
Neurodevelopmental Disorders & Sleep – An Update for Primary Care
Agenda
Meet the Speakers

Dr Soares trained at University College Hospital, London completing her GP training in St Albans and Hemel Hempstead. Dr Soares has been a GP partner for 25 years, initially in Braintree moving to Colchester. As a CCG mental health lead, she has been part of the North East Essex neurodevelopmental steering group working with Dr Helen Alabede and Dr Ben Marlow.

Dr Ben Marlow is a Paediatric Consultant with an interest in neurodevelopment having completed his special interest (SPIN) training in neuro-disability at Cambridge and Luton. He joined the team at Colchester General Hospital, Essex, in 2019. He is Research Lead for the department and head of the East of England Research Group for Community Paediatrics.
Dr Marlow has worked in the NHS for nearly 10 years, having completed his medical training at University College London (UCL). Prior to his role as a doctor, he completed a Masters in Biochemistry and worked for GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and UCB Pharma in Research and Development. He also completed a research fellowship at the University of Florida.
Ben has a keen interest in the neurobiology of neurodevelopmental disorders, especially the fields of neuroimmunology and metabolism. He is very keen to help advocate and advance the translation of science into treatments for children with neurodisabling conditions, particularly within the field of Autism. At the beginning of 2020 he was awarded the Gupta Foundation Young Researcher Award and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) local research network principal investigator support funding. He has a keen interest in teaching and has completed a Post Graduate Certificate in Medical Education (PGCME). Dr Marlow is a Member of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, British Association of Childhood Disability (BACD) and British Paediatric Neurology Association (BPNA).
He is also a regular writer for the publication ‘Autism Eye’.

Dr Alabede has been a Consultant at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust since September 2016, having completed much of her training here, alongside Chelmsford, Harlow and Addenbrookes.
The majority of Dr Alabede’s work is general community paediatrics, such as developmental delay and children with syndromes, as well as neuro-behavioural conditions such as autism and ADHD.
Dr Alabede also works out of hours in the paediatric department at Colchester General Hospital and has an interest in education and simulation.
What will the webinar cover?
Key learning objectives
- To raise awareness of the effective management and treatment options available when dealing with children who present with neurodevelopmental and sleep disorders
- To explore the evidence-base for the management of insomnia in children and young people with ASD
- To provide an update on local shared care guidelines for the treatment of sleep difficulties in children and adolescents