Happy Holidays and a Note of Appreciation
As 2021 comes to a close, we pause to thank you, our readers and our community, for your engagement and participation over the past year. From the Global Mental Health Journal Club to our monthly speaker series, we have enjoyed hosting informative, thought-provoking discussions about key topics in global mental health. We thank our community of collaborators and our faculty and staff researchers for your continued contributions during a second year of pandemic. Your innovations kept us moving toward better mental health for so many.
Wishing all of you the happiest and most relaxing of holidays. We look forward to seeing you in 2022!
The Global Mental Health Team
Local and Global Mental Health Updates
Job Opportunities
- Postdoctoral Fellowship Opening in Global Research on Intersectional Stigma and Mental Health among Marginalized Populations at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health through the Departments of Epidemiology and Mental Health
This position offers an exciting opportunity to be engaged in global research on intersectional stigma and mental health among marginalized populations, with a specific focus on sexual and gender minorities. We are looking for a postdoctoral fellow with a commitment to qualitative and quantitative disparities research with sexual and gender minority individuals living in diverse low-resource settings around the globe, including in the U.S.
The candidate must have a strong interest in public mental health; prior training in psychology is not a prerequisite. Candidates should have significant experience with quantitative analyses that could include longitudinal and multilevel data analysis, structural equation modeling, and latent variable analysis strategies (e.g., latent class analysis, growth modeling). There will be multiple opportunities for publications in the areas of stigma related to sexual behavior and gender identity and its associations with mental health and other health outcomes. Current projects the fellow may be involved with include NIH funded studies assessing sexual behavior stigma and health outcomes in the U.S. through de-novo data collection and analysis of existing data sources as well as projects on HIV- and mental health-related stigma among sexual and gender minorities, individuals engaged in sex work, and other marginalized populations.
This position will be funded by a NIMH T32 training grant (T32MH103210) which requires the applicant be a U.S. Citizen or Green Card holder. More information about this training grant is available here. The fellow will primarily work with Dr. Sarah Murray in the Department of Mental Health and Dr. Stefan Baral in the Department of Epidemiology but will be also have opportunities to build collaborations with other T32 affiliated faculty including T32 director Dr. Judith Bass. Primary responsibilities may include but are not limited to: data analysis and manuscript preparation, grant preparation, and research staff supervision and mentorship.
Start date is flexible anytime from December 2021 through June 2022. Applications will be reviewed as they are received until the position is filled. Email inquiries to Dr. Sarah Murray (sarah.murray@jhu.edu) are welcome. Learn more here!
Recruitment is underway for assistant professor positions in the Department of Global Health
I am delighted to announce our search for three, highly motivated, impact-driven, creative and collaborative individuals to join our faculty as assistant professors. Our department values and honors excellence in research, teaching, mentoring, practice and service in order to achieve our mission: to improve health for all through research, education, training, and service; to understand and address the causes of disease and health inequities at multiple levels; and to collaborate with partners to develop and sustain locally-led, quality health systems, programs and policies. We are dedicated to hiring faculty who model the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion, anti-racism and the de-colonialization of global health through their research, teaching, mentoring, practice, and service. Our faculty are excited to welcome individuals who are eager to contribute to evidence-based, interdisciplinary work and offer innovative approaches that enhance health and well-being with sustained population impact at scale (https://globalhealth.washington.edu). We are seeking to expand faculty expertise, skills, and experience in one or more of the following content and/or methodological areas:
Global mental health is one of several content areas, including climate change and health, global cardiovascular disease; health systems strengthening; maternal, adolescent, child, and neonatal health; and pandemic disease preparedness and response.
Methods
- Analysis of data for public health planning
- Implementation science
- Qualitative and/or mixed methods approaches to global health
- Randomized clinical trial design and implementation
- Technologies and tools for global health
Please find details on the position and how to apply: https://jobs.chronicle.com/job/416460/assistant-professor-wot-in-global-health/
Learning, research and practice
- The Self-Help Plus (SH+) was published in October by WHO. Self-Help Plus is a stress management course intended for groups of up to 30 people who have lived through or are living through adversity. The course package, which consists of an innovative format of pre-recorded audio and an (earlier published) illustrated guide ̶ Doing What Matters in Times of Stress ̶ can be delivered by non-specialist facilitators following a short training. This delivery method greatly increases the opportunities for use by large numbers of people. Three randomized controlled trials of SH+ showed that it was effective in reducing psychological distress in adults with moderate to severe psychological distress in distressed populations affected by adversity, as well as other positive outcomes. The final paper will be published in January 2022 in World Psychiatry, showing that it prevented the onset of mental disorders (reduced incidence) among distressed Syrian refugees in Turkey.An English language SH+ manual and audios are available here. The team is working to developing a pack to support the development of translations, which will be available soon!
- An open access global mental health survey dataset for researchers is now available. The complete dataset, including both mental health specific information and other information, comprises anonymized responses from more than 11300 people interviewed across 119 countries and geographies. As part of the wider Wellcome Global Monitor, Professor Miranda Wolpert recently shared the Wellcome Global Monitor 2020: Mental Health survey. The Monitor is the world’s largest survey of how people consider and cope with anxiety and depression and explores the perceived role of science to find new solutions. Learn more about the project here or download the full report here!
- Department of Global Health E-Learning Opens Site Registration for 3 Online Courses Participants will be able to apply starting on 19 January for the following courses: Leadership and Management in Health, Clinical Management of HIV, and Fundamentals of Global Health Research. Learn more here!
Global Mental Health Funding Opportunities
Internal Funding Opportunities @ UW
The UW Population Health Initiative recently announced an expanded set of funding opportunities for UW faculty and community-based partners for 2022 and 2023. Learn more here!
The three tiers of grants for the relaunched pilot program are:
- Tier 1 Grants: Laying the Foundation
This tier of grant is intended to support small projects and capacity-building work with community and/or other collaborators that is intended to prepare a team for future projects seeking proof-of-concept. Applications will be accepted from faculty members, principal investigator-eligible staff, graduate students and post-doctoral scholars.
These awards will be offered quarterly (i.e., autumn, winter, spring) through 2023. Awards of up to $25,000 are available per project, with a project period of up to eight months.
- Tier 2 Grants: Establishing Proof-of-Concept
This tier of grant is intended to support projects seeking to develop preliminary data or proof-of-concept needed to pursue follow-on funding to scale one’s efforts. Applications will be accepted from faculty members and principal investigator-eligible staff.
These awards will be offered every winter and autumn through 2023 with a two-stage application: submission of a brief letter of intent, with the most compelling concepts invited to submit a full application. Awards of up to $50,000 per project – or $65,000 per project for teams proposing meaningful partnerships with community-based organizations – will be available with a project period of up to 12 months.
- Tier 3 Grants: Scaling for Greater Impact
This tier of grant is intended to support projects seeking follow-on opportunities for impactful projects that have developed preliminary data or realized proof-of-concept and are seeking to scale their efforts and/or expand the scope of their work. Applications will be accepted from faculty members and principal investigator-eligible staff.
These awards will be offered every spring in 2022 and 2023 with a two-stage application: submission of a brief letter of intent, with the most compelling concepts invited to submit a full application. Awards of up to $150,000 per project – or $200,000 per project for teams proposing meaningful partnerships with community-based organizations – will be available with project periods of up to 18 months.
Are you looking to improve the impact of evidence-based practices (EBP) for youth receiving mental healthcare in low or under-resourced settings? IMPACT has released a call for Center Pilot Study Applications! Learn more about the RFA and how to apply here!
A few key things to note:
- Applications accepted starting Monday, December 20, 2021
- Applications will be reviewed and awarded as they come in, subject to funds availability
- Applications received after March 1, 2022 will be considered for year 2 funding