Global Health Lunch & Learn with Dr. Mark van Ommeren
The UBC School of Population and Public Health invites you to attend the:
Global Health Lunch & Learn Seminar Series:
WHO (2022)World Mental Health Report: Transforming Mental Health for All
Wednesday, January 11, 2023
12:30 – 1:30 pm PST
This will be a hybrid event, both on-line and in-person. Please register HERE:
Location: School of Population and Public Health Room 424 or by zoom (link will be sent closer to the date after you register)
About the presenter:
Mark van Ommeren, PhD, is Head of the Mental Health Unit within the WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Use. The Unit covers a wide range of topics including suicide prevention, services across the life course, mental health education, psychological interventions, essential medicines, and mental health in humanitarian emergencies and at the workplace. He coordinated the writing of the WHO (2022) World Mental Health Report: Transforming Mental Health for All.
Much of Mark’s earlier work has focused on initiating and developing inter-agency mental health policy for humanitarian settings (e.g., Sphere standards, IASC guidelines) with linked implementation tools; developing, testing and disseminating a range of scalable psychological interventions; and “building back better” mental health services across different levels of the health system after major emergencies. As part of this work, he introduced the term “mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS)” into the development of inter-agency humanitarian guidelines, which has resulted in improved collaboration across sectors in humanitarian settings around the world.
Born and raised in the Netherlands, he studied at the University of British Columbia (BSc in statistics (1992) and MA in (intercultural) counselling psychology (1995)) and received his doctorate (covering culture-informed epidemiology of mental disorders among refugees in Nepal) from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam (2000).
About the Presentation:
Mental health is critically important to everyone, everywhere. All over the world, mental health needs are high, but responses are insufficient and inadequate. The World Mental Health Report: Transforming Mental Health for All is designed to inspire and inform better mental health for everyone everywhere. Drawing on the latest evidence available, showcasing examples of good practice from around the world, and voicing people’s lived experience, it highlights why and where change is most needed and how it can best be achieved. It calls on all stakeholders to work together to deepen the value and commitment given to mental health, reshape the environments that influence mental health, and strengthen the systems that care for mental health.
About the Event
The Global Health Lunch and Learn seminar series is a monthly event which enriches the global health offerings available to students and faculty members by featuring expert and diverse multidisciplinary speakers from across the greater UBC community and beyond who are dedicated to global health innovation through scholarship, research, and practice.
The seminars are interactive and discussion-based presentations where presenters discuss their own experiences and current issues in global health. The audience is also challenged to look at the intersection of working in global public health in both local and global contexts and encouraged to think about their future roles as leaders and contributors in the field.