Shekhar Saxena, Chair
Professor of Global Mental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and previous Director, Dept. of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, World Health Organization
Dr. Shekhar Saxena is Professor of the Practice of Global Mental Health at Harvard University’s T. H. Chan School of Public Health. He is a psychiatrist by training and has worked previously at the World Health Organization for 20 years including as the Director of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Geneva, from 2010 to 2018.
His responsibilities included evaluating evidence on effective public health measures and providing advice and technical assistance to ministries of health on prevention and management of mental, developmental, neurological and substance use disorders and suicide prevention. His work also involved establishing partnerships with academic centers and civil society organizations and global advocacy for mental health and substance use issues. Dr Saxena led WHO’s work to implement the Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2013 which sought to scale up care for priority mental, neurological and substance use disorders.
He has authored more than 300 scientific papers including in high impact journals. He was an editor of the Lancet Series on Global Mental Health 2007 and 2011 and is an editor of the Lancet Commission on Global Mental Health and Sustainable Development 2018.
