DEVORA KESTEL
Director, Department of Mental Health and Subtance Use · World Health Organization ‘Strengthening global efforts in addressing substance use and addictive behaviors: an update from WHO’ Dévora Kestel is a senior mental health policy specialist with more than twenty-five years of international experience in Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America, implementing and advising governments on national policies related to mental health systems. She is a strong advocate for the rights of people with mental health issues. Ms. Kestel obtained her MSc in Psychology from the Universidad Nacional de La Plata in Argentina and her MSc in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK. After completing her university studies in Argentina, she worked for ten years in developing and supervising community-based mental health services in Trieste, Italy. In 2000, she joined the WHO as a mental health officer, first in Kosovo and then in Albania, where she became the WHO Representative to Albania. In both countries, she worked closely with the Ministries of Health to help establish comprehensive community-based mental health systems. In 2007, Ms. Kestel joined the PAHO/WHO as the Sub-regional Mental Health Advisor for the English-speaking Caribbean Countries based in Barbados. In 2011, Ms. Kestel was appointed as the Regional Mental Health Advisor at the headquarters in Washington, DC, providing technical cooperation in the mental health field to the entire region. In 2015, she became the Unit Chief for Mental Health and Substance Use at PAHO/WHO. Over the years, Ms. Kestel has contributed to and co-authored publications in mental health. Since 2019, Ms Kestel has been the WHO Director of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Use.
Dr. KRISTIANA SISTE
Lecturer, Department of Psychiatry, University of Indonesia ‘Beyond the tip of the iceberg: Challenges in overcoming methamphetamine use among women’ Dr. Siste attended the medical school at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia. She pursued further training as a psychiatrist at the same institution. Since 2009, she has been a Lecturer at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Indonesia. She obtained qualification as an addiction psychiatrist in 2013. She is particularly interested in neurocognitive function, genetics, neuroimaging, adherence to treatment, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of substance and non-substance addiction (gaming and gambling disorder). Since 2010, she has conducted several research projects in addiction psychiatry. Currently, she is developing a questionnaire for teenagers with internet addiction while running a national survey for teenagers with internet addiction in Indonesia. She was also a pioneer in the development of the one-stop service for patients with substances, behavioral addiction and HIV/AIDS, National Behavioral Addiction Study Center and National Behavioral Addiction Treatment Center based at dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital/Faculty of Medicine University of Indonesia. She also contributes as a senior lecturer for undergraduate of medical programs, psychiatry registrar and sub-specialist at Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia. She frequently shares about addiction and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, provides training for peer-support and addiction prevention skills across schools and communities in Indonesia. She is vice president of the Addiction Psychiatry Division-Indonesian Association of Psychiatrist, member of International Working Group on Behavioral Addiction, Committee member of the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism and expert member in the National Narcotics Board in Indonesia.
Prof. JALLAL TOUFIQ
Director, University Psychiatric Hospital, Sale, Morocco ‘Drugs, Challenges Facing The World: The Role of The International Narcotics Control Board’ Dr. Toufiq got his specialization degree in psychiatry at the Rabat Faculty of Medicine in 1992. He was granted fellowships in Psychiatry and addiction medicine in France. He opted for a sub-specialization in substance use and applied-epidemiology in 1993. He was selected as a NIDA research fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health and studied there in 1994-95. He became an associate Professor in Psychiatry in 1997. He contributed to the creation of the first center for drug abuse treatment in 1999. As a professor of Psychiatry, he became the Director of the University Psychiatric Hospital in Salé in 2005. He has held the position of the Moroccan Representative at the MedNET Network of the Pompidou Group since 2006. He was appointed the Permanent Correspondent for Morocco at the Pompidou Group (the Council of Europe). He co-founded the Middle East and North Africa Harm Reduction Association. He served as an expert and consultant for many organizations such as WHO, UNODC, African Union, Council of Europe. In 2015, He was elected by the ECOSC as a member of the UN International Narcotics Control Board in Vienna for which he got reelected for a second five-year mandate in 2020. He is also on the board of the ICUDDR. He also served as the Minister of Health advisor for mental health and drug use issues in the early 2000s. He teaches at the University of Rabat Faculty of Medicine. He founded the University Diploma on Addictology at the university of Rabat. He is the current President of the International Narcotics Control Board of the United Nations.
Prof BERNA ULUĞ, MD
Professor and Chair, Department of Psychiatry, Hacettepe University, Ankara ‘Seeing affective and psychotic disorders through addictions: What we learn from case studies’ Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey. In 1995-96 she completed the fellowship program for “alcohol and drug abuse/addiction treatment and prevention” as a NIDA/ Humphrey fellow and also got a degree for the Master of Public Health at the Johns Hopkins University. Since then she has been actively involved in training, clinical practice and scientific research on addictions. Her professional orientation has been focused on psychiatric comorbidities and transdiagnostic treatments in the last decade. She acted as a principle investigator and researcher in the field trials of diagnostic classification and disability research conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO). She is the director of the Center for Addiction Research at Hacettepe University, the associate editor of Turkish Journal of Psychiatry and the president of the Turkish Association for Nervous and Mental Health.
Dr. MARICA FERRI , MS , PhD
Head of Sector, Public Health Unit European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) ‘Translating Evidence into Practice: Quality Standards, Guidelines and Training by the European Union Drug Agency’ Marica Ferri is a distinguished European researcher and expert in the field of public health and addiction. She holds prominent roles within the European Drugs Agency (EUDA), leading research, training and implementation of evidence-based recommendations for practice and policy. Ferri’s work primarily focuses on the development and evaluation of public health interventions aimed at preventing and treating substance use disorders. With a strong academic background and numerous publications, she is strongly committed to advancing the understanding and management of addiction across Europe and beyond.