Epidemiology & Public Health Section

Executive Committee

Elie Karam

President

President, Institute for Development, Research, Advocacy and Applied Care (IDRACC), Beirut, Lebanon

  • Katherine Keyes

    General Secretary (USA)

    Professor & Director, Psychiatric Epidemiology Training Program, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

  • Corina Benjet

    Vice President (Mexico)

    Ramón de la Fuente National Institute of Psychiatry (INPRFM), National Autonomous University of Mexico

  • Viviane Kovess-Masfety

    Executive Committee (France)

    Honorary Professor,, Department of Epidemiology, Ecole des hautes études en santé publique (EHESP)

  • Linda Cottler

    Executive Committee (USA)

    Dean's Professor And Associate Dean For Research, Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health and Health Professions & College of Medicine, University of Florida

  • Michael Ni

    Executive Committee (Hong Kong SAR, China)

    Clinical Associate Professor, School of Public Health, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong

  • Bibilola Oladeji

    Executive Committee (Nigeria)

    Senior Lecturer, Department of Psychiatry, University of Ibada

Previous Presidents

  • Prof. Vivianne Kovess-Masfety

    2009-2015

    University of Paris (France), McGill University (Canada)

    Conducted global population-based surveys on mental health, including European Study of Epidemiology of Mental Disorders (ESEMED), the WMH initiative and child psychiatric epidemiology surveys in Europe (SCMHE). Other population survey in Afghanistan, Georgia (Caucasus) and China

  • Prof. Jim Anthony

    2003-2008

    Michigan State University (USA)

    Conducted research focused on drug and substance use

  • Prof. Ville Lehtinen

    2000-2003

    Turku University & National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health – STAKES Mental Health Promotion Unit Helsinki (Finland)

    President of Nordic Congress Psychiatry. Worked actively on bringing up mental health at the European Union (EU) through surveys, EU mental health indicators selection and reports edited by Stakes

  • Prof. M. Robin Eastwood

    1996-1999

    University of Ottawa (Canada), Saint Louis University (USA), Dalhousie University & University of Toronto (Canada)

    Published a book on the relation between physical and mental illness and conducted Researches on dementia, among them a research on St Louis Jesuit community demonstrating the effect of education on age-of-onset of dementia.

  • Prof. Tómas Helgason

    1994-1996

    National University Hospital (Iceland)

    Led a birth cohort of more than 5,000 probands and participated to many psychiatric epidemiological writing and researches.

  • Prof. Lee Robins

    1991-1994

    Washington University in St. Louis (USA)

    Invented the Diagnostic Interview Survey (DIS) and designed computerised algorithms of the DSM-III to calculate prevalence in the Epidemiological Catchment Area Programme by the National Institute of Mental Health, which propelled progress in the field, including the World Mental Health (WMH) Initiative

  • Prof. Brian Cooper

    1982-1990

    University of Heidelberg (Germany)

    Created the section. UK-trained psychiatrist who joined the Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, in Germany and then the University of Heidelberg. He published in 1987, a book “Psychiatric Epidemiology”. He also published on strategies of prevention and later on focused on geriatric psychiatric research.