Melanie Amna Abas
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Melanie Amna Abas | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Alma mater | University of Auckland University of Birmingham |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience King's Global Health Institute |
| Thesis | Socio-economic deprivation and length of psychiatric inpatient stay (2003) |
Melanie Amna Abas is a British psychiatric epidemiologist who is Professor of Global Mental Health at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and Director of the King’s Global Health Institute at King's College London.[1] She is also a consultant psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and a member of the Zimbabwe College of Psychiatrists [2]
Her research focuses on improving access to effective mental health care, particularly for depression and anxiety, in low-resource settings. This has included developing and evaluating psychological interventions that can be delivered by non-specialists in primary and community care[1]. Much of her work has been conducted in sub-Saharan Africa, including Zimbabwe, as well as in the United Kingdom.
Abas attended Ysgol David Hughes in North Wales and studied medicine at the University of Birmingham.[1] She became a Member of the Royal College of Physicians before specialising in psychiatry.[1] Two years of her training as a psychiatrist was at Harare Hospital, Zimbabwe. She later completed an MSc in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and a doctorate at the University of Auckland in 2003,[1] where her research examined associations between socioeconomic deprivation and mental health outcomes.[3]
Research
Abas is well known for establishing conclusive evidence, with Dixon Chibanda and others, on the effectiveness of the low-cost ‘Friendship Bench’ talking therapy for depression, which has made a global impact.[4] The Friendship Bench is a globally recognized, evidence-based mental health intervention that uses trained community ''grandmothers'' to deliver problem-solving therapy.[5][6] Originating in Zimbabwe, the intervention has been associated with reductions in symptoms of depression and has been implemented in multiple countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom.[7][8] It has also been described as a cost-effective approach to addressing gaps in mental health care in low-resource settings. Together with Dixon Chibanda, she co-directs the African Youth in Mind programme, which adapts the Friendship Bench intervention for young people, and is now moving into digital tools for depression.[9][10][11]
She is also recognised for improving mental health among trafficked persons.[1] Her research with the PROTECT team informed UK policy changes and NHS training to support survivors of human trafficking and modern slavery.[12]
Abas has brought together a team of clinicians, researchers and implementers who focus on integrating mental health into care for people living with HIV, especially in countries with high HIV burden.[1] Together they have contributed to international policy, and also developed the TENDAI intervention for improving depression and medication adherence.[13][14][15]
Her earlier research examined the social determinants of depression among women in Zimbabwe.[1] She has been credited with helping to ‘bust the myth’ that depression does not occur in people in poorer countries.[16]
Career
Abas has held academic and clinical roles at King's College London and the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust since 2008.[1] She served as Deputy Director of the Centre for Global Mental Health, a joint initiative between King's College London and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.[1]
In 2023, she was appointed Director of the King’s Global Health Institute. [17]
