Professor N. Sartorius, MD, PhD, FRCPsych previously the Director of the Mental Health Program of the World Health Organization and President of the World Psychiatric Association and of the European Psychiatric Association now serves as President of the Association for the Improvement of Mental Health Programs, a non-governmental organization located in Geneva.  Professor Sartorius holds several professorial positions in Europe, the USA and elsewhere.  He has published more than 500 papers in peer-reviewed journals and authored, co-authored, edited or co-edited more than 120 books.

Professor Sartorius’ main areas of interest at present are the comorbidity of mental and physical disorders, the reduction of the stigma of mental disorders and education of psychiatrists and other stakeholders in the field of mental health.  In his previous positions he was the principal investigator of a number of international collaborative studies and projects dealing with schizophrenia and other major mental diseases, comorbidity of mental and physical illnesses,, health service development,  and education of different categories of staff.