Advisory board

The School of Public Health, the University of Queensland

Amba-Rose Atkinson is a proud Gumbaynggirr nyami from the mid-north coast of NSW. Amba-Rose is completing a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at the School of Public Health, the University of Queensland with a research focus on the relationship between Country, climate, and First Nations peoples’ health. Amba-Rose’s research aims to reposition Country as health, build an evidence-base for her Countries and communities, and advocate for First Nations Knowledges as critical solutions-orientated forces.

Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Polytechnic School (EP) and Institute of Advanced Studies (IEA), Head - Planetary Health Brazil

He is the head of the Planetary Health Brazil, a consortium of Brazilian institutions, hosted at the Institute of Advanced Studies, University of São Paulo, USP. He is also a member of the Planetary Health Alliance steering committee. He is a full professor at USP and has also served international organizations such as the IPBES, FAO and TDWG. He has degrees in Electrical Engineering and in Agronomy, and a Doctorate degree in Electrical Engineering, with a focus in IT applied to agriculture and the environment.

Technical Officer, Department of Mental Health and Substance Use, World Health Organization

Brandon Gray is a Technical Officer in the Mental Health Unit of the Department of Mental Helath and Substance Use at WHO Headquarters. His priamry areas of work include mental health and psyhcosocial support (MHPSS) in emergencies and integration of MHPSS into emergency preparedness and disaster risk management.

South African Medical Research Council

Caradee Wright (PhD Public Health) is a Chief Specialist Scientist at the South African Medical Research Council leading the Climate and Health Research Programme. Her research is on environmental health in Africa, with a focus on understanding climate change and air pollution on human health and well-being impacts to inform interventions and policy development.

Independent Consultant and Advisor, Good South Social Impact Enterprise and My Mind Our Humanity

Chantelle Booysen (MPhil Health and Development Studies) is an independent consultant, advisor and global mental health advocate based in Durban, South Africa. She works with various local and international organisations, with a strong focus on creating evidence and solutions to support the mental health and well-being of young people and persons with psychosocial disabilities. She is also the creator of the Empathy & Hope Project, a social awareness initiative that creates dialogue and social change around mental health and well-being in communities worldwide.

Independent activist-researcher

CHARLIE is the author of 'Spinning Out: climate change, mental health and fighting for a better future' (2023). A proudly mad bipolar double-amputee and award-winning activist-researcher, Charlie has worked for the New Economics Foundation, Royal Society of Arts, Good Law Project, Four Day Week Campaign and Centre for Progressive Change, as well as the UK Labour Party.

Group Director of Partnerships and External Affairs, Amref Health Africa

Desta Lakew leads global partnerships for Africa. In this role, she has been engaged in securing high level strategic global partnerships for Amref Health Africa. Desta has served on the Executive and Senior Management teams of Amref since 2014. Desta leads thought leadership and external engagements at the corporate headquarters of Amref working closely with global partners and the senior leadership team of Amref Health Africa. She was instrumental in the establishment and leadership of the first bi-annual Africa Health Agenda International Conference in 2014; leading a global south dialogue knowledge exchange platform on Universal Health Coverage in Africa and Asia; and the launching various campaigns including Communities at the Heart of UHC global advocacy campaign.

Coming soon…

Director, Billion Minds Project at Columbia University, and Chair, COP2 (cop2.org)

A psychiatrist who approaches mental health as a building block of social policy and progress, Gary founded Billion Minds as a “think-action tank” to link mental health to problems of great scale such as the climate crisis. Gary is also the former Executive Deputy Commissioner in the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Professor, Australian Institute of Health and Innovation, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW Australia

Psychiatric epidemiologist who established the field of research in climate change and mental health.

US National Institute of Mental Health/ National Institutes of Health

Holly Campbell-Rosen, Ph.D. is Chief of the Human Mobility Mental Health and the Social Determinants of Mental Health (SDoMH) programs within the Center for Global Mental Health Research. Holly seeks to advance research on the mental health of mobile populations and research focused on climate change, SDoMH related to migration, poverty, gendered disparities, education, and others. Previously Holly managed an extramural research program on PTSD at the Department of Defense. As an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow she supported policy development for Federal Advisory Committees and reported to Congress on behalf of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

CEO, Foundation for Conservation of Nigerian Rivers

A development expert with focus on environment and sustainable development with over 30years of experience. Also the founder of River Ethiope Trust Foundation, an NGO devoted to the study and conservation of River Ethiope and protection of communities whose livelihoods rely on River Ethiope (River Ethiope is being planned to be the first natural entity to be recognozed as a personhood with legal rights. Dafe is the Africa lead, Earth Law Center USA and Expert Member UN Harmony with Nature Programme. Dafe is the Initiator/Co-Director,Integrated Institute of Environment and Development at Federal University of Petrluem Resources Nigeria; Founder, River Ethiope Basin Institute at Delta State University Abraka Nigeria and Initiator/Co-Director, Institute of Biodiversity, Climate Change and Watersheds at Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Islnad, Bayelsa Nigeria and Member Global Alliance for Rights of Nature.

Universidad Nur - Bolivia

Linked to the Institute of Science and Social Research of Universidad Nur in Bolivia. His research is oriented to better understand the enabling conditions and drivers for learning and collaboration on adaptation across levels of governance, and facilitate the development and application of concreate intervention models for adaptation in various sectors. He has supported adaptation policy processes in Bolivia and various other Latin American countries together with the UN System and other research organizations.

Professor and Executive Director, Sunway Centre for Planetary Health

Dr. Jemilah Mahmood is a medical professional with more than two decades of experience managing crises in health, disasters and conflict settings. She is currently Professor and Executive Director of the Sunway Centre for Planetary Health at Sunway University in Malaysia, and holds multiple board and advisory roles in distinguished institutions nationally and globally.

Climate Change and Mental Health Researcher

Katie Hayes, PhD, is the lead author for the mental health and climate change chapter for the national Health of Canadians in a Changing Climate Report. Her research investigates the mental health effects of climate change, with a specific focus on understanding the inequitable effects of climate change on populations, and policy, program, and practice responses to support psychosocial adaptation.

Professor, Department of Global Health Entrepreneurship, Tokyo Medical and Dental University; Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Healthy Cities and Urban Policy Research

Keiko Nakamura affiliated with academic institutions and worked on research health and environment in urban ecosystems. She has also worked with the World Health Organization, UN-Habitat, other international agencies, and national and local governments, to develop evidence-based urban health policies, implementation, and evaluation. She values health promotion, well-being, equity, community engagement, eco-system approach, sustainability, resilience, and planetary health. She is a member of the Science Council of Japan, and Urban Health and Well-being Scientific Committee of the International Science Council, the Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Healthy Cities and Urban Policy Research, and an active member of the Planetary Health Alliance, Japan Hub.

Dean and Associate Professor, specialist in climate resilience, University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and Governance

Dr. Kristoffer B. Berse (Ph.D. in Urban Engineering, The University of Tokyo) is Dean and Associate Professor of the National College of Public Administration and Governance of the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines. He works in areas broadly crisscrossing disaster risk governance, crisis management, climate change adaptation, sustainable urban development, policy mobilities, and inter-local cooperation.

OECD Centre on Well-being, Inclusion, Sustainability and Equal Opportunity (WISE)

Lara is the Acting Head of the Well-being Data Insights and Policy Practice Team of the OECD WISE Centre, where she is responsible for the OECD’s work on benchmarking country performance in well-being, inclusion and sustainability, and supports member countries in their efforts to develop national well-being initiatives. She is currently leading work on “well-being proofing” mental health promotion policies.

Independant Consultant

Is an independant consultant on responses to climate change. Prior to this he was a Senior Adviser to the UK Government, most recently leading on adaptation and loss and damage policy in the UNFCC negotiations. This role drew from previous development experience, particularly in building resilience of livelihoods, food security, enterprise development, social protection and humanitarian response which was gained from working for the UK government, the UN, and NGOs in Africa and Asia.

Affiliate Associate Professor Department of Psychiatry, University of Nairobi, Kenya

I am a clinical psychologist and public mental health researcher. I am currently working on a US NIH funded study on environmental determinants of perinatal adolescent mental health. I have worked on payment for ecosystem services, valuation of environment/nature approaches, behavioral and sociocultural factors impacting environmental and natural resource management for UK's DFID and German government funded The Economics of Ecosystem and Biodiversity program (TEEB, 2010). Currently my focus is to distil environmental stressors in vulnerable populations living with mental disorders and associated behavioral risk factors.

Lancet Countdown and Institute for Global Health, University College London

Marina is the Executive Director of the Lancet Countdown: Tracking Progress on Health and Climate Change. She trained as a clinical biochemist in the Universidad de Buenos Aires, and holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge. Her research background spans from toxicology through to environmental health and climate change.

WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office. Centre for Environmental Health Action (CEHA)

Managing the regional environmental health exposures program focusing on climate change, air pollution, and chemical safety. Active member in several international committees and task forces that are currently updating international guidance and standards on climate change and health, air quality, toxic chemicals, sand and dust storms, and urban environment. Organized more than 100 regional environmental health training workshops and consultations.

Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines

Mitzi Jonelle Tan is a full-time climate justice activist based in the Philippines. She is the convenor and international spokesperson of Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines (YACAP). A strong voice on anti-imperialism, anti-colonization, and the intersectionality of the climate crisis, she is committed to changing the system and building a world that prioritizes people and planet, not profit, through collective action.

IFMSA

Mohamed is a medical doctor from Egypt. He has been volunteering in the public health field for 6 years, allowing him to gain extensive experience in different public health issues such as NCDs including Mental Health, Infectious diseases, Climate Change and Environmental issues, Health systems and UHC, AMR, Health Equity and Determinants of Health etc.. He is currently the Liaison Officer for Public Health Issues at the IFMSA, Youth Leadership Board Member at the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety, Climate Change and COVID-19 Youth Associate at WHO Egypt, member of the Youth Advisory Board of the Children, Cities and Climate Project at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in addition to being a member of the steering committee of the Economist Impact's Health Inclusivity Index 2023.

Mental Health First Aid Bangladesh

Award winning International Human Rights defender. Ashoka Fellow and Commonwealth fellow. Founder for the pioneer NGO named Innovation for Wellbeing Foundation promoting mental health equity in Bangladesh. Co-founder, Bangladesh Mental Health Network, only platform for all stakeholders to work together in the mental health field.

Founder, Women Leaders for Planetary Health and Senior SDGs Expert at the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub

Ms Nicole de Paula, PhD, is the Senior SDGs Expert at the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub, leading the work on Thought Leadership and science-policy interface. She is the inaugural Klaus Töpfer Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies for Sustainability in Potsdam, Germany, and founder of Women Leaders for Planetary Health. In 2021, she published the book “Breaking the Silos for Planetary Health: A Roadmap for a Resilient Post-Pandemic World”. She is also an advisor to the World Health Organization- South-East Asia Regional Expert Group on Environment Determinants of Health and Climate Change and one of the Scientific Commissioners of The Lancet Pathfinder Commission on decabornization.

Trivedi School of Biosciences, Ashoka University

Poornima is a medical doctor and epidemiologist with two decades of research in public health. As previous head of environmental health,Public Health Foundation of India and now Director ,Centre for Health Analytics Research and Trends (CHART) at the Ashoka University's Trivedi School of Biosciences, she leads research projects on environmental risks and their impacts on physical and mental health.

MHPSS Coordinator at IFRC Asia Pacific Regional Office

Pred is a Filipino social worker with a specialization in Mental Health and Psychosocial Support. He is currently serving as the MHPSS Coordinator at the IFRC Asia Pacific Regional Office based in Hong Kong Red Cross. Pred's primary responsibility is to provide technical support and capacity building to the region under the Asia Pacific MHPSS Training and Learning Collaborative which provides support in the emergency response, MHPSS trainings, and knowledge sharing.

IAMHRF

Raliza Stoyanova, PhD, is Executive Director of the International Alliance of Mental Health Research Funders (IAMHRF). She has over 15 years' experience as a mental health researcher and research funder. Prior to joining the IAMHRF, Raliza was Portfolio Developer and then Head of Neuroscience & Mental Health at the Wellcome Trust, where she managed a £500M+ portfolio of grants and developed a number of public-private partnerships in mental health. She has provided input on the development of roadmaps for the brain health sector and worked closely with the IAMHRF over many years to increase collaboration amongst mental health research funders. Raliza holds an MA in Psychology Research from the University of the Witwatersrand and a PhD (Biology) from the University of Cambridge.

Living Laudato Si' Philippines

Rodne R. Galicha is the Executive Director of Living Laudato Si' Philippines, interfaith movement inspired by Pope Francis calling on financial institutions to divest from coal-related operations and other environmentally harmful activities. He is also the National Convener of Aksyon Klima Pilipinas, a national network of civil society organizations working on diverse climate and development-related issues in the Philippines. He is member of the global steering board of Laudato Si' Action Platform at the Vatican.

United for Global Mental Health

Sarah Kline is the CEO and Co-Founder of United for Global Mental Health, an NGO dedicated to increasing political and financial support for mental health around the world. UnitedGMH is also the secretariat for the Global Mental Health Action Network (with a membership of nearly 3000 individuals from over 130 countries from governments, civil society, international organisations, academia, lived experience and the private sector).

The College of Wooster

Susan Clayton is Professor of Psychology at the College of Wooster. Trained as a social psychologist, she researches impacts of climate change on psychosocial wellbeing and developed the Climate Change Anxiety Scale. She was a lead author on the 6th assessment report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

University of California San Diego’s Scripps institution of Oceanography

Tarik Benmarhnia is an environmental epidemiologist at the University of California San Diego’s Scripps institution of Oceanography where he leads the climate change epidemiology lab. His work is combining epidemiological methods with environmental models with a specific focus on health policies and environmental justice. He also focuses on identifying the effect of various climate-sensitive exposures on various outcomes including mental health.

Associate Director Community Jameel

Uzma Sulaiman is Associate Director for Community Jameel, an independent, global organisation advancing science and learning for communities to thrive. Uzma leads Community Jameel’s engagement with the public and private sector, galvanising support and influencing policymakers to ensure scientific breakthroughs contribute to society and policy decisions. Uzma has over decade of experience in the international development field. Prior to joining Community Jameel, Uzma spent six years at Save the Children, leading the organisation’s Middle East partnerships team and developing its strategy. While at Save the Children, she helped launch its largest humanitarian training initiative with a consortium of government and philanthropic partners across North America, Europe and the Middle East. Before joining Save the Children, Uzma led communications for a social enterprise in South Africa that focused on access to education for remote communities. Uzma started her career as a journalist working for BBC World and was instrumental in creating UNESCO’s first World Radio Day, celebrating the power of radio in journalism. She holds a MA in International Journalism from City, University of London and a BA in History and Politics from the University of Exeter.

MHPSS Collaborative

Dr. Victor Ugo, a medical doctor and founder of MANI, one of Africa's largest youth-led mental health networks, holds an MSc in Global Mental Health and has significantly impacted global youth mental health discussions. As a former Senior Campaign Officer for United for Global Mental Health, and currently serving as Youth Engagement Advisor for the MHPSS Collaborative in Copenhagen, Denmark, Dr. Ugo's work fosters and champions youth leadership and involvement in mental health initiatives.

UNICEF, Global Mental Health Lead

Dr. Zeinab Hijazi is the Global Mental Health Lead at UNICEF. Zeinab has over 17 years of experience supporting mental health and psychosocial programs globally across UNICEF's 7 regions of operation. She provides program guidance and technical support across sectors and divisions to enhance UNICEF's multi-sectoral approach to the provision of mental health & psychosocial support for children and families in humanitarian and development settings, this includes policy, data, research, innovations & advocacy work at UNICEF headquarters, and supporting coordination across sectors of health, education, and child protection to aid UNICEF country teams and partners in designing and implementing locally relevant, comprehensive and sustainable MHPSS strategies.