Professor Tony Holland
Tony Holland trained in medicine at the University of London, UK, and later trained in psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry and Maudsley Hospital, London. As a clinician he specialises in the assessment and treatment of psychiatric and behavioural problems of people with intellectual disability. He leads a research group that has undertaken many published studies on Prader Willi Syndrome investigating the nature of and reasons for the eating disorder and other behavioural, psychiatric, and physical problems associated with the syndrome. He is psychiatric adviser to the UK PWS Association and also their President. He is the scientific representative for the UK PWS Association on the Board of the International PWS Organisation (IPSWO).
University of Cambridge Learning Disability Research Group
The learning (intellectual) disability research group in the Section of Developmental Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, at the University of Cambridge brings together diverse disciplines with the aim of undertaking research, the results of which will benefit people with learning disabilities. Senior members of the group include those in the disciplines of molecular biology, psychiatry, psychology, and sociology, and also affiliations with other Departments and Universities in the disciplines of genetics, law and philosophy. The group is supported by long term funding from the Health Foundation and through the award of grants from external funding bodies and through PhD studentships. One research theme of the group is the relationship between specific genetic syndromes associated with learning disabilities and particular problem behaviours or psychiatric disorders. Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) is one such example. A previous population-based study of children and adults with this syndrome has characterized the nature and extent of the medical, psychiatric, and behaviour problems that are particularly common and reported for the first time the relationship between one genetic sub-type of PWS and the risk of psychotic illness. There are on-going studies of both the early and late PWS phenotype, the nature of the psychotic illness associated with PWS, and on the social environment that provides support for people with the syndrome given the problems with over-eating. Colleagues in molecular biology are using genetic mouse models to investigate the neurobiological mechanisms associated with the psychiatric problems. The long-term aims of these research projects are to improve our understanding of PWS and the support and treatment that can be offered.
