Title: Bridging Worlds: Community-Grounded Implementation Science for the Future of Global Mental Health

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Speaker Bio: Diana C. Parra Pérez, PT, MPH, PhD, is a public health researcher, implementation scientist, certified yoga & mindfulness facilitator, and vibrational sound practitioner whose work bridges rigorous science, health equity, and community-grounded practice. For two decades, she has generated and translated evidence on community-based health interventions across Latin America and among underrepresented communities in the United States, with research contributing to the nationwide scale-up of community health programming in Brazil and informing WHO and UN-Habitat policy. 

Her research program spans community-based mental health and mindfulness for underrepresented populations, implementation science in low- and middle-income countries, and transdisciplinary coalition building. She is Co-Principal Investigator on an NIH/NIA-funded study of a culturally adapted mindfulness program for Latinx older adults at risk for Alzheimer's disease, and Co-PI on an NSF ADVANCE grant advancing faculty equity through civic mindfulness. 

A twice-recognized Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher, she founded a university-wide transdisciplinary mindfulness initiative and has led community coalitions advancing health equity through a CDC REACH cooperative agreement. Bilingual and bicultural, her work is guided by cultural humility, contemplative practice, and a deep commitment to building bridges across disciplines, communities, and borders in service of mental health for all. 

Title: Building the Future of Global Mental Health: Community Partnerships, Implementation Science, Technology, and Determinants of Mental Health Equity

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Speaker Bio: Samantha (Sam) C. Winter, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Columbia University School of Social Work and Founder and Co-Director of the Anga Center for Community Health and Well-being in East Africa. Her research examines how climate change, environmental conditions, violence, and other social determinants shape mental health and well-being, with a particular focus on informal settlements in East Africa. Through long-standing community partnerships in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, Dr. Winter develops and evaluates community-centered interventions that strengthen mental health and improve health equity. Dr. Winter's work integrates community-based participatory research, implementation science, digital health, climate science, and emerging technology to develop scalable solutions for global mental health. She currently leads or co-leads multiple NIH-funded studies, including the NIH-funded Anga Center, which advances transdisciplinary research and capacity strengthening at the intersection of climate justice, health equity, and community well-being. She is also the founder and co-lead of the Sauti Mashinani Research Lab, an interdisciplinary research and mentoring community that supports the next generation of global health scholars. Her work seeks to reimagine global mental health by integrating community partnership, environmental justice, technological innovation, and implementation science to build more equitable and resilient health systems.

Title: How Do We Build Mental Health Systems that Communities Trust, Adopt, and Sustain?

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Speaker Bio: Ashley Hagaman, PhD, MPH is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Yale School of Public Health, where she serves as Director of the Global Health Concentration. She also holds a secondary appointment in Yale’s Department of Anthropology. Dr. Hagaman is a medical anthropologist and qualitative methodologist whose research focuses on suicide prevention, global mental health, and strengthening mental health systems through community-anchored and systems-embedded research. Her scholarship advances culturally grounded qualitative methods, including innovations that center local epistemologies in implementation research. She leads NIH-funded clinical trials in Nepal, Pakistan, and the United States focused on improving access to quality mental health care through community and health system partnerships. She is deeply committed to building the next generation of global mental health researchers, with a particular focus on supporting women scholars through long-term international research partnerships. Ultimately, her research seeks to generate evidence that transforms how health systems deliver equitable, culturally responsive mental health care, improving outcomes for populations disproportionately affected by suicide and mental health disparities.

Title: From Evidence to Equitable Scale-Up: Building the Next Generation of Global Mental Health Implementation Science

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Speaker Bio: Pallab leads the Research department at The George Institute for Global Health, India. He trained as a psychiatrist at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, received training in public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, as well as Johns Hopkins School of Public Health where he pursued his Masters and Doctoral training, respectively. 

Professor Maulik has worked with the World Health Organisation (WHO), Geneva on Project Atlas and other mental health programs, and clinically as a psychiatrist in India and Australia. He has worked for more than 28 years in global mental health and has a research network across multiple countries and institutions where he is affiliated with and with whom he collaborates on many projects.  

His particular research interests include social determinants of health, especially mental health services, mental disorders, international mental health, and intellectual disability. He is a Principal Investigator or co-investigator on many large mental health projects in India and abroad. He primarily focuses on delivering affordable and accessible mental health care for disadvantaged and marginalized communities in India, while using technology-enabled solutions to enable the health system to function more efficiently. He also leads a significant programme of work on stigma related to mental health. He was an Intermediate Career Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance Fellow from 2014-19 and currently is a Senior Fellow of the Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance. 

Title: Reimagining Global Mental Health Care Delivery: Scaling Solutions Through Task Sharing, Community Partnerships, and Digital Innovation

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Speaker Bio: Dr. Naslund is Co-Director of the Mental Health for All Lab and Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. His work spans psychiatric epidemiology, implementation science, and digital mental health, with a focus on expanding access to evidence-based care in low-resource settings globally, with emphasis in India and the United States. He leads research leveraging digital innovations to train and supervise frontline providers, support recovery and psychosocial rehabilitation among individuals living with severe mental illness, and strengthen peer support and mental health advocacy initiatives. Dr. Naslund’s research is supported by funding from the National Institute of Mental Health, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, Harvard Global Health Institute, Grand Challenges Canada, the H.E. Butt Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation, Methodist Healthcare Ministries, the Grodman Family Foundation, the Tepper Foundation, and the Wellcome Trust. He has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications and serves as an Honorary Research Fellow with Sangath, a leading global mental health research organization in India. Across his career, he has been committed to advancing the rights, dignity, and quality of care for individuals living with mental illness worldwide.