The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced 6 awards to recognize the people contributing to global health and commitment to regional health issues.
During the ceremony of the Global Health Leaders Awards, Dr. Tedros expressed that this award recognizes those who protected health around the world in a time of conflict, pandemic, and food insecurity.
Among the 6 awardees, the Lebanese-British psychiatrist, Dr. Ahmed Hankir, was also honored with the Global Health Leaders Awards.
Dr. Hankir is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Mental Health Research and Academic Clinical Fellow in Psychiatry at the King’s College.
He also works for the NHS at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and serves as Visiting Professor of Academic Psychiatry in the United States.
“While in medical school in the UK, he developed a debilitating episode of psychological distress, triggered by the traumatic events when living in Lebanon,” said WHO.
Dr. Ahmed is also the author of The Wounded Healer, a program empowering performing arts and storytelling with psychiatry, which was integrated into the curriculums of 4 universities in the United Kingdom.
Dr. Ahmed also works on Muslim mental health, islamophobia, and violent extremism.
