Contemporary Topics in Women's Mental Health: Global perspectives in a changing society

Prabha S. Chandra is a Professor of Psychiatry at the Department of Psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India. She has served as a member of the WPA section on women’s mental health and is the first person from a developing country to be elected to the executive of the Marce International Perinatal Psychiatry Society.   She has also been a convener and chairperson of the Task force on women’s mental health of the Indian Psychiatric Society.

Her main research contributions in the areas of women’s mental health have been in perinatal psychiatry, psychosomatic obsetrics and gynecology and the role of violence in women with mental illness. Prof. Chandra has received several national awards for research in womens mental health.  She has been a member of the Advisory group on HIV Behavioral Research of the Indian Council of Medical Research and has also served as a Temporary Advisor to the WHO and UNAIDS.  She has about 90 publications in the above areas of research and has edited several books and training manuals.

Helen Herrman is Professor of Psychiatry at the Orygen Youth Health Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne. She is also Director, WHO Collaborating Centre in Mental Health, Melbourne; Secretary for Publications, World Psychiatric Association; and Regional Vice-President Oceania, World Federation for Mental Health.

Her interests include mental health promotion, the assessment of outcomes and quality of life for people with mental illnesses, the link between mental health and HIV infection, and the delivery of mental health services.

Jane Fisher

Deputy Director and Coordinator of International Programs, University of Melbourne, Australia. 

Marianne Kastrup was Medical Director of the Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims, Copenhagen (1997-2001) and is now Head of the Centre Transcultural Psychiatry, Psychiatric. Dept. Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.  She is the Zonal Representative for the WPA and has served on various committees for both the WPA and the European Association of Psychiatry.

Unaiza Niaz is a Consultant Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist who is the Director of The Psychiatric Clinic & Stress Research Center, Karachi.  She is the President & Founder Member of the Pakistan Society of Traumatic Stress Studies, a Life Member of  The Pakistan Psychiatric Society, and was previously Vice President and Secretary General. She is a life member of the World Federation of Mental Health, American Psychiatric Association and a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, London.  She trained at The Royal Free Hospital, the Tavistock Clinic, Hampstead, London and The Johns Hopkins University, USA. Her research interests are Stress management, Women’s Issues, Medical Health Policy and Post- Graduate Education.  She has numerous scientific publications in international journals and has authored several books: Emerging Images of Pakistani Women, Stress Management and The Psychosocial Profile of Pakistani Women, published by Karachi University, and a landmark Monograph on Womens Mental Health In Pakistan.  She has also edited Medical Ethics in Contemporary Era and Pakistan Earthquake—International Perspectives on Handling Psycho-Trauma. Presently, she is Co-Chair of the WPA Section on Women’s Mental Health and an Advisor to the National Commission on the Status of Women—Pakistan.

Marta Rondón, assistant professor at Cayetano Heredia University, is a Founder of the Peruvian Association for Women's Mental Health and was Chair of the Section of Women's Mental Health of the World Psychiatric Association.  She was the first woman to be President of the Peruvian Psychiatric Association and is a recipient of the Medal of Honor of the Peruvian College of Physicians..  Formerly Director General of the Office for Older People, Ministry of Women and Social Development in Peru, she currently sits on the National Committee on Mental Health and the High Level Commission on Sexual and Reproductive Health in the Peruvian College of Physicians.  Marta works at the Edgardo Rebagliati Martins Hopsital, where she supervises services for chronic psychiatric patients and sits on the hospital's committee against gender based violence.

Ahmed Okasha is Professor and Director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Training and Research in Mental Health, Institute of Psychiatry – Ain Shams University, Cairo. He is President of the Egyptian Psychiatric Association and of the Egyptian Society of Biological Psychiatry, as well as a Past President of the World Psychiatric Association. Professor Okasha is on the Editorial Advisory Board of 20 International Scientific Journals, an Honorary Fellow of The American College of Psychiatrists (2002) and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh, 1973) and of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (London, 1973).