Program will improve treatment for children and elders with mental illnesses in rural Ghana
ANN ARBOR – Two University of Michigan doctors were recently awarded a Global REACH Partnership Development Grant to build workforce capacity and improve treatment for children and elders with mental illnesses in rural Ghana. Michelle Riba, M.D., professor of psychiatry, and Gregory Dalack, M.D., chair of the U-M Department of Psychiatry and, will lead this effort.
This global psychiatric engagement project is titled, “Multi-Generational Mental Health Curriculum: An Authentic Global Academic Engagement to Build Workforce Capacity and Improve Treatment for Children and Elders with Mental Illness in Rural Ghana.” The partnership includes the U-M unit, the Department of Psychiatry at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, Ghana, and the Department of Psychiatry University of Ghana Medical School in Accra, Ghana.
During an 8-day visit this year, Drs. Riba and Dalack will meet with Dr. Gordon Donnir, head of the Department of Psychiatry at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, and Dr. Sammy Ohene, head of the Department of Psychiatry University of Ghana Medical School to discuss the psychiatric mental health curriculum that encompasses the:
- Exchange program where U-M residents/faculty teach and learn at Ghana and Ghanaian residents/faculty teach and learn at U-M;
- Specialty training in child and adolescent psychiatry;
- Evidence-based diagnosis and treatments in collaboration with Bruno Giordani, Ph.D., and colleagues in the neuropsychology program;
- Live streaming of U-M Department of Psychiatry Grand Rounds to University of Ghana;
- Expanding and leveraging tele-medicine, tele-psychiatry, and mobile health access for delivery of safe, quality, and evidence-based mental health care.
“We are so pleased to have the opportunity to work with our Ghanaian colleagues, helping them improve their workforce capacity and advance treatment for children and elders with mental illnesses in rural Ghana,” said Gregory Dalack, M.D.
“The U-M Department of Psychiatry will greatly benefit from this collaboration,” said Michelle Riba, M.D., who is also an associate director of the U-M Comprehensive Depression Center, and director of the PsychOncology Program at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center. “It is our hope that after our initial meetings, the program will grow and we will be able to offer our trainees an invaluable global educational experience and learn from our Ghana colleagues.”
Together this international partnership intends to support the training of Ghanaian medical residents and fellows in child and geriatric psychiatry and to provide a global mental health experience for U-M residents who strive to become leaders in underserved and under-resourced regions of the world.
Drs. Riba and Dalack note the important and transformative leadership in this area from other colleagues at University of Michigan who have done work in Ghana. This includes, Timothy R.B. Johnson, M.D., chair of the Department of Ob/Gyn; Philip Zazove, M.D., chair of the Department of Family Medicine; and Joseph C. Kolars, M.D., senior associate dean for education and global initiatives, who have provided mentorship to the Department of Psychiatry.
