Global Mental Health Research
Mental illnesses are a global concern and are among the most common causes of disability. The Global Mental Health Team consists of multidisciplinary staff from NIMH's intramural and extramural research programs. The Team works in partnership with scientific staff from the Center for Global Mental Health Research (CGMHR) to help inform and shape NIMH goals and priorities in global mental health research.
Highlighted news and events
Featured funding opportunities
- PAR-22-105: Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)
- PAR-21-211: Pilot Effectiveness Trials for Post-Acute Interventions and Services to Optimize Longer-term Outcomes (R34 Clinical Trial Required)
- PAR-21-130: Clinical Trials to Test the Effectiveness of Treatment, Preventive, and Services Interventions (R01 Clinical Trial Required)
- PAR-21-131: Pilot Effectiveness Trials for Treatment, Preventive and Services Interventions (R34 Clinical Trial Required)
- PAR-21-132: Confirmatory Efficacy Clinical Trials of Non-Pharmacological Interventions for Mental Disorders (R01 Clinical Trial Required)
- PAR-23-095: Innovative Mental Health Services Research Not Involving Clinical Trials (R01 Clinical Trials Not Allowed)
- PAR-23-318: Mobile Health: Technology and Outcomes in Low and Middle Income Countries (R21/R33 - Clinical Trial Optional)
- PAR-22-097/PAR-22-098: Global Brain and Nervous System Disorders Research Across the Lifespan (R01 and R21)
- NOT-MH-21-090: Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) in Reducing Suicide Risk in Young People in Low- and Middle-Income Countries and Low-Resource Settings
Global Mental Health Team working groups
The Global Mental Health Team has three working groups tasked with helping achieve team goals and establishing team research priorities.
The goal of the Strategic Engagement Working Group is to promote and elevate GMH research priorities through (a) coordinated information sharing within NIMH to expand awareness of GMH research issues and opportunities; (b) strategic planning that helps identify, prioritize, and implement NIMH’s global mental health research goals and objectives; and (c) knowledge exchanges that increase learning opportunities, allow for diverse perspectives, and foster relationships within the internal and external GMH research community.
The goal of the Reciprocal Learning working group is to communicate the importance of multidirectional exchange, adaptation, and implementation of advancements in global mental health research. In particular, the group aims to identify methods, approaches, and interventions that have been or could be effectively adapted in new settings, including strategies for optimal implementation.
The goal of the capacity building working group is to gauge and develop projects and initiatives that enable the performance of high-quality mental health research and practice, with particular interest in supporting researchers and practitioners in low- and middle-income countries. This group aims to develop, leverage, and disseminate resources and opportunities to overcome the challenges to building research capacity in LMICs in an equitable manner. Key areas of interest include strengthening a sustainable and equitable research training pipeline, fostering effective mentorship, supporting institutional research capacity, and encouraging the development of equitable partnerships and collaborations that facilitate the translation of mental health research to practice more broadly.
Team leads
Collene Lawhorn, Ph.D.
COVID Mental Health Impact Lead, Division of Translational Research
Email: collene.lawhorn@nih.gov
Leonardo Cubillos, M.D., M.P.H.
Director, Center for Global Mental Health Research
Email: leonardo.cubillos@nih.gov
Meet the team
Global Mental Health Team Roster
Lora Bingaman
Management and Program Analyst
Division of Neuroscience and Basic Behavioral Science
Christina Borba
Director
Office for Disparities Research and Workforce Diversity
Holly Campbell-Rosen
Chief, Human Mobility Program
Center for Global Mental Health Research
Oni Celestin
Health Science Policy Analyst
Office of Autism Research Coordination
Leonardo Cubillos
Director
Center for Global Mental Health Research
Co-Lead – Global Mental Health Team
Susan Daniels
Director
Office of Autism Research Coordination
Regina Dolan-Sewell
Scientific Review Officer
Division of Extramural Affairs
Stacia Friedman-Hill
Chief, Risk and Early Onset of Psychosis Spectrum Disorders
Division of Translational Research
Karen Gavin-Evans
Chief, Extramural Policy Branch
Division of Extramural Affairs
Miri Gitik
Chief, Genetic Basis of Mental Disorders Program
Division of Neuroscience and Basic Behavioral Science
Katie Hamill
Health Science Policy Analyst
Office of Science Policy, Planning and Communications
Andrea Horvath Marques
Chief, Global Mental Health Dissemination, and Implementation Program
Center for Global Mental Health Research
Lisa Horowitz
Director, Patient Safety & Quality
Intramural Research Program
Tamara Kees
Lead Grants Management Specialist
Division of Extramural Affairs
Douglas Kim
Health Scientist Administrator
Office of Technology Development and Coordination
Ashley Kennedy
Clinical Trials Program Coordinator
Office of Clinical Research
Collene Lawhorn
COVID Mental Health Impact Lead
Division of Translational Research
Co-Lead – Global Mental Health Team
Anna Mikulak
Public Affairs Specialist
Office of Science Policy, Planning and Communications
Anna E. Ordóñez
Director
Office of Clinical Research
Suzy Pollard
Program Director
Division of AIDS Research
Saranya Radhakrishnan
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Intramural Research Program
Mauricio Rangel-Gomez
Chief, Learning and Memory Program
Division of Neuroscience and Basic Behavioral Science
Syed Rizvi
Management Analyst
Office of the Director
Maggie Sweeney
Program Officer
Division of Services and Intervention Research (DSIR)
Paul Taylor
Director, Scientific and Statistical Computing Core
Intramural Research Program
Abera Wouhib
Chief, Statistical Methods in Psychiatry Program
Division of Translational Research
Justin Valenti
Office Automation Clerk
Division of AIDS Research
VISTA award winners with members of the VISTA steering committee & the NIMH Director
Global Mental Health team members attending a meeting with guest speaker, Devora Kestel, MSc from the World Health Organization.
Abera Wouhib, Ph.D. participating in a site visit in Ethiopia Africa.
NIMH staff and researchers from Washington University on the Makerere University Campus, Kampala Uganda.
Andrea Horvath Marques, M.D., Ph.D., MPH, receiving the Science and Technology Prize of the Embassy of Brazil.
Collene Lawhorn, Ph.D. participating in a site visit in Masaka Uganda.
Leonardo Cubillos, M.D., M.P.H. alongside the NIMH Director and NIMH staff visiting the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre’s Tangerine Community Health Centre in Bangkok, Thailand
Holly Campbell-Rosen, Ph.D. of NIMH along with MPIs, team members, and community health workers visit the Suicide Prevention & Implementation Research Initiative (SPIRIT) Scale-up Hub study site in Mehsana, Gujarat.
Global mental health team members attending a monthly team meeting via zoom.