In this session, the invited faculty will address the much neglected topic of global mental health. Drs. Rao and Unützer will discuss the new Program on Global Mental Health and its activities and the location of mental health at the top of the list of global burden of diseases. Dr. Paul Bolton will then discuss his groundbreaking work to bring evidence based treatments to people with mental illnesses in low middle income country settings. Journalist, Joanne Silberner will facilitate a discussion of these issues with audience participation.
M o d e r a t o r:
J o a n n e S i l b e r n e r, M S
University of Washington
Joanne Silberner is a freelance public radio reporter and artist-in-residence at the University of Washington. She has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Johns Hopkins University, a master’s in journalism from Columbia University, and had a one year fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health. For 18 years she covered health policy, global health and other health-related issues for NPR. Her global health experience includes a series on neglected tropical diseases for NPR, and a Rosalyn Carter Mental Health Fellowship, for which she focused on mental illness in Uganda. She currently has a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting to do stories on cancer in developing countries.
P a n e l i s t s:
P a u l B o l t o n, M B B S, M P H
Associate Scientist
International Health, Johns Hopkins University
Dr. Bolton’s main areas of expertise are program design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. His work treats all four elements as part of an integrated whole in which applied research methods play a core role. He uses this approach to conduct needs assessments and to plan and evaluate programs with service providers including major NGOs. This work has encompassed programs dealing with physical health (including infectious diseases) and more recently psychosocial problems in North America, Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Central and Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Caribbean. Much of his work has been with refugees and internally displaced persons during the disaster post-emergency phase, persons affected by violence, and other adults and children living in difficult circumstances. Dr. Bolton has also conducted program evaluations of psychosocial interventions in Africa and Asia in the form of randomized clinical trials.
D e e p a R a o, P h D, M A
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Global Health
University of Washington
Dr. Rao is research assistant professor at the University of Washington and a licensed clinical psychologist. Her professional interests are in the area of global mental health and stigma reduction. Her interested is in developing individual and societal level behavioral interventions designed to improve mental health, reduce stigma, and promote the quality of life of people living with chronic illnesses. She works with women living with HIV in Chicago. Internationally, Dr. Rao has conducted extensive fieldwork on the stigma associated with depressive disorders in Bangalore, India.
J ü r g e n U n ü t z e r, M D, M A, M P H
Professor & Vice-Chair of Psychiatry, University of Washington
Adjunct Associate Professor, Psychiatry & Bio-Behavioral Sciences
University of California at Los Angeles
