Stakeholder Register

Bonginkosi Chiliza

Associated Organisation:
The Africa Global Mental Health Institute

Area of Work:
Global Mental Health

Role:
CEO

Summary:
Bonginkosi Chiliza is a co-director of the Global Mental Health Institute as well as the Associate Professor/Chief Specialist and Head of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He completed his medical degree and psychiatry specialization at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and his PhD at Stellenbosch University. His research interests include: - Schizophrenia - Consultation-liaison psychiatry - Health services - Medical education. Bonginkosi Chiliza is the Deputy Editor of the South African Journal of Psychiatry, as well as the President-Elect of the South African Society of Psychiatrists. Prof Chiliza has received a number of awards including the Hamilton Naki Clinical Research Fellowship and the CINP Rafaelsen Young Investigators Award. He has authored over 50 peer reviewed articles and book chapters. He has also served on a number of NGO Boards, including the SA YMCA and Life Choices. He is one of the Founding Directors of Harambee Medical Consulting and African Global Mental Health Institute.

David C Henderson MD

Associated Organisation:
The Africa Global Mental Health Institute

Area of Work:
Global Mental Health

Role:
CEO

Summary:
David C. Henderson is the co-director of the Africa Global Mental Health Institute. David is also the professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine as well as the psychiatrist-in-Chief at Boston Medical Center. Dr. Henderson previously served as Director of The Chester M. Pierce, MD Division of Global Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Director of the MGH Schizophrenia Clinical and Research Program, and Medical Director of the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma. Dr. Henderson serves as Co-Director of the NIMH T32 MGH-BUSM Global Mental Health Clinical Research Fellowship. He has worked internationally for the past 21 years in resource-limited settings, and areas impacted by mass violence, disasters and complex emergencies. Dr. Henderson has conducted research and training programs in Bosnia, Cambodia, East Timor, Ethiopia, Haiti, Liberia, New Orleans, New York City, Rwanda and Peru, South Africa, and Somaliland among other places. His work has consisted of field studies, needs assessments, mental health policy development and strategic planning, quantitative and qualitative surveys, mental health capacity building programs for specialized and primary health professionals, and skill-transfer program evaluation. In the United States, he has conducted more than 30 randomized clinical trials in severely mentally ill populations. Dr. Henderson has also directed a schizophrenia research training fellowship, and mentored trainees and junior faculty who have progressed to K awards and secured other independent funding. He actively mentors 10 psychiatry residents and 4 postdoctoral fellows on data-driven international research projects

Marie Angele Abanga

Associated Organisation:
Global Mental Health Peer Network; Hope for the Abused and Battered

Area of Work:
Global Mental Health

Role:
Advocate, Ambassador / Champion, Carer, CEO, Chairperson, Community Member, Consumer

Summary:
Marie Angele Abanga (simplified to Marie Abanga) aka MAG likes to describe herself as a “Jacqueline of several trades”. She is an everyday woman and mother with a zigzag profile. Let’s give it a try! She is an Activist, an Author, a Coach, a Consultant, a Feminist, a Lawyer, a Lecturer, a Prince 2 Project Manager, a Psychotherapist, a Philanthropist and above all a spiritualist! She just loves to sum it up by saying she is a person of passions and a tale of talents. Her life’s journey has filled 7 books already and her three musketeers keep her busy at home. MAG is 41 and lives in Douala the economic capital of Cameroon MAG is also the founder and CEO of the association Hope for the Abused and Battered, and the Country Director of the Gabriel Bebonbechem Foundation for Epilepsy & Mental wellbeing. She is also the Global Mental Health Peer Executive representing Cameroon. The plethora of life's experiences and shenanigans she has lived through and learned from in 4 decades of existence, have equipped her with such an arsenal to coach, train and motivate just any and everyone. She is so charismatic, dynamic and full of life, going by her designed mantra of 3Ds: Determination; Discipline and Dedication. These sum her and her quest to be the best version of herself and impact others positively. She attributes all her wealth of knowledge to her conscientious attendance of both informal and formal school. Let's see what she got from formal school below ... Ms Abanga had her LLB Hons from the University of Buea, a Maitrise in Public Law from the University of Yaounde II, a higher Diploma in Transport and Logistics with distinctions from ODECI Cameroon, an LLM in International Law with International Relations from the University of Kent, a P2PM Foundation and Practitioner certification from the US, and a CBT Psychotherapy Diploma with distinctions from the UK. She is an eternal student, currently doing an MSc in professional practice in Leadership Management (healthcare) as a Commonwealth Scholar with the University of Lancaster. MAG can be contacted via her website at www.marieabanga.com and on whatsapp via +237698914754 Visit her association at: https://www.hope4abusedbattered.com/

2020ZCVZ-ZMarieZAngeleZAbanga.docx

Melanie Abas

Associated Organisation:
Centre for Global Mental Health

Area of Work:
Global Mental Health

Role:
Professor

Summary:
Professor Melanie Abas is a deputy director of the Centre for Global Mental Health. She has researched, published and mentored widely in the field of depression in low and middle-income countries and in vulnerable migrants in high-income and middle-income countries. This has included developing methods to measure depression, anxiety and trauma-related disorders validly in cross-cultural groups, research to develop and trial interventions, and research to implement and scale-up interventions for depression in low-income countries. My work has had impact, for example for people living in poverty in Zimbabwe and for those caring for trafficked populations in the UK. Professor Melanie Abas has developed models for integrating depression care into primary care and HIV care which have had impact in an African context. This includes being co-investigator on the Friendship Bench program in Zimbabwe, now the largest depression program in any low-income African country. These programs are delivered through task-sharing with non-specialists. She continues to work on expanding these to rural areas of low income countries and to younger age groups. She works on interventions for depression and trauma-related disorders at the interface with physical illness (especially HIV), and at the interface with the priorities of work, education and gender equality. Melanie Abas has a program of research on depression and HIV in Zimbabwe. This includes clinical trials aimed at increasing viral suppression through better approaches to adherence counselling and through improving mental health and economic wellbeing. MHervision of task-sharing to grow access to care for depression and anxiety disorders is expanding to creative arts programs and the private sector. Her work has been characterised by research capacity building. I was a co-principal investigator on a Medical Education Partnership Initiative program, a platform which built capacity across a network of 13 African medical schools, funded by PEPFAR and the NIH . Melanie continues to provide formal research mentorship to two heads of department at the University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences as well as supervising Wellcome Trust fellows and PhD students. She is the lead for King's College London of one of the Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training and Science programs funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Department for International Development to build research capacity in African mental health scientists.

Ricardo Araya

Associated Organisation:
Centre For Global Mental Health

Area of Work:
Global Mental Health

Role:
Professor

Summary:
Ricardo is a director of the Movement For Global Mental Health. Ricardo's research interests include the aetiology of common mental disorders, inequalities and their link to the mental health of populations with special emphasis on international comparisons, and effective treatments for common mental disorders, such as simple and brief interventions using non-medical workers and strong community participation. Several of his current projects use technological platforms to support the delivery of mental health interventions. He is involved in projects in a large number of countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. He has a special interest in projects that integrate mental health problems in the care of other diseases i.e. hypertension, diabetes, HIV and so on.

Ritsuko Kakuma

Associated Organisation:
Centre of Global Mental Health

Area of Work:
Global Mental Health

Role:
Associate Professor

Summary:
Dr Ritsuko Kakuma is the co-director of the Movement For Global Mental Health. Risuko is an associate Professor in Global Mental Health and programme Director for MSc in Global Mental Health. Ritsuko has researched, published and mentored widely in the field of depression in low and middle-income countries and in vulnerable migrants in high-income and middle-income countries. This has included developing methods to measure depression, anxiety and trauma-related disorders validly in cross-cultural groups, research to develop and trial interventions, and research to implement and scale-up interventions for depression in low-income countries. Ritsuko's work has had impact, for example for people living in poverty in Zimbabwe and for those caring for trafficked populations in the UK. I have developed models for integrating depression care into primary care and HIV care which have had impact in an African context. This includes being co-investigator on the Friendship Bench program in Zimbabwe, now the largest depression program in any low-income African country. These programs are delivered through task-sharing with non-specialists. I continue to work on expanding these to rural areas of low income countries and to younger age groups. She works on interventions for depression and trauma-related disorders at the interface with physical illness (especially HIV), and at the interface with the priorities of work, education and gender equality. Ritsuko has a program of research on depression and HIV in Zimbabwe. This includes clinical trials aimed at increasing viral suppression through better approaches to adherence counselling and through improving mental health and economic wellbeing. My vision of task-sharing to grow access to care for depression and anxiety disorders is expanding to creative arts programs and the private sector. My work has been characterised by research capacity building. I was a co-principal investigator on a Medical Education Partnership Initiative program, a platform which built capacity across a network of 13 African medical schools, funded by PEPFAR and the NIH . She continue to provide formal research mentorship to two heads of department at the University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences as well as supervising Wellcome Trust fellows and PhD students. She is the lead for King's College London of one of the Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training and Science programs funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Department for International Development to build research capacity in African mental health scientists. Ritz Kakuma is an Associate Professor in Global Mental Health and Programme Director for MSc in Global Mental Health at the Centre for Global Mental Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She was a Senior Research Fellow at the Global and Cultural Mental Health Unit (GCMHU), Centre for Mental Health at the University of Melbourne until Dec 2017 and continues to hold an honorary position as a Senior Fellow. She has a background in epidemiology and biostatistics, public health and mental health systems and policy research. Her research and development activities are primarily based in low- and middle-income settings and among culturally and linguistically diverse populations, include: mental health policy and system strengthening, health system evaluation, mental health workforce development, mental health stigma and discrimination research, health policy analysis, policy and community engagement, and health research capacity development. Ritz has experience in conducting both quantitative and qualitative research, systematic reviews and works in partnership with government, non-government organisations and bilateral agencies for research and policy development, consulting with stakeholders to develop community-based mental health services, supporting governments in drafting mental health policies and legislations, developing and delivering training programs on mental health system development.