Mark van Ommeren

Dr Mark van Ommeren is Head of the Mental Health Unit within the WHO Department of Mental Health, Brain Health and Substance Use. Before taking this role, most of his work focused on initiating and developing inter-agency humanitarian policy (i.e. Sphere standards, IASC guidelines), humanitarian tools (eg assessment tools, mhGAP Humanitarian Intervention Guide); developing evidence-based WHO guidelines for depression and PTSD; developing and testing a range of scalable psychological interventions; and supporting numereous countries to build back better mental health systems after emergencies. To improve intersectoral collaboration he introduced the now popular term “mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS)” into humanitarian policy. He coordinated the writing of WHO's (2022) World Mental Health Report. He leads a WHO team that covers many aspects of mental health, including suicide prevention; mental health at work; services reorganization; integrated care; workforce development; psychosocial and pharmaceutical interventions; MHPSS emergency preparedness, response and recovery; child and adolescent mental health; and epidemiology. Born and raised in the Netherlands, he worked for five years for a WHO Collaborating Centre, based in Nepal and Fiji, before joining WHO. He studied at the University of British Columbia (BSc in statistics, 1992; MA in counselling psychology, 1995) and received a doctorate - on impact of torture on refugees in Nepal - from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (2000).