Petrus de Vries

Professor
University of Cape Town

Description
Petrus de Vries is the Struengmann Professor of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and Founding Director of the Centre for Autism Research in Africa (CARA) at the University of Cape Town.
He trained in Medicine at Stellenbosch University in South Africa before moving to the UK where he completed his clinical training in Psychiatry and Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, and a PhD in Developmental Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge. He returned to South Africa in 2012.
Since his return to Africa, his research has focused on global autism, neurodevelopmental and child & adolescent mental health and on implementation science in low- and middle-income settings. He has worked closely with the World Health Organization (WHO) child & adolescent psychiatry team on various projects related to autism and developmental disabilities. He was a participant in the 2022 Lancet Commission on autism. Apart from his interest in autism, he has a longstanding clinical research programme in Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) and its associated neuropsychiatric disorders (TAND). He has a particular passion for global research capacity-building in autism, neurodevelopmental disabilities and child & adolescent mental health.
Petrus previously was Chairman of the Society for the Study of Behavioural Phenotypes (SSBP), Chair of the African Division of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Treasurer of the International Association of Child & Adolescent Psychiatrists and Allied Professions (IACAPAP) and President of the South African Association of Child & Adolescent Psychiatrists and Allied Professions (SA-ACAPAP). He is the current President of INSAR (International Society for Autism Research).