I have been working in global mental health for much of my career. I worked at the University of Cambridge UK, and the Department of Social Medicine and Health Policy, Harvard Medical School, USA, where I developed the concept of "cultural bereavement". I was Consultant to the US Institute of Medicine. I was connected with the Refugee Studies Programme at the University of Oxford.

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With Joop de Jong and Willem van de Put, I helped to found a Dutch international NGO, the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO) Cambodia. I have been an advisor to the Buddhist Institute in Cambodia. I am part of the Cambodian NCD Alliance,working on the Solidarity Fund on NCDs and COVID-19. I am a collaborator in the development by UCSD and Georgetown University of the COVID-19 (and infectious respiratory diseases) sector of the Social Norms Atlas, currently being developed by the Learning Collaborative to Advance Normative Change. 

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I have been a consultant with international organisations such as UNESCO, WHO, and UNFPA. I was UNESCO consultant on Cultural Mapping and Cultural Diversity Programming Lens and was part of the UNESCO Expert Consultation ‘Promoting Standards for Socio-Cultural Research on the Issues of HIV/AIDS and Trafficking’.

 

I have served on executive committees of international organisations such as World Psychiatric Association and World Federation for Mental Health and on boards of Social Science & Medicine, Ethos, Journal of Refugee Studies, Qualitative Health Research, and Diversity of Health & Social Care. I have served on the Advisory Board of the WHO-EU Task Force on Migrant Friendly Hospitals and Cultural Competence.

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