7th European Conference on Schizophrenia Research

3 Dear Colleagues, As congress president and on behalf of the Scientific Committee and the orga- nizers, I cordially welcome you to the 7th European Conference on Schizophre- nia Research. This time the conference is guided by the motto “Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders: Time for precision medicine?” In recent years, psychiatric research mainly focuses on approaches apt to target therapies to the individual and to predict the course of illness from an early stage on. Respective concepts have been labelled as “personalized” or “individualized”. Nowadays, driven by new diagnostics and therapeutics, the more comprehensive term of “precision medicine” came out on top. It takes into account individual variation in genetic and neurobiological make-up, environmental particularities, and lifestyle issues for each person in order to be able to predict more accurately which treatment and prevention strategies for a specific disorder will work in which groups of people with similar clinical presentations. Since psychoses in general and schizophrenia in particular present as quite heterogeneous disorders a common “one-fits-all” approach obviously is not able to meet individual needs. By deciding on a respective motto for the upcoming ECSR questioning whether time for precision medicine has already come with regard to schizophrenia and other psychoses, we aim to evaluate current evidence emerging from technological advances and various disciplines like (pharmaco)genetics, imaging, drug treatment, specific psychotherapies, etc. Accordingly, the scientific programme is supposed to cover the range of findings covering diagnostic issues including new approaches like biomarkers and respective methododologies, as well as phenotypic or psychosocial characteristics and resulting thera- peutic strategies. The ECSR is being established as an ideal platform to present new data and findings of schizophrenia research. Accordingly, the ECSR 2019 is supposed to be the perfect forum for scientific exchange on all facets of our motto including remaining challenges and unsolved questions. Thus, plenary lectures, state- of-the-art lectures, and the discussion on "Precision or personalized psychiatry: Different terms – same content?" are devoted to present potentials and limitations of the paradigm of precision medicine in psychiatry and especially in psychoses. The critical appraisal of current evidence of precision medicine in psychoses provided also in a variety of symposia will lead to discuss a respective research agenda. The opportunity to meet with international experts might even result in the initiation of consortia to coop- erate on relevant topics further promoting precision medicine in schizophrenia diagnostics, therapies and care, finally translating new knowledge into better outcomes. I cordially invite you to join us and participate in this exciting event. Sincerely yours, WELCOME ADDRESS Wolfgang Gaebel Congress President and President of the European Scientific Association on Schizophrenia and other Psychoses