
Professor Melanie Amna Abas
Professor of Global Mental Health
Research interests
- Psychiatry
Biography
Professor Melanie Amna Abas is a psychiatric epidemiologist and Professor of Global Mental Health at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London and Consultant Psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS trust.
Melanie’s early research funded by the MacArthur Foundation was on the social origins of depression in women in Zimbabwe. This was the first to show a common mechanism for the development of depression cross-culturally through the experience of life events involving humiliation and loss. She then moved to applying interdisciplinary methods to epidemiological research on measurement of depression, and its treatment, in cross-cultural settings, especially in Zimbabwe and also in Thailand, Moldova, Sri Lanka and among minority groups including vulnerable women migrants and trafficked people in the UK.
Melanie now leads the 'Scalable Global Mental Health Interventions' research team (Scalable@GMH) which focusses on cultural adaptation and clinical trials of contextually-appropriate task-shifted interventions for depression and anxiety, especially in low and lower-middle income African countries. As well as studying effectiveness and implementation, her research aims to understand how such interventions work and what works best for whom. The team also researches behavioural interventions to improve adherence to treatment for long-term conditions, especially HIV (TENDAI project), uptake of HIV self-testing and promotion of self-care in women with antenatal depression. The goal is to produce regionally relevant evidence, in equitable partnership with researchers and people with lived experience of mental disorders from the global south, which changes policy and ultimately improves mental and behavioural health for people living in the poorest countries. The team collaborates closely with the Friendship Bench through which they have had major policy impact. Melanie is Joint Director, with Prof Dixon Chibanda, of an NIHR Global Health Research Group called African Youth in Mind (total value £2.7m), and Chief Investigator for the TENDAI clinical trial in depression and HIV funded by the US NIMH (total value US$4m).
Capacity building is core to her work, with a focus on early and mid-career researchers from underrepresented groups. She has worked on African-led capacity building programs since 2010 including the US-African Medical Education Partnership Initiative across 13 African medical schools 2010 – 2019. Melanie is the KCL partner for the African Mental Health Research Initiative (2016 – 2022; 2023 - 2027) which is led from the University of Zimbabwe as part of the Science Foundation for Africa 'Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training and Science Initiative', supported by the Wellcome Trust. With Abiodun Alao, Melanie co-chairs the KCL African Regional Network.
Melanie completed her medical training at the University of Birmingham before receiving her MSc in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and her doctorate from the University of Auckland. She is a member of the UK Royal College of Physicians and the UK Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Research interests
- Cultural adaptation and Clinical Trials of scalable interventions for depression and other common mental disorders deliverable by non-specialists in low-resource settings.
- Research at the interface between mental health and priorities for the global south including women’s health, education, and ending the HIV epidemic.
- Early intervention and remission of depression in low-resource settings
- Behavioural interventions to improve adherence to treatment for long-term conditions, especially HIV.
- Equitable research partnerships between the global north and the global south; decolonisation and research fairness.
- Research capacity-building.
Teaching
Melanie regularly teaches and supervises students on topics related to Global Mental Health including: cross cultural measurement, psychiatric epidemiology, development and adaptation of interventions for depression and anxiety, aspects of depression in low and middle income countries, grant writing, scaling up mental health services, ethics of research in low resource settings, on the following courses:
MSc Global Mental Health
MSc Affective Disorders
BSc Neuroscience
MSc Mental Health Studies
Expertise and public engagement
Melanie is a member of the Wellcome Trust Populations and Public Health Advisory board, and a faculty member of the UK MRC Applied Global Health Board. She is scientific advisor to the University of Washington, Behavioral Research Center for HIV and an editor on the International Editorial Board of the British Journal of Psychiatry. She previously sat on the Wellcome Trust/MRC/DFiD Joint Global Health Trials committee, and on the Wellcome Bloomsbury Tropical Health Policy Group. Melanie has published articles in Newsweek and in the Association of Commonwealth Universities review; her work has featured in the Guardian and Washington Post and on NPR radio, BBC World Service and CNN news.
Research

Centre for Global Mental Health (CGMH)
The Centre for Global Mental Health (CGMH) aims to address inequities by closing the care gap, and to reduce human rights abuses experienced by people living with mental, neurological and substance use conditions, particularly in low resource settings with a view to contributing to a world where all people living with mental, neurological and substance use disorders can live a life of meaning and dignity.
Status not set
African Youth in Mind
African Youth in Mind focuses on adapting and testing a stepped care intervention for youth with depression & anxiety in Ghana and Zimbabwe.
Project status: Ongoing

The TENDAI Study
Task shifting to treat depression and HIV medication nonadherence in low resource settings
Project status: Ongoing
News
Providing mental health support in peace efforts helps alleviate PTSD and depression
New study shows group counselling and one -on-one peacebuilding activities improve mental health in Nigeria
A new generation of Inspiring Women at the IoPPN
28 new portraits of internationally recognised female professors at the Faculty have been added to IoPPN’s ‘Inspiring Women’ exhibition, celebrating the...

New Director of the King's Global Health Institute Announced
Professor Melanie Amna Abas will begin the post on 1 December 2023, leading the Institute’s research on improving healthcare in lower resource settings.

Professor Melanie Abas receives £2.75m in UKRI funding
Professor Melanie Abas, with members of a new Global Health Research Group, has received £2.75m in NIHR funding to learn how best to treat depression and...

Tribute to Professor James Hakim
Tribute to Professor James Hakim, world-leading HIV scientist and research collaborator with King’s College London, who passed away in January 2021 from...

Integrating mental health into HIV prevention and care: a call to action
Dr Melanie Abas was recently given the opportunity to edit a special supplement if the Journal of the International Society of Aids ahead of the 11th IAS...

Research

Centre for Global Mental Health (CGMH)
The Centre for Global Mental Health (CGMH) aims to address inequities by closing the care gap, and to reduce human rights abuses experienced by people living with mental, neurological and substance use conditions, particularly in low resource settings with a view to contributing to a world where all people living with mental, neurological and substance use disorders can live a life of meaning and dignity.
Status not set
African Youth in Mind
African Youth in Mind focuses on adapting and testing a stepped care intervention for youth with depression & anxiety in Ghana and Zimbabwe.
Project status: Ongoing

The TENDAI Study
Task shifting to treat depression and HIV medication nonadherence in low resource settings
Project status: Ongoing
News
Providing mental health support in peace efforts helps alleviate PTSD and depression
New study shows group counselling and one -on-one peacebuilding activities improve mental health in Nigeria
A new generation of Inspiring Women at the IoPPN
28 new portraits of internationally recognised female professors at the Faculty have been added to IoPPN’s ‘Inspiring Women’ exhibition, celebrating the...

New Director of the King's Global Health Institute Announced
Professor Melanie Amna Abas will begin the post on 1 December 2023, leading the Institute’s research on improving healthcare in lower resource settings.

Professor Melanie Abas receives £2.75m in UKRI funding
Professor Melanie Abas, with members of a new Global Health Research Group, has received £2.75m in NIHR funding to learn how best to treat depression and...

Tribute to Professor James Hakim
Tribute to Professor James Hakim, world-leading HIV scientist and research collaborator with King’s College London, who passed away in January 2021 from...

Integrating mental health into HIV prevention and care: a call to action
Dr Melanie Abas was recently given the opportunity to edit a special supplement if the Journal of the International Society of Aids ahead of the 11th IAS...
