Global Mental Health Program | Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences | UC Davis Health

The Global Mental Health (GMH) program in the Department of Psychiatry at UC Davis addresses the need for quality, culturally competent and sustainable mental health care in low and middle-income countries, as well as in immigrant and underserved communities in the United States.

The GMH program enriches resident education by providing didactics and workshops. Residents seeking more in-depth exposure to the field of GMH are encouraged to apply for the GMH track, which includes mentoring and the opportunity for fieldwork. All residents completing the GMH track are expected to complete a scholarly project, such as developing a service or program, presenting the project at a national meeting and publishing in a peer-reviewed journal.

Building on fieldwork conducted in Senegal, I plan to conduct a qualitative research study that examines the experiences of political violence in Senegal and their impact on mental health. I will collaborate with local psychiatrists and human rights organizations to ensure that my research reflects the lived experiences of those affected.—Zeynab Blondin Diop, M.D.

Through the Global Mental Health Track, in collaboration with others at UC Davis, we have developed an elective in which psychiatry residents are trained to perform forensic immigration evaluations for community-based organizations and nonprofit legal organizations. Multiple attendings and volunteer clinical professors have been recruited and trained to supervise these evaluations. In the coming year, we hope to organize further workshops, didactics, and immigrant mental health elective opportunities for residents.—Lauren Nguyen, M.D./MPH