EDCMA

Description

You are invited to join us for an exciting global mental health event which will be hosted in-person and online on Tuesday October 21st, 2025. This event brings together University of Edinburgh students, alumni, staff, and external colleagues with an interest in this interdisciplinary field.  

This will be preceded by a seminar in the morning titled ‘Mental health & homelessness: sharing experiences in Ethiopia & Scotland’  

Register in person: https://tinyurl.com/yu2js5uw 

Zoom details: https://ed-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/81480114984  

Meeting ID: 814 8011 4984  
Passcode: AD3un9Ww 

This event will feature: 

• A keynote talk (from 2:10 to 3:10 pm) from Dr Ursula Read, University of Essex “Medicine and prayer – Can spiritual healers and mental health workers work together? An example from Ghana’. This will include excerpts from the film: Nkabom: A little medicine, a little prayer 

• Lightening research talks from MSc Global Mental Health and Society alumni 

• A global mental health careers talk 

This event is co-sponsored and supported by the Global Mental Health Collaborative, Student Development Office, SPS; Edinburgh Centre for Medical Anthropology; and the MSc Global Mental Health and Society, Social Work subject area, SPS. 

“Mental health and homelessness: sharing experiences from Ethiopia & Scotland”

 Global Mental Health Collaborative invite you to their next forum for sharing insights from interdisciplinary research to respond to mental health needs of people who are homeless in Ethiopia and Scotland.

Sign up to either our in-person or hybrid Eventbrite below.

IN-PERSON EVENTBRITE:   https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1576450940199?aff=oddtdtcreator

HYBRID EVENTBRITE: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1652413125139?aff=oddtdtcreator

ZOOM DETAILS FOR HYBRID EVENT: https://ed-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/89283174542 

Meeting ID: 892 8317 4542 Passcode: waRZ7RH3

OUR SPEAKERS - 

ATALAY ALEM

Atalay Alem qualified as a medical doctor in 1983 from Faculty of Medicine, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. He did his psychiatry training in the UK at University of Manchester and completed his training in 1989. He got his PhD in mental health epidemiology from Umea University, Sweden in 1997. He has served his country in the field of psychiatry at various levels and he has established sustained collaborations between his department and academic institutions abroad which has resulted in great local capacity building. He has served as a consultant psychiatrist and medical director of Amanuel Hospital, the only mental hospital in the country. He also had assumed various positions at Addis Ababa University. He led the establishment of College of Health Sciences by bringing different academic health institutions of Addis Ababa University and Tikur Anbessa Hospital together to form the College.  Following its establishment, he served as the first Chief Executive Director of College of Health Sciences with a rank of Vice President of the University. He initiated the first specialty training program in psychiatry in Ethiopia 22 years ago because of which the number of psychiatrists grew from 11 in 2003 when the program started to 160 currently.  He led epidemiological studies in different population groups in Ethiopia such as course and outcome of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in a rural district where a house-to-house survey was conducted and over 68 thousand adults were screened for those disorders. In this study, 919 cases were identified and followed for 10 years with treatment to describe course and outcome of the disorders which is the first of its kind in low-income countries. He has published over 185 scientific papers and has received awards from his university and professional associations in Ethiopia for his contribution to science and lifetime service, respectively. Most recently, he won the 2019 Harvard Award in Psychiatric Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He is currently Professor Emeritus and a Co-Director of WHO Collaborating Centre in the Department of psychiatry at Addis Ababa University which is one of the three centers in Sub-Saharan African countries. He is also a consultant psychiatrist at Tikur Ambessa University Hospital and president of the Ethiopian Psychiatric Association this time.

ELENI MISGANAW

Eleni Misganaw is a mental health advocate with lived experience; particularly focusing on amplifying the voice of mental health care users in Ethiopia and beyond. She co-founded the Ethiopian Mental Health Service Users Association established as an Ethiopian Society and has served as its President since its establishment. She is also an honorary member and mentor at the Global Mental Health Peer Network. She has particular interest in peer support promotion. She is serving as collaborator in several research projects.  Eleni has a Masters of Arts in Sociology and a BA degree in Economics. She lives in Addis Ababa with a caring husband and a blessed daughter.

RICHARD LOWRIE

Reader in Centre for Homelessness and Inclusion Health, UoE, having started in academic 2 years ago. Before that, for 25 years, led NHS Pharmacy clinical services and research while delivering care (as an independent prescriber) to people experiencing homelessness in Glasgow, on outreach, with Simon Community Scotland. I've setup and sustained a number of NHS clinical services after demonstrating benefits through pragmatic health services research. I have a particular interest in helping people experiencing homelessness with multimorbidity including mental health challenges and substance dependency. Published over 60 peer reviewed publications, secured over £10m in grants, editor for Pilot and Feasibility Trials, CSO Drug Death Innovation challenge National Clinical adviser, PhD supervisor, lead for research and development in Pharmacy (NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde), run a weekly clinic in The Access Place for people with substance dependency.