Vikram Patel is a professor of global health and social medicine and psychiatrist whose work over the past two decades has focused on reducing the treatment gap for mental disorders in low resource countries. His work has addressed four major themes: (1) generating policy relevant evidence on the burden and impact of mental disorders; (2) developing and evaluating mental health interventions for delivery by non-specialist and lay health workers; (3) developing training programs to build research capacity and leadership in global mental health; and (4) communicating research to diverse audiences to act on this evidence.
Dr. Raviola's scholarly contributions center on the integration and application of quality improvement and public health approaches in innovating clinical practice, teaching and research in the domains of psychiatry and global mental health. This focus is best exemplified by his work on improving the implementation and quality of mental health services—delivered in the United States context at Boston Children's Hospital (BCH), and in the global context with the non-profit health organization Partners In Health (PIH) in Haiti and Rwanda—and the linkage of service delivery projects with teaching and research at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and at in-country sites for local practitioners through the HMS Program in Global Mental Health and Social Change (PGMHSC). This work meets a critical local and global need for innovative mental health delivery solutions, given the significant global burden of mental disorders, and the universal shortage of specialists to address this burden. Dr. Raviola has advocated strongly, through the work of PIH and in international journals, for the need for developing mental health services to address the burden of illness from these neglected conditions, to promote health equity, to build integrated primary health care systems, and to support economic development in low-income countries.
Dr. Vigo is currently leading a number of projects including as PI of Needs-Based Planning for Mental and Substance Use Disorder Services in British Columbia, and several other Canada-based projects. At Harvard, he is part of a new initiative on Global Mental Health and Sustainable Development led by Vikram Patel, and of the World Mental Health Surveys Initiative led by Ron Kessler.
