Melanie Abas

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. She is also a consultant psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and a member of the Zimbabwe College of Psychiatrists

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

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. The Friendship Bench is a globally recognized, evidence-based mental health intervention that uses trained community grandmothers to deliver problem-solving therapy. 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. 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.

She is also recognised for improving mental health among trafficked persons.

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.

Her earlier research examined the social determinants of depression among women in Zimbabwe.

Career Abas has held academic and clinical roles at King's College London and the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust since 2008.

Academic service Abas co-founded the MSc in Global Mental Health, taught jointly between King's College London and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Her work has been characterised by building capacity in groups classically under-represented in academia, for example by contributing to African-led research and training programmes such as the US–African Medical Education Partnership Initiative and the African Mental Health Research Initiative (AMARI). . capacity building amongst African researchers. As Director of the King's Global Health Institute she is leading strategy on equitable partnerships and nurturing early career researchers.

Personal life Abas is of British and Pakistani heritage. She is married and has three children. Her father, Syed Jan Abas, was a mathematician.

Selected publications