The Alan J Flisher Memorial Lecture is held annually in memory of Prof Flisher who was a pioneer in the field of public mental health in South Africa and a world-renowned scientist, academic, mentor and mental health professional. This year, Prof Charlotte Hanlon will be delivering the lecture. 

“Restoring the person’s life”
Working with people with severe mental health conditions in Ethiopia (and beyond) to achieve change
by
Prof Charlotte Hanlon

I am a psychiatrist and mental health researcher who lives and works in Ethiopia. The main focus of my work is on developing, testing and implementing interventions that seek to improve the lives of people with mental health conditions in low- and middle-income countries. I have a particular interest in working with people affected by severe mental health conditions, including psychoses, and developmental disabilities.
 
Current projects include HOPE, an NIHR global health research group on homelessness and severe mental illness (co-PI with Professor Atalay Alem), SCOPE, a Wellcome Trust-funded study of the context of psychosis in Ethiopia to inform outcomes (PI), PROMISE, a Wellcome Trust-funded study on improving detection and care for people with psychosis in Malawi (PI Professor Stephen Lawrie), and PRIZE, an MRC-funded project to pilot a peer support intervention for people with psychosis in South Africa (co-PIs Dr Laura Asher, Dr Carrie Brook-Sumner). I am Ethiopia PI on SPARK, an NIHR funded cluster randomized controlled trial of WHO’s caregiver skills training for children with developmental disabilities in Ethiopia and Kenya (PIs Dr Rosa Hoekstra, Prof. Amina Abubaker). I am a commissioner on the Lancet Commission on Psychoses in Global Context.

View the presentation below