Eugene Laska, Ph.D., Program Director
Carole A. Siegel, Ph.D., Deputy Director
Marc Galanter, M.D., Deputy Director, Substance Abuse Program

In a global framework these are formidable tasks with needs far exceeding available resources. Therefore WHO initiates, stimulates and coordinates these efforts with the help of experts and research teams around the world. To this end, WHO designates research organizations to assist it in accomplishing its goals; the WHO Collaborating Center at NKI is only one of a handful of such centers in the United States. The World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Training and Research in Mental Health and in the Prevention of Substance Abuse is comprised of faculty and staff members at the NKI and the New York University (NYU) Department of Psychiatry. /p>

Over more than 20 years of collaboration, the Collaborating Center and WHO have developed a close working relationship. The Center has participated in WHO coordinated international studies; provided statistical and epidemiological research support; created a clinical management information system for international use; developed medical curricula on addictive illness and a cross-national evaluation method for addiction treatment programs; and has disseminated the results of this work.

Senior staff at the Center serve on WHO expert committees, participate in workshops and conferences and act as consultants to member states. The Center also hosts WHO Fellows from around the world and has jointly organized conferences and workshops. The Center consults regularly with programs in other countries through its affiliation with WHO and with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

WHO Collaborating Center Projects:

• Information systems methodologies developed by this Center (the NKI/WHO Mental Health Information System) have proven useful across cultural and national boundaries and provide flexibility to meet local needs. Its processes aim to collect, store and process information of public mental health importance. The systems allow for studying the impact of mental health and related systems and supports on the outcomes of persons with mental illness, have been translated into several languages, and implemented within the People’s Republic of China and other countries.
• In addition, the Collaborating Center has conducted epidemiologic studies on the etiology and course of mental illness, collecting and analyzing data for one of the cohorts in the International Study of Schizophrenia, a major international project.

The Division of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse at New York University’s Dept. of Psychiatry is a part of the Collaborating Center, and is headed by Deputy Director Marc Galanter, MD. This Division collaborates with the WHO Programme on Substance Abuse (Geneva) in developing medical curricula on addictive illness for international dissemination; providing an international cadre of senior professionals in addictive illness for medical education and treatment research dissemination; and conducting a cross-national evaluation of treatment programs for addiction.

For further information on the WHO Collaborating Center for Training and Research in Mental Health and in the Prevention of Substance Abuse, consult the Center's web site