Building an international consortium for neurodevelopmental disorders research
in Asia

On December 8, 2023, we held the 4th Academia Clinical Development Seminar online, inviting Associate Professor Masaya Tachibana, United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, an expert in the field of neurodevelopmental disorders, to speak on the topic of “Building an international consortium for neurodevelopmental disorders research in Asia”.

First of all, he explained about the United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, which is the project implementing body for building of the international consortium.

Second of all, he explained about neurodevelopmental disorders. In particular, with regard to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), he stated that "mental problems" related to developmental disabilities and abuse are on the increase, especially for ASD and ADHD, and that since various factors such as genetics, culture, and society are involved in their representation. Therefore, solutions from both global and domestic perspectives are needed.
In comparison with Europe and the U.S., there is a lag behind in Asia in large-scale, multicenter collaborative research, such as big data-based research, and the assessment methods and interventions used in clinical practice were developed in Europe and the U.S. and do not necessarily reflect the cultural and social conditions in Japan and Asia, which led him to believe that collaborative research network in the Asian is necessary, he said.
He said that against this background, the consortium for neurodevelopmental disorders research was established under a project supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and collaboration has begun with leading medical institutions in Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

Specifically, he stated that they are working on the establishment of an Asian Neurodevelopmental Disorders Registry (ANDy), translation and validation of Asian country versions of the "Sleep Questionnaires for children," the development of community-based short version of parent training, and agreements for academic and personnel exchanges, aiming not only to clarify the characteristics of each country but also to return the results to society and make policy recommendations in each country.

Finally, he also discussed how to maintain cooperative relationships and challenges in international collaborative research. The seminar ended successfully with a lively Q&A session and many participants.

The next seminar will be held on Friday, January 19, 2024, with Dr. Naoaki Ichihara from Graduate School of Medicine and Faculty of Medicine, the University of Tokyo.
We look forward to seeing you at the next meeting.