The network will exchange researchers and research methods, as well as databases containing (anonymised) information about patients and test subjects. The fact that South Africa is joining the network is good news. It means access to what may be different manifestations of anxiety disorders, new genetic populations and other sources of infection than in Europe. South Africa can in turn benefit from the knowledge that has already been gathered in Europe.

Dr Nic van der Wee

Dr Nic van der Wee is a psychiatrist at the Leiden University Medical Centre and one of the key players in the Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC). He is the Leiden representative of the new network. Van der Wee says: ‘Leiden is unique in the network, because within the university, groups from the University Medical Centre and the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences work together closely in an innovative and broadly interdisciplinary study of anxiety disorders. This takes place within the LIBC and the university research profile area of ‘Health, Prevention and the Human Life Cycle.’ We do research that covers a whole lifetime and we try to unravel the role played by genetics, neurobiology, MRI findings, psychology and environment with regard to anxiety disorders, and what starting points there are for prevention and treatment.’