Mental Health Matters.
Date & Time: Tuesday, November 18, 2025, 1:30 - 4:30 p.m. ET
Location: Livestream (link e-mailed upon registration below)
The global mental health crisis is one of the most urgent and complex challenges of our time. Dr. Paul Farmer taught us that advancing mental health requires care that extends beyond clinical settings—addressing the broader social, economic, and structural determinants that profoundly influence mental well-being, including poverty, displacement, and systemic inequity.
We invite you to join us virtually for the 2025 Paul Farmer Symposium on Global Health Equity, where a keynote address and engaging panel discussions will explore how comprehensive approaches can meaningfully respond to the global crisis in mental health care.
This year’s content was inspired by a mental health-focused issue of Dædalus, the Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, which explores the frontiers of knowledge and issues of public importance. The introduction (linked here) frames the topic, while the entire issue offers a variety of perspectives on mental health today. You can access the full issue of the journal here.
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Symposium Schedule
1:30 p.m. Welcome
1:40 p.m. Panel: Impact in Global Mental Health Care Delivery and Research
2:30 p.m. Panel: Action in U.S. Mental Health Advocacy and Policy
3:30 p.m. Keynote speaker
*Timing subject to change
Program Descriptions
Impact in Global Mental Health Care Delivery and Research
People around the globe face serious barriers to mental health care, including stigma, poverty, and limited access to integrated services. This panel will explore how experts are tackling these challenges through innovative care and research grounded in community-led models. Panelists will share lessons learned and examine how meaningful impact is achieved when prevention, support, and treatment go hand in hand with dignity and equity.
Moderator: Dr. Giuseppe (Bepi) Raviola
Panelists: Dr. Theresa Betancourt, Carmen Contreras, Dr. John Naslund
Action in U.S. Mental Health Advocacy and Policy
In the face of rising mental health needs across the United States, this panel will explore how policy, public health, and advocacy can come together to drive meaningful change and inform models that can be adapted globally. The conversation will examine current gaps in care and highlight opportunities to build a more just and integrated system. Panelists will discuss how we can reimagine mental health care across the country—centering human dignity, fostering resilience, and advancing systems that promote well-being for all.
Moderator: Dr. Joia Mukherjee
Panelists: Dr. Pamela Collins, Dr. Jim Yong Kim
Accompaniment and Care: Paul Farmer’s Legacy for Global Mental Health
This year’s keynote will be delivered by Dr. Arthur Kleinman, Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor of Anthropology, Harvard University; Professor of Psychiatry and Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
Speaker Biographies
Theresa S. Betancourt, ScD, MA
Salem Professor in Global Practice, Boston College School of Social Work; Director of the Research Program on Children and Adversity
Theresa Betancourt is a leading researcher on child mental health, adversity, and resilience. She directs implementation science initiatives scaling evidence-based interventions in low-resource settings globally and in the U.S. Her work spans family home visiting in Rwanda, group interventions for youth in Sierra Leone, and refugee-led prevention programs in the U.S. She serves as a Lancet commissioner on preventing violence against women and children and authored Shadows Into Light (Harvard, 2025).
Pamela Y. Collins, MD, MPH
Bloomberg Centennial Professor, Chair of the Department of Mental Health, and Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Dr. Pamela Collins is a psychiatrist and mixed-methods researcher who works at the intersections of urban health, HIV, and mental health for adolescents and adults, examining the roles of stigma in vulnerability to poor health outcomes. Through research, science policy, and global public health implementation leadership, she has worked to expand access to mental health care for individuals and communities globally.
Carmen Contreras, MSc
Mental Health Program Director, Socios en Salud
Carmen Contreras is a psychologist with clinical qualifications in adolescent health and sexual and reproductive health. Throughout her 22-year career with Socios en Salud, she has led research and implementation to improve health care delivery for vulnerable populations, working closely with patients, community health workers, and the public sector. She is committed to advancing equitable mental health care and strengthening community-based approaches.
Jim Yong Kim, MD, PhD
Vice Chairman and Partner, Global Infrastructure Partners (part of BlackRock); Co-Founder and Board Member, Partners In Health; Chancellor of the University of Global Health Equity
Dr. Kim served as president of the World Bank Group, president of Dartmouth College, and director of the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS department. At Harvard, he chaired the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine and directed the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights. He was also chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. A MacArthur “Genius” Fellow and TIME 100 honoree, Kim was recognized among America’s “25 Best Leaders” by U.S. News & World Report.
Arthur Kleinman, MD
Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor of Anthropology, Harvard University; Professor of Psychiatry and Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Author of The Soul of Care, Dr. Kleinman is a leading scholar in psychiatry, anthropology, and global health. A Harvard professor for 50 years, he has authored major works including The Illness Narratives and Reimagining Global Health. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and currently directs a project on aging and eldercare in China.
Dr. Joia Mukherjee, MD, MPH
Director and Advisory Dean, F.W. Peabody Society and Director of the MMS in Global Health Delivery, Harvard Medical School; Associate Professor of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Senior Academic and Clinical Advisor, Partners In Health
Dr. Mukherjee is an infectious disease doctor, pediatrician, public health specialist, and human rights advocate. For 25 years, she served as the chief medical officer at Partners In Health. She authored An Introduction to Global Health Delivery: Practice, Equity, Human Rights (Oxford University Press, 2nd ed., 2021).
John A. Naslund, PhD
Co-Director, Mental Health For All Lab; Faculty, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Dr. Naslund specializes in psychiatric epidemiology, implementation science, and digital mental health. His research focuses on improving lives of people with mental illness globally, especially in low-resource settings. He has over 200 peer-reviewed publications and serves as an honorary research fellow with Sangath in India.
Giuseppe (Bepi) Raviola, MD, MPH
Co-Director of Mental Health, Partners In Health; Director, Chester M. Pierce, MD, Division of Global Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital; Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School
Since 2009, Dr. Raviola has helped build global mental health programs in Haiti, Peru, Mexico, Rwanda, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Lesotho, Russia, and Kazakhstan. He supports site-based teams delivering community-led mental health services and strategic planning within Partners In Health. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.
Hosted By
The Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Harvard Global Health Institute, and Partners In Health.
With special thanks to the Chester M. Pierce, MD Division of Global Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital and GlobalMentalHealth@Harvard for their partnership.