Kate Johnston

Kate is currently working as a Research Fellow at the Centre for International Mental Health. Her interests and experience are in international development, public policy, and mental health. Kate worked for four years at AusAID while volunteering as a telephone counsellor with Lifeline Canberra in her spare time. She also has considerable experience working and studying in China and Japan, and speaks Mandarin. Kate holds a Masters of Public Policy from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (Tokyo, Japan) and undergraduate degrees in Economics, Politics and Asian Studies (Melbourne University and ANU).

Brian Berkley

Siobhan Reddel

After diverging from medicine to study for a B.A in Philosophy and Philology as well as travel for several years Dr Reddel completed graduate medical studies at the University of Sydney in 2002. As a medical student she was particularly inspired by her work with New Hope, an NGO in India treating Leprosy, Polio and HIV sufferers amongst others - that has an holistic approach which includes local populace education and vocational and life-skills training for patients to increase their status and reduce stigma. Since graduating, time spent in Drug and Alcohol medicine and as a Psychiatric Registrar in Canberra have fostered a long interest in mental health. Siobhan currently works casually as an MO in Emergency and will spend 6 months of 2005 in Palestine on a mission with MSF in the Gaza Strip. At presents she intends to undertake post-graduate training in psychiatry and/or sexual health with an emphasis on holistic approaches to practicing medicine.

Nyrell Pattel

Nyrell Pattel is an Aboriginal therapist, curriculum writer, trainer and workplace assessor who has over twenty years of working experience within the health field. In 1995, Nyrell developed the Bachelor in Indigenous Psychology and a Advanced Diploma in Aboriginal Community Healing Practices. She has also co-authored post graduated Diploma in Aboriginal Counselling for La Trobe University and participated in the development of a CD Rom teaching tool for external students under taking studies in the Graduate Diploma in Mental health Sciences (Transcultural Mental Health) with the Victorian Transcultural Psychiatry Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Melbourne University. Nyrell is currently employed with Far North Queensland Indigenous Consortium for Social and Emotional Health and Well-Being as the Principal Consultant to develop culturally specific curriculum in partnership with the Centre for International Mental Health.

Liwen Tan

Liwen Tan, Dr. Associate Professor, graduated from Hunan Medical University (Central South University, Xiangya Medical School) in 1989. After graduation Dr Tan received formal training in clinical psychiatry and after undertaking a number of years of clinical experience was promoted an Associate Professor of Psychiatry. In 1998, Dr Tan began to study for the master and doctor degree specializing in biological psychiatry at Xiangya Medical School, Central South University and successfully completed his Ph.d. degree in 2004. After graduation, he was assigned to work at the Mental Health Institute, Second Xiangya Hospital CSU where he works at present.

During Dr Tan’s Ph.d degree, he completed the project entitled as cognition and the biological research on first degree relatives and early intervention which was a National Nature Funded and also undertook work on the community rehabilitation of schizophrenia.

Dr Tan also engaged in psychiatry and behavioral medicine teaching to undergraduates oat the Xiangya medical school from 2002 to 2003.At present time I he is in charge of a clinical ward which has 50 patient beds for male patients.

As for the future plan, Dr Tan will continue to undertake the study on the early intervention and rehabilitation of schizophrenia.

Jin Liu

I am Jin LIU, a psychiatrist and Chief of Executive Office of National Center for Mental Health, China-CDC, coming from Beijing to study from anyone who is helpful for Chinese mental health work. China is such a large, populous, multi-national and resource/development imbalanced country, which has tried its best to make some progress in policy making, mental health legislation, training, propaganda, fund application and management, disaster management, research and collaboration, we often feel confused about the exact picture we should draw for her.

Through the four-week program, I have formulated a new idea in my mind, wanting to do countless things at the same time, e.g. policy analysis, investigation on real needs of patients and their families, pilot trial of community based service, research on cost-effectiveness of different kinds of service models, translation of WHO policy and service package, vocational training for community development workers/ health workers/mental health workers, editorials of public mental health on Chinese mental health journals…When I am back, the central group consisting of patriots and crazy mental health lovers will discuss what we should do and what we can do now.

In the process of mental health reform in China, we need your help. If you have any idea, information, suggestion, or comment that might be helpful, you are warmly welcome to keep me emailed: liujin_65@263.net. Thank you for your help in advance.

Carla Marchira

Carla was formerly the head of a government-run community health center in Yogyakarta. During her specialization in psychiatry Carla also tooka course in Biology Psychiatry in the Dept. of Psychiatry and Neurology at Kobe University, Japan (JSPS fellow) and also a course in Social Medicine at the Dept. of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School (as a Freeman Fellow).

Carla is currently working as a lecturer and psychiatrist in the Dept. of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine Gadjah Mada University and at Sardjito Hospital (a teaching hospital) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Carla is also a researcher at the Center of Bioethics and Medical Humanities, in the Faculty of Medicine at Gadjah Mada University. Her keen interest is in community mental health. Recently Carla undertook research in the early course of psychotic illness and in psycho geriatrics and developed an international pilot study of onset of schizophrenia in collaboration with colleagues from China and the Dept. of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

Hidehiko Takahashi

Dr Takahashi is the Vice-Chief Psychiatrist of the Asai Hospital in Chiba, Japan. In 2005 Hidehiko will transfer to the Japanese National Institute of Radiology as a post doctoral fellow. Dr. Takahashi received his MD and PhD from Tokyo Medical and Dental University. His main research background is in neuroimaging of psychiatric disorders. However, at the same time, he has been engaged in epidemiological studies. He is one of the initial members of the Japanese Young Psychiatrists Organization (JYPO), which has been approved officially by WPA. JYPO has launched some nationwide multi-center projects and communicates with other international organizations of young psychiatrists.

Nasantsengel Lkhagvasuren

My name is Nasantsengel. Since 1997 I have worked in the State Mental Hospital (SMH) of Mongolia as a Medical Director. The SMH is the only hospital that provides psychiatric health care for all provinces and cities in Mongolia. I graduated from the Mongolian National Medical University (MNMU) in 1990. After graduating I worked in the Psychiatric Department of the MNMU as as a lecturer from 1990 to 1997. I still work as a part time lecturer there. I have a private psychological consulting centre "Psychoanalysis N1" in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and employ 2 psychiatrist, 2 psychologist and 1 assistant worker in the Centre.

The IMHLP course was very interesting especially the lecture on mental health policy as they discussed the Vasaros project. In this lecture they talked about the change from a hospital based mental health system which is the same system as in Mongolia. When I return to Mongolia I will organize a seminar for the psychiatrists in the State Mental Hospital of Mongolia and will try to develop a more psychosocial rehabilitation and community based mental health system.

Japhet Fernandez de Leon

Dr. Japhet G. Fernandez de Leon is the fifth iMHLP fellow from the Philippines and the first fellow from the Visayas. She comes from the beautiful City of Iloilo, on the island of Panay in Western Visayas. She was born and educated in Iloilo City and finished her medical degree at the West Visayas State University College of Medicine. After passing the medical licensure examination she had her residency training in General Adult Psychiatry at the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospita (UP-PGH) Medical Center. After finishing her training in adult psychiatry, she underwent fellowship training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at UP-PGH Medical Center. After her training, she decided to go back to her home province and set up her medical practice there and became the first trained Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist in Western Visayas.

Dr. Fernandez de Leon is currently the Training Director of the Residency Training Program of the Western Visayas Medical Center-West Visayas State University Consortium Program. She is also the Section Head of Psychiatry at the Central Philippine University College of Medicine and Assoc. Professor in Psychiatry, West Visayas State University College of Medicine. She also works as faculty member at the School of Physical Therapy and College of Medicine, Iloilo Doctors' College and Hospital. Dr. Fernandez de Leon is also a strong advocate for childrens' rights and has spearheaded the setting up of a support group for children and adolescents with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity disorder. Aside from dealing with children's issues, Dr. Fernandez de Leon is also concerned with environmental protection, being a member of the group, Workers for Health and Environment (WE-HEAL) and Professionals for Social Responsibility (Pro-SR). She is also a Zen practitioner, and a member of the Iloilo Zen Sangha.

Eseta Hope

Eseta Hope is a Mental Health Nurse Specialist. She is a lecturer in the Faculty of Nursing and Health Science at the National University of Samoa. Her major interests are family-based mental health care and research in applied health sciences. She is a member of the Samoa Working Group on Policy Development for Mental Health. Eseta works closely with groups of NGOs’ who advocate for basic human rights.

Giang Kim Bao

Kim Bao Giang, MD, MPH. I graduated in 1996 as Medical Doctor. I took my MPH in Umea, Sweden in 2000-2001. I work for Faculty of Public Health, Hanoi Medical University, Vietnam as a lecturer and researcher. I teach on health management. I found so few people in my country aware the importance of mental health problems and also the considerable burdens of mental illnesses in our country. Therefore, I started to do research in community mental health to gather the evidences as the bases for the development of an effective mental health care network in our country. I set priority to work with the development and improvement of mental health care system in my country.