Prof Lukoye Atwoli joins Global Health Board

Prof Lukoye Atwoli (PHOTO: FILE)

NAIROBI, KENYA: The US National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine has appointed Professor Lukoye Atwoli to serve on the Global Health Board.

The Board on Global Health at The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine provides expert guidance on U.S. policies and programs in global health, health problems in developing countries, and health issues of mutual concern to the United States and other industrialised and industrialising societies.

“ I look forward to working with the other members and executing my role to the best of my ability,” Lukoye Atwoli said.

The mission of the Board is to provide expert analysis and judgments to the National Academies, the United States Government, and to other appropriate audiences, on the meaning to the United States of health developments beyond its borders, and areas of US international health investment that are most likely to benefit the health of the US population and promote global well-being, security, and economic development.

Other than being Dean of the Medical College at Aga Khan University, Prof Atwoli also holds visiting and honorary positions at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and the University of Cape Town.

Besides, Prof Atwoli leads and participates in mental health research locally and globally. He is a member of the WHO World Mental Health Surveys Consortium, which is the leading collaborative project in psychiatric epidemiology globally.

Recently, President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed him as the Chairperson of the board of Kenya’s largest public psychiatric hospital, the Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital. Prof Atwoli is also the Secretary-General of the African Association of Psychiatrists (AAP) and President-Elect of the African College of Neuropsychopharmacology (AfCNP).

He has previously served as the global technical director for the citiesRISE initiative, whose goal is to help make five cities mental health-friendly (Nairobi, Chennai, Bogota, as well as Seattle and Sacramento). The initiative works with young people in these cities to increase connectedness, improving their coping ability by working to build resilience and hopefulness and linking those in need to care.