Hamed Ekhtiari, MD, PhD, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Sciences, University of Minnesota Medical School, USA.

Dr. Ekhtiari’s research at Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Sciences, University of Minnesota is focused to reshape the future of addiction medicine using brain imaging in combination with brain stimulation technologies and cognitive rehabilitation. Dr. Ekhtiari is director of the international network of tES/TMS trials for addiction medicine (INTAM). INTAM with over 50 lab members promotes international collaborations to increase research quality and implementation of non-invasive brain stimulation technologies in addiction medicine. Dr Ekhtiari was born and raised in Iran and received his MD and then PhD in neuroimaging from Tehran University and his post-doctoral fellowship in computational psychiatry from Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.

CONTACT: h.ekhtiari@gmail.com

Dre Achab Sophia is psychiatrist with medical doctorate achieved in 2009 and a PhD in Life sciences completed in 2014, both in France. She has a practice in addiction medicine since 2007 and completed the recently created Swiss degree in Psychiatry and psychotherapy in addiction medicine in 2017.

She is senior lecturer at Faculty of Medicine of Geneva University, teaches in several European countries, and supports early career professionals in addiction medicine worldwide.

She is medical Director of the Swiss pioneering clinic specialized in addictive behaviors (Gambling, gaming, shopping, work..) at University Hospitals of Geneva in Switzerland.

She developed a unique fit between clinical practice, research, teaching and public health mandates in this emergent medical field, advocating for a balance between opportunities and health risks of tech.

She has been part since 2013 of several technical advisory groups (TAGs) for

international and Swiss policy making and public health entities in the field of addiction medicine. She is co-Head of Geneva WHO Collaborating Centre for training and research in Mental Health and holds a certificate in Improving Global Health : Focusing on Quality and Safety delivered by Harvard Global Health Institute in 2020.

She is co-chair of the executive committee of ISAM-NeXT and advisory board member elect of International Society for the Study of Addictive Behaviors (ISSBA), with a specific focus on gender and international cooperation as core factors shaping the future of addiction medicine

CONTACT: sophia.achab@unige.ch

Dr. Fares AlHarbi did his Internship at the King Khaled University Hospital,

King Saud University, Riyadh, KSA

And his Residency Psychiatry 2003 – 2007

Saudi Commission for Health Specialties

He completed a two-year Psychiatry- Addiction Fellowship at the University of Calgary in Calgary, AB, Canada

He is currently the Chairman of the Psychiatric and Addiction services, at Dallah-Namar Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Chairmen of Board Director, Auon Medical Rehabilitation Center, Alexandria, Egypt; CEO of the Maan Medical Complex, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Board Director, of the Mosandah Rehabilitation Centre; in Alexandria, Egypt

Dr. Rabia Bilici, from İstanbul, Turkey, received a bachelor’s degree in medicine in 1999 from İstanbul University İstanbul
Medical Faculty. After graduating, she completed her psychiatric residency between 2002-2007. In 2012, she
founded the Alcohol and Drug Addiction Research, Treatment and Education Center at Erenköy Mental Health and
Neurological Diseases Research and Training Hospital. In 2017, she began working as an Associate Professor of
Psychiatry at the University of Health Sciences. She is the founding director of a doctoral program as the head of the
Addiction and Fight against Addiction Department. Previously, Dr. Bilici worked as the Drug Addiction Plan Coordinator for the Republic of Turkey’s Ministry of Health. She is also the founder of the first outpatient rehabilitation center for addicted adults in Turkey. There she
established a mother-baby unit for addicted women. She was a chief physician at Erenkoy Mental
Health Hospital between 2016-2020. Dr. Bilici brings experience working on many projects with
the World Health Organization and is a member of the Green Crescent Science Board.
Bilici, who won a scholarship to the Fulbright Hubert H. Humphrey Program in the 2020-2021
academic year, completed her studies in the field of addiction at Virginia Commonwealth
University. Today she is working as a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Health
Sciences. She is also an ISSUP member as a global trainer for Universal Treatment Curriculum.

Dr Ayana Gibbs MBChB, MRCPsych, PhD

Ayana is a consultant forensic psychiatrist, clinician researcher and digital nomad. She was born in Guyana, raised in Barbados and trained in psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital in London, UK where she also received her PhD in Neuroscience from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (King’s College London). She is currently a clinician and Research Lead with Psychiatry-UK, a UK national online psychiatry service, where she is also leading the development of the Psychiatry-Caribbean expansion. Her goal is to improve access to mental health and substance use services and professionals across the Caribbean through tele-medicine.

Her clinical and research interests include adult ADHD, addictive disorders, prison mental health, women’s health and digital health.

Head of Health Services for Addictions: I have excelled in a leadership role, overseeing health services focused on addiction treatment. This has involved planning, managing, and evaluating health services and teams. Currently, I am in the process of developing a groundbreaking risk and harm reduction model.

Educator and Mentor: As a professor, I have been instrumental in educating the next generation of psychiatrists in addiction courses for residents and postgraduate courses in addictions. Additionally, I have taken part in coordinating and participating in various diplomas, workshops, and conferences designed to enhance the training of healthcare professionals in substance use, addictions, and mental health.

I am presently engaged in the development of innovative learning management systems.

Research and Publications: I have made significant contributions to the field through collaboration on various research projects and the publication of numerous articles, book chapters, and a clinical practice guideline on the use of methadone in the HIV population.

fbt

Jonna Levola, MD, PhD, is a psychiatrist and holds a special competency in addiction medicine from the Finnish Medical Association. She holds a PhD in Addiction Medicine and is currently finishing post-doctoral research in the field addiction psychiatry at the University of Helsinki, where she works as a clinical lecturer. Her research interests include epidemiology, prognosis and mortality related to substance use disorders, and more recently also behavioural addictions. Dr. Levola is the current president of the board of the Finnish Society of Addiction Medicine and a long-term member of the Society’s special competency board.

Dr Rania Mamdouh has a PhD degree in Psychiatry from Cairo University,Egypt, 2007 . ISAM Diploma in Addiction Medicine, 2004. She received intense training by Prof Rakhawy on Group therapy. Her MD thesis was on the impact of different type of group therapy on substance use patients. She received Addiction Research internship course in UCLA and ISAP, California, 2014. She received UTC Training, ICUDDR and ISSUP, 2019- 2020. Dr Rania is currently associate Professor of Psychiatry, Addiction Unit, Psychiatry department, Cairo University.

Dr Rania Participated in developing and implementation of the Egyptian National Program for Prevention Of Drug Use in Schools and Youth Centers,2004 till 2011 . She also worked for one year with the WHO- EMRO in development of the Middle East Life Skills Program for Adolescents.  She developed “Serenity Girls Program” psychiatric and Addiction Program for Women in Cairo, 2007 and currently she is the Program Manager . She participated in many researches in the domain of Women Addiction, adolescents drug use and prevention programs implementation, mindfulness techniques among opiate use patients, Impact of group therapies among substance use patients, researches on synthetic drugs and has international and national publications.

She began the family intervention program in the Addiction Unit Cairo   University, 2015 till current.

Dr Rania participated with the ministry of health in the National biannual Surveys  on drug use 2009 till 2018 .

Dr Rania is a consultant Addiction Psychiatry in Al Amal Hospital, Sultanate Oman, 2017.

She shared in development of the Egyptian National Program for Pregnant Addict Women who won the best practice in Africa, 2021 by the African Union.

She is currently sharing in training of the multidisciplinary team of the National MAT Program ( Medications Assisted Therapy). She leads the training of the Team of Egyptian National Women Substance Use Program.  2021, she joined the technical committee of the Egyptian National Observatory of Drugs and Drug Use. Dr Rania has a 22 years of practice, teaching and lots of training in Addiction Psychiatry and prevention

She joined ICUDDR Africa and organized the UTC training for 42 psychiatrist and psychologist in Egypt.

2021, she is a board member in African Global Health Association ( for expanding the Health Harm Reduction Programs.

Dr. David Martell, BSc, MD, CCFP (AM), FCFP, CSAM (Certificant), ISAM (Certification)

Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine, Dalhousie University

President Elect – Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine – CSAM-SMCA

Dr. Martell completed undergraduate study at Mount Allison University in 1993, a medical degree at the University of Western Ontario in 1997, and Family Medicine Residency at Dalhousie University in 1999. In 2019, after almost 19 years in General Family Medicine, he transitioned to a career in Addiction Medicine. He lives and works in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.

Dr. Martell is a Peer Reviewer and serves on the Peer Review Committee of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia. He is a front line Addiction Medicine provider with the South Shore Opioid Outreach Treatment Team, Direction 180, and Wagmatcook First Nation, all front-line collaborative multi-disciplinary teams. In 2019, he began work on Nova Scotia’s Opioid Use Disorder Practice Support Program, a novel knowledge translation and mentoring support service for primary care collaborative practices in Nova Scotia. He presently serves as Vice Chair of the Addiction Medicine Member Interest Group of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and Addiction Medicine Advisor to the Atlantic Mentorship Network, Pain and Addiction.

Dr. Martell has been a Board Representative for the Maritime Provinces from 2015 to 2019 and presently serves on the CSAM Board as a Member at Large. He also serves as chair of the Policy and Funding Committees.

Afarin Rahimi-Movaghar, MD, MPH, Professor of Psychiatry

Director, Iranian National Center for Addiction Studies (INCAS),

Tehran University of Medical Sciences

Director, World Health Organization Collaborating Center on

Research and Training on Mental Health and substance Use

Afarin Rahimi-Movaghar has more than 25 years of experience in policy-making and research in mental health and substance use. She has served in several national-level positions and has been influential in developing mental health and demand and harm reduction programs over the last two decades in Iran.

Dr. Rahimi’s main interests are in health service research and epidemiology. Her research experiences include directing several national surveys –including two Iranian national mental health and substance use surveys (IranMHS), systematic reviews, qualitative studies, and developing national or global evidence-based guidelines on mental disorders and substance dependence. She has been a consultant for several programs for EMRO region countries and a member of several advisory committees at the International level.

At the time being, Afarin Rahimi-Movaghar is the head of the Iranian National Center for Addiction Studies (INCAS), and Professor of Psychiatry at Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

Contact: rahimia@sina.tums.ac.ir

Dr. Wole Akosile

Dr. Wole Akosile
MBBS, MPH, Cert. Addiction. Psych, FRANZCP, FAChAM, PhD
Addiction Medicine Physician | Addiction Psychiatrist | Clinician-Researcher|Writer
Dr. Akosile is a highly experienced Clinician-Researcher, Addiction Medicine Physician, and Addiction Psychiatrist specializing in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other psychiatric illnesses. He pioneered research on the causal link between PTSD and Coronary Artery Disease. Currently serving as the Director of Ramsay New Farm Clinic’s Addiction Unit and Trans-Magnetic Stimulation Treatment Program, he previously held key roles as the Director of Darwin Drug and Alcohol Service and the Territory-wide Alcohol Mandatory Treatment Service.
As the chief investigator for a Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial comparing Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT)-Standard versus CBT-Memory Reconsolidation for Inpatients with PTSD, Dr. Akosile aims to improve patient outcomes by tailoring trauma-focused CBT based on memory reconsolidation research. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications in prestigious journals like the Asian Journal of Psychiatry, Psychiatry Research, Gene, and Drug and Alcohol Review, focusing on co-occurring illnesses and bridging the gap between physical and psychological health.
Driven by his patients’ experiences with trauma, Dr. Akosile’s work emphasizes understanding the profound impact of trauma on various bodily systems. Beyond his clinical expertise, he is an award-winning author, with his debut novel “The Gods of Women Have Gone Mad” blending dystopian elements with a coming-of-age narrative and romance. His upcoming novel, “Real Men Don’t Do Therapy,” explores complex family dynamics, the legacy of historical abuse on men, and the challenges faced by migrants in Australia seeking therapy. Dr. Akosile’s writings are compelling and thought-provoking, offering unique insights into human experiences and mental health journeys.