Dr. Pamela Collins visits TPO Nepal
TPO Nepal was delighted to welcome Dr. Pamela Collins and Dr. Ajay Risal on 25th April at TPO Nepal central office, Kathmandu. Dr. Pamela Collins is the Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Global Health at University of Washington (UW). She is also the Director of the Global Mental Health Program at UW. Before that, she worked at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) for nearly eight years. Dr. Ajay Risal is the Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Kathmandu University, Nepal
Mr. Suraj Koirala, Executive Manager of TPO Nepal, welcomed both of them and gave a brief presentation on TPO Nepal’s work and achievements. TPO team talked about how they have been integrating mental health care in primary health care settings in Nepal and empowering mental health service users to reduce mental health stigma. They also talked about its work in using technology for conducting mental health interventions and researches. Dr. Collins mentioned that she had heard about TPO’s work, primarily through international research collaborations and was delighted to visit the team. Dr Collins also talked about the vision of Department of Global Mental Health at UW and how that can be linked with existing works of TPO Nepal.
After the presentation, Dr. Pamela put forward her queries which was followed by discussion. Dr. Mark Jordans and Dr. Brandon Kohrt, technical advisor of TPO Nepal remarked that it was amazing to see the impact on policy brought forth by the combination of TPO Nepal’s research work and community activities.
We, at TPO are very happy to have Dr. Collins who has done a tremendous work in establishing mental health research as a priority area in global health visit us in person. We are looking forward to find ways to collaborate with Dr. Collins and University of Washington in the near future.
