Lab Members
Lab Leadership Team
Vikram Patel
vikram_patel@hms.harvard.eduMental Health for All Lab Co-Director
Paul Farmer Professor and Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Professor in the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Co-founder and Member of Managing Committee, Sangath, Goa, India
Vikram Patel is the Paul Farmer Professor and Chair of Global Health and Social Medicine in the Blavatnik Institute's Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School . He co-leads the GlobalMentalHealth@Harvard initiative . His...
John Naslund
Mental Health for All Lab Co-Director
Senior Research Scientist in Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School
John A. Naslund, PhD, is an Instructor in Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Naslund holds expertise in mental health epidemiology, implementation science, social disparities research, and digital mental health. His...
Laura Bond
Senior Program Manager, EMPOWER
Laura Bond, PhD, MA, is a Senior Program Manager of EMPOWER at the Mental Health for All Lab. Laura's research focuses broadly on implementation science and mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) programming in underserved communities. Laura is...
Core Lab Members
Carina Akemi Nakamura
Research Fellow
Carina holds a BSc and an MSc in Pharmacy from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil, and a PhD from the Institute of Translational Medicine, University of Liverpool, UK. Carina was previously a postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of...
Caitlyn Vergara
Research Assistant, EMPOWER
Caitlyn Vergara is an advocate for public safety and mental health. A graduate of UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, she completed a capstone project with Google[x] on public perception of predictive policing models in California. As a research fellow...
Emma Hill
Research Assistant, EMPOWER
Emma Hill is a recent graduate of Simmons University, having received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a focus on child development and childhood psychopathology. She is particularly interested in the impact of early childhood experiences on later...
Isaac Lara
Research Assistant, EMPOWER
Isaac Lara (he/him) is a well-being advocate, community builder, researcher, and proud father to a seven-year-old Yorkie. He is passionate about enhancing the mental well-being of our global community through community-based models of care and fostering a...
Julia Ruiz Pozuelo
Research Fellow
OptimizeD
Julia Ruiz Pozuelo, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Julia’s research interests lie at the intersection of psychiatry and development economics. Her work focuses on...
Kathryn O'Neill
Research Manager, Mental Health for All Lab
Katy O’Neill is the Program Manager for two mental health programs at Harvard Medical School: the Mental Health For All Lab and the GlobalMentalHealth@MentalHealthForAllLab Initiative. As Program Manager of the Mental Health For All Lab, Katy oversees...
Keshini Saggar
Research Assistant, EMPOWER
Keshini Saggar is a graduate of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health's Master of Public Health program, specializing in Health and Social Behavior. Hailing from India, Keshini has a diverse background as a trained Dental Surgeon complemented by...
Mercedes Aguerrebere
Research Associate
Dr. Mercedes Aguerrebere is a psychiatrist and graduate of Harvard Medical School’s Master of Medical Sciences in Global Health Delivery, where she studied as a Fulbright Scholar. She has more than a decade of experience in global health and mental health...
Nida Zahid
Research Fellow
Dr. Nida Zahid is a postdoctoral research fellow who holds an MBBS, a Master’s in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and a PhD in Medical Sciences from Uppsala University, Sweden. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health. Dr. Zahid serves...
Yashika Parashar
Research Assistant
Yashika Parashar, MBBS MMSc, is a Research Assistant in the Harvard Medical School Department of Global Health and Social Medicine. Yashika is interested in further pursuing clinical research on safety and efficacy trials. With her background in oncology...
Affiliate Lab Members
Anushka Patel
Assistant Professor at MGH
Dr. Anushka R. Patel is a trauma-focused clinical psychologist. She has completed three years of postdoctoral training in global mental health with a research emphasis (at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health) and a policy focus (at the WHO). She is...
Daiane Machado
Research Fellow, Harvard Medical School
Research Associate, Center for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health
Daiane Borges Machado PhD (in Epidemiology and Population Health from LSHTM https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/ in the UK) is a research fellow at Harvard Medical School and a research associate at the Center for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health – CIDACS...
Flávia Alves
Research Fellow
Flávia Jôse Oliveira Alves, PhD (in Epidemiology and Public Health from Collective Health Institute of the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil) is a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School and the Center for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health...
Giuseppe James Raviola
Director of Program in Global Mental Health and Social Change at Harvard Medical School
Director of Mental Health for Partners In Health
Assistant Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School
Giuseppe Raviola, MD MPH, is Director of the Program in Global Mental Health and Social Change (PGMHSC) at Harvard Medical School, Associate Director of the Chester M. Pierce, MD Division of Global Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and...
Gloria Pedersen
Director, MHPSS, Implementation Strategy
Research & Partnership Director, MHPSS
Implementation Strategy, Partners in Health
Gloria A. Pedersen, DrPH, MSc is dedicated to using collaborative efforts for identifying, implementing, and testing methods for strengthening the quality and safety of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) delivery within task-sharing and pre...
Konstanze Schoeps
Visiting Associate Professor
Dr. Schoeps was recently awarded a Real Colegio Complutense at Harvard (RCCH) fellowship for a two-month research stay (May–June) at the MHFAL at Harvard Medical School. Her research focuses on social and emotional learning (SEL), particularly the...
Mary Bitta
Research Fellow
Mary Bitta is an early career postdoctoral researcher in global mental health, currently based at the KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Program in Kilifi, Kenya. She obtained her doctoral degree from the University of Oxford, UK, where she examined the...
Moses Kachama Nyongesa
Research Fellow
Moses Kachama Nyongesa, BSc Nursing, MSc, PhD, is a Senior Project Manager with the Aga Khan University Institute for Human Development in Nairobi, Kenya, where he manages the research hub for UZIMA-DS ( Utili Ze health Information for Meaningful impact...
Nadia Borja
HGHI/SURGH fellow
Nadia Borja is a rising senior at Harvard College, double-concentrating in Social Studies and Psychology with a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. She joins the Mental Health for All Lab this summer as an HGHI/SURGH fellow on the EMPOWER...
Sandersan Onie
Research Fellow
Dr Sandersan Onie is a research fellow at the Mental Health for All Lab. He is interested in suicide prevention at scale and is currently leading the Indonesian National Suicide Prevention Strategy, which led to a change in Indonesian health legislation...
Shekhar Saxena
Professor of the Practice of Global Mental Health at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
Shekhar Saxena is Professor of the Practice of Global Mental Health at the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. A psychiatrist by training, he was in the faculty of AIIMS, New Delhi before he joined...
Shireen Bhamani
Research Fellow
Dr. Bhamani is a nurse scientist with expertise in epidemiology and biostatistics. With over 17 years of experience, she has facilitated a wide range of courses including public health, mental health, epidemiology, biostatistics and research, to both...
Latest Lab News
Publication: Breaking the Cycle - How Maternal Adversity Shapes Parenting Among Adolescent Mothers in Brazil
This publication explores how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and intimate partner violence (IPV) shape parenting behaviors among adolescent mothers in Brazil. Drawing on data from 237 mothers aged 14-19 in southern Brazil's public primary care...
Announcement: Welcoming Visiting Associate Professor Konstanze Schoeps
We are delighted to welcome Dr. Konstanze Schoeps , Associate Professor at the University of Valencia and licensed General Health Psychologist, to the Mental Health for All Lab (MHFAL) with Dr. Vikram Patel . She was recently awarded a Real Colegio...