Profile photo Albert Batalla Cases

Albert Batalla Cases

Assistant Professor - medical

Strategic program(s):

Biography

Albert Batalla was born in Barcelona (Spain), where he completed the Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery in 2001, being granted with the Extraordinary Award of Bachelor (Autonomous University of Barcelona). He completed the training as psychiatrist (2012) and his PhD on the relationship between cannabis and psychosis (2014) at the Hospital Clinic de Barcelona (University of Barcelona). As pre-doctoral researcher at the Fundació Clínic per a la Recerca Biomèdica (FCRB) he studied the impact of addiction (focusing on cannabis) on the outcome of psychotic disorders, cognitive control and brain volume, revealing gene-environment interactions that play a role in the sensitivity to the effects of cannabis on the brain.
 
In 2014 he moved to the Netherlands, where he started working as a psychiatrist in Tactus Addiction Treatment and temporarily as postdoc at FCRB. Since 2018 he works at the Diagnosis and Early Psychosis Unit at the UMC Utrecht, where he leads the Care Program Substance Use. His primary goal is prevention and integration of addiction treatment, while enhancing patient participation, education (e.g. Outpatient Clinic Medical Cannabis in Psychiatry) and translational and innovative research, like the study of cannabinoids, psychedelics, eHealth and lifestyle interventions.

Albert is since 2020 chairman of the Addiction Section of the Dutch Psychiatric Association (NVvP), and since 2022 board member of the Addiction Section of the European Psychiatric Association (EPA). He is also senior lecturer at two nationwide postgraduate degrees in addiction at the Radboudumc (the Dutch Training in Addiction Medicine, NOVA; and the Addiction Psychiatry Course for specialists in psychiatry, Leertraject Verslavingspsychiatrie), and is involved in several teaching activities, including several curricula at the UMCU (Medicine, Biomedical Sciences, Master neuroscience and cognition, Pharmacy, Psychiatry training), masterclasses and courses in the Netherlands (e.g. Psyfar, RINO Groep) and abroad (e.g. Ekademeia). He is involved in international projects (e.g. ENIGMA consortium), has published several articles, book chapters, and is a reviewer of international journals.

Recent publications

Mega-analysis of the brain-age gap in substance use disorder Freda Scheffler, Jonathan Ipser, Devarshi Pancholi, Alistair Murphy, Zhipeng Cao, Jonatan Ottino-González, A. Batalla, K. T. Brady, J. Cousijn, A. Dagher, F. M. Filbey, J. J. Foxe, E. A. Garza-Villarreal, A. E. Goudriaan, R. H. Hester, K. E. Hutchison, A. M. Kaag, E. Kroon, C. R. Li, E. D. London, V. Lorenzetti, M. Luijten, R. Martin-Santos, A. L. McRae, R. Momenan, M. P. Paulus, G. D. Pearlson, L. Reneman, R. Salas, L. Schmaal, M. L.J. Schouw, R. Sinha, N. Solowij, E. A. Stein, R. J. Van Holst, D. J. Veltman, A. Verdejo-García, R. W. Wiers, M. Yucel, Paul M. Thompson, Steve Shoptaw, Patricia Conrod, Scott Mackey, Hugh Garavan, Dan J. Stein,
Addiction, 2024, vol. 119, p.1937-1946
Psychiatrists effect on positive symptom severity and daily functioning during pharmacotherapy for first-episode psychosis patients Franciska de Beer, Sanne Koops, Robert A. Schoevers, Wim Veling, Nico van Beveren, Lieuwe de Haan, Nynke Boonstra, Martijn Kikkert, Marieke J.H. Begemann, Inge van der Heijden, Joelle Hoornaar, Ellen Graveland, Jan Jaap Hage, Ruben Curfs, Albert Batalla, Sybren Wiersma, Selene Veerman, Natalie Veen, Anton B.P. Staring, Gerdina Hendrika Maria Pijnenborg, Jörg Kurkamp, Henderikus Knegtering, Martijn de Jonge, Koen Grootens, Gunnar Faber, Truus van den Brink, Steven Berendsen, Maarten Bak, Therese van Amelsvoort, Toon Scheurink, Matej Djordjevic, Iris Hamers, Alban Voppel, Priscilla Oomen, Erna van’t Hag, Shiral Gangadin, Bodyl Brand, Joran Lokkerbol, P. Roberto Bakker, Sinan Gülöksüz, Bram Sieben Rosema, Machteld Marcelis, Sanne Schuite-Koops, Marieke J.H. Begemann, Filip Smit, Jim van Os, Iris E.C. Sommer, Iris E.C. Sommer,
Scientific Reports, 2024, vol. 14
Cannabis Dependence is Associated with Reduced Hippocampal Subregion Volumes Independently of Sex Valentina Lorenzetti, Alexandra Gaillard, Eugene McTavish, Sally Grace, Maria Gloria Rossetti, Albert Batalla, Marcella Bellani, Paolo Brambilla, Yann Chye, Patricia Conrod, Janna Cousijn, Izelle Labuschagne, Adam Clemente, Scott Mackey, Peter Rendell, Nadia Solowij, Chao Suo, Chiang-Shan R Li, Gill Terrett, Paul M Thompson, Murat Yücel, Hugh Garavan, Carl A Roberts
Cannabis and cannabinoid research, 2024, vol. 9, p.e1565-e1578
Current Perspectives on the Clinical Research and Medicalization of Psychedelic Drugs for Addiction Treatments Anton Gomez-Escolar, Daniel Folch-Sanchez, Joanna Stefaniuk, Zoe Swithenbank, Andreia Nisa, Fleur Braddick, Nazish Idrees Chaudhary, Pim B van der Meer, Albert Batalla
CNS Drugs, 2024, vol. 38, p.771-789
De effectiviteit van verplichte zorg bij een stoornis in middelengebruik A Neven, M P W Dik, H A de Haan, A Batalla
Tijdschrift voor Psychiatrie, 2024, vol. 66, p.367-372

External positions

Voorzitter Afdeling Verslavingspsychiatrie - Voorzitter - Nederlandse Vereniging voor Psychiatrie (NVvP)

Onderwijs - Ja, kennis als medische specialist - Radboudumc