
Lima, Peru
I will be acting as Vice-president, leading the Latinamerican Regional Group and member of the ISSPD Board. I am a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist specialized in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and certified in Transference Focused Therapy by the ISTFP. I am a professor of the Clinical Psychiatry course
at the School of Medicine of the Scientific University of the South (UCSUR). I work in the mental health unit and Psychiatry service of the Villa El Salvador Emergency Hospital in Lima. I am co-founder and medical director of the Peruvian Institute for the Study and Comprehensive Approach to Personality (IPEP) and co-founder of the Personality Disorders Chapter of the Peruvian Psychiatric Association and the Latin American Journal of Personality.
My main areas of interest are research and dissemination of topics related to personality and mood disorders.
Regional Group, Middle East
Professor Alireza Farnam
Tabriz, Iran
Immediate Past President
Giles Newton-Howes
Wellington, New Zealand
Member at Large
Professor Mario Speranza
Versailles France
I work in the department of psychiatry and mental health of the General Hospital of Versailles, France, and I’m professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Paris Saclay Versailles. A major focus of my clinical and research activity is the study of emerging personality disorders in children and adolescents, especially borderline personality disorders, using a developmental framework. I will be acting as a member-at-large of the ISSPD for the 2025-27 term
Early Career Member
Dr. Charlotte van Schie
Leiden, Netherlands
Dr Charlotte van Schie is a psychologist and senior researcher at the department for personality disorder at mental health institution PsyQ in the Netherlands. Her research focuses on the self and interpersonal challenges that people with personality disorder experience using experimental, neuroimaging and qualitative methods. She aims to use research findings, clinical training and patient experiences in her work to improve patient care.
Secretary-Treasurer
Professor Silvio Bellino
Torino, Italy
I am the Secretary and Treasurer of the ISSPD for the present term and I have been a member of the the Society since 2010. I am Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Turin, Italy, and I am in chair of the Centre for the Study of Personality Disorders.
Lived Experience (Family Carer)
Jill Townsend
Vancouver, Canada
I am a mother who has supported a child with BPD, a Board Member of Sashbear Foundation, and a Family Connections program peer facilitator. I am passionate about person and family-centered care, and the value of including lived experience expertise, in research and treatment for personality disorders. I am thrilled to join the ISSPD Board.
“Nothing for us, without us, and no one left behind. United, we are stronger.”
Lived Experience
Åse-Line Baltzersen
Oslo, Norway
As a board member with lived experience, I am deeply committed to advocating for equal and improved treatment opportunities for individuals with personality disorders. This personal commitment arises from receiving life-saving treatment leading me to a life worth living. Today I live far beyond my wildest dreams – not in material terms, but in my everyday experiences. It’s amazing how much you can withstand and roll with the punches when you feel at peace and enjoy deep and meaningful relationships with others.
My academic journey, including a Master’s in Interdisciplinary Health Research from the University of Oslo and a Bachelor’s in Public Relations and Market Communication from BI Norwegian Business School, has been integral to my advocacy. It was my bachelor’s thesis, a campaign plan for adolescents with BPD that opened my eyes to stigma and my privilege of receiving evidence-based treatment. My passion lies in exploring communication, stigma, knowledge translation, implementation science, and the power of digital networks to transform mental health care.
Communications officer (ex-officio)
Assoc Professor Sharon M. Nelson
State College, PA, USA
I am a clinical psychologist and an evaluation scientist with the Center for Evaluation and Implementation Resources (CEIR) and the Serious Mental Illness Treatment Resource and Evaluation Center (SMITREC), part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
My work focuses on research and evaluation of suicide risk and emergency service use for patients diagnosed with personality disorders and serious mental illness using national healthcare systems data. I am also leading efforts to develop national training programs for clinicians to learn program evaluation best practices.
Student member (ex-officio)
Stephanie Römer
Wollongong, Australia
Coalition Vice-President
To be determined
by the Board according to By-laws
Communications and social media committee
The ISSPD Communications Committee was formed in 2021 to help expand and grow the way that ISSPD communicates with members as well as the community. There are subcommittees devoted to managing and developing content for social media (like our Facebook or Twitter) and to designing and developing a new ISSPD website.
The Communications Committee is always seeking additional volunteers, including those with lived experience, researchers or clinicians from areas not currently represented on the committee, or volunteers with ideas for ways to develop and grow communications content.
Communications Director
Sharon M. Nelson
State College, PA, USA
I am a clinical psychologist and an evaluation scientist with the Center for Evaluation and Implementation Resources (CEIR) and the Serious Mental Illness Treatment Resource and Evaluation Center (SMITREC), part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
My work focuses on research and evaluation of suicide risk and emergency service use for patients diagnosed with personality disorders and serious mental illness using national healthcare systems data. I am also leading efforts to develop national training programs for clinicians to learn program evaluation best practices.
Website
Subcommitee
Isabella Schneider
Heidelberg, Germany
I am working at the Department of General Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine of Heidelberg University Hospital, Germany. My research and clinical interests are in the study of social interaction, the effects of adverse early life experiences on mental health and parenting with personality disorders.
Åse-Line Baltzersen
Oslo, Norway
As a member of the Communications Committee, I contribute with website development and campaign planning for the ISSPD. My journey in the digital domain began ten years ago, following my recovery. Since then, I’ve helped several businesses go viral on social media and successfully launched and led two e-commerce shops, leveraging my skills in website development, copywriting, digital marketing, virtual events, business and strategic planning. My role as a senior consultant in these areas has been building successful online platforms and crafting impactful digital narratives and relations. I am currently broadening my horizons by delving into video content creation and computer science, aiming to integrate these tools into my skill set for more dynamic and engaging communication strategies.
My academic journey, including a Master’s in Interdisciplinary Health Research from the University of Oslo and a Bachelor’s in Public Relations and Market Communication from BI Norwegian Business School, has been integral to my advocacy. It was my bachelor’s thesis, a campaign plan for adolescents with BPD that opened my eyes to stigma and my privilege of receiving evidence-based treatment. My passion lies in exploring communication, stigma, knowledge translation, implementation science, and the power of digital networks to transform mental health care.
Social Media
Subcommitee
Glauco Valdivieso
Peru
Glauco is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist with a degree from the National University of San Marcos in Lima, Peru. He specializes in dialectical behavior therapy and has additional training in mentalization-based therapy and transference-focused psychotherapy. He is medical director of the Peruvian Institute for the Study and Comprehensive Approach to Personality (IPEP) and heads the mental health unit of the Villa El Salvador Emergency Hospital in Lima, Peru. Currently, he is pursuing a master’s degree in personality disorders from the Complutense University of Madrid. He is interested in personality and mood disorder research and has published in nationally and internationally indexed journals.
Kathrin Blum
Switzerland
Insert text Kathrine Blum
