Dr. Barbara Lopes Cardozo

Dr. Barbara Lopes Cardozo holds a Medical Degree from the University of Amsterdam, a Master’s degree in Public Health from Tulane University, and a specialization in Psychiatry from Louisiana State University. She is one of the founding members of Doctors Without Borders – Holland, winner of the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize. Among the dozens of missions with direct on-the-ground involvement by Dr. Lopes Cardozo during a decade with the organization are the Armenian (USSR) Earthquake, Armero (Colombia) Volcano disaster, Peru cholera epidemic, as well as aid to victims of political and military conflict in Somalia, Uganda, Haiti, and Nicaragua. She has worked as medical coordinator for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Zaire. Currently, she is a psychiatric epidemiologist at the International Emergency and Refugee Health Branch (IERHB) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, focusing on mental health and psychosocial issues in complex humanitarian emergencies. Dr Lopes Cardozo has conducted numerous mental health surveys in war-affected countries and provided emergency technical assistance to UNHCR, WHO and NGO’s in Macedonia, Kosovo, Thailand, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Israel, Jordan, and Kuwait/Iraq. She has also conducted mental health studies among humanitarian aid workers who work in these stressful conditions. Dr Lopes Cardozo is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University.