Professor Melanie Amna Abas has been appointed to the role of Director of the King’s Global Health Institute. She will take up the post from 1 December 2023 following the departure of Professor Martin Prince.

A psychiatric epidemiologist, she is Professor of Global Mental Health within the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, and a consultant psychiatrist at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.

Professor Abas co-directs an NIHR Global Health Research Group, is Co-Chair of the King’s African Regional Network, and was Deputy Director of the Centre for Global Mental Health. She co-founded the Masters in Global Mental Health at King’s, jointly run with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her research expertise is clinical trials of culturally appropriate interventions for depression and other common mental disorders in low resource settings, especially in countries with a high HIV burden.

The King’s Global Health Institute focuses on bringing together expertise across King's disciplines and career levels, working with and guided by partners and communities in low resource settings, to carry out research and education in global health.

Professor Abas added: “My vision is to work inclusively with researchers, educators and advocates in global health across all King’s disciplines and career levels, and with our local and international partners, to develop a strategy to grow global health research and impact at King’s in critical areas. I want us to find ways to share benefits with partners in low-resource settings fairly, and to increase the accessibility of education so that people from all backgrounds can make a sustainable impact in global health.”

Professor Richard Trembath, Senior Vice President (Health & Life Sciences) and Executive Director of King’s Health Partners has responsibility at the University level for the King’s Global Health Institute. He said: “Professor Abas brings to the role considerable experience of positively influencing policy change, research in complex interventions and capacity building. Her appointment comes at a time when public health priorities and ways of carrying out global health research are changing, and I have every confidence that her determination and drive to find solutions will ensure King’s is at the forefront of these developments.”