Professor of Clinical Psychology, Charles University in Prague (Czech Republic)
Dr. Miovsky graduated from the Philosophical Faculty of Masaryk University in Brno in 1998. In 2002, he received a Ph.D. degree in Clinical Psychology at Palacky University in Olomouc. In the same year, he was employed as a researcher at the Institute of Psychology of the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic. He has worked as a professional, as a volunteer, and as a therapist in both drop-in centers and in school prevention. Later he established a therapeutic center for drug users and led a group of treatment facilities (Therapeutic community, Aftercare, Day center and Substitution center) at an NGO, Podane ruce, in Brno.
Michal is vice-dean for non-medical health study programs at the 1st Medical Faculty and Head Department of Addictology of the 1st Medical Faculty, Charles University, Prague and General Teaching Hospital in Prague. He oversees Bachelor (BC), Master (MA) and postgraduate (PHD) addiction study program at the Charles University in Prague.
He was president of ISAJE (International Society of Addiction Journal Editors) in 2015-2016 and he works as a Deputy Editor-in-Chief international Journal of Adiktologie (Addictology), established with his colleagues in 2001 (https://adiktologie-journal.eu). He is also a member of the editorial boards of Journal of Groups in Addiction and Recovery, Czech and Slovak Psychiatry and other Journals. He specializes in qualitative methods and research in the field of addictions, prevention and clinical research (e.g. ADHD).
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Dr. Peters is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Mental Health Law and Policy at the University of South Florida (USF), where he has served as a faculty member since 1986, and as Department Chair from 2004-2011. Dr. Peters holds a joint appointment in USF’s College of Public Health. He received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the Florida State University, following a pre-doctoral internship at the University of North Carolina, School of Medicine, and is a licensed Psychologist in Florida. Dr. Peters has served as Principal Investigator and Director for several grant projects, including a NIDA P30 Research Core Center on Co-Occurring Disorders, Justice, and Multidisciplinary Research. He currently serves on the Florida Supreme Court’s Steering Committee on Problem-Solving Courts, and has been a faculty member of the National Judicial College since 2014. He also serves on the editorial boards for the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, the Drug Court Review, the Journal of Dual Diagnosis, Addictology, and the Journal for Advancing Justice. Dr. Peters served as Chair and Co-Editor of the SAMHSA/CSAT Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) #44 on “Substance Abuse Treatment for Adults in the Criminal Justice System”. He is also the lead author of the monograph “Screening and Assessment of Co-Occurring Disorders in the Justice System” (3rd edition) which was published by SAMHSA in 2019. In 2015, Dr. Peters served as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana. He received a second Fulbright Specialist grant in 2017 for work with colleagues from the Universidad Catolica in Paraguay. He has served as a consultant to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in developing guidelines on “Treatment Alternatives to Conviction or Punishment”, and is a member of the Treatment Expert Advisory Group (TEAG) for the Colombo Plan.
Igor Koutsenok, MD, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California San Diego, Director of the UCSD Center for Criminality and Addiction Research, Training and Application, Director of the International Technology Transfer Center-Ukraine. He completed his graduate degree as a medical doctor in 1983 from the National Medical University in Kiev, (Ukraine). In 1986, he completed his psychiatry residency training and received degree as psychiatrist from the Medical University in Sofia (Bulgaria). In 1993-1996 he completed the addiction psychiatry training and obtained a degree in addiction psychiatry at the University of London, Department of Addictive Behavior and Psychological Medicine at St. Georges Hospital Medical School. In 1996, he was recruited by the University of California San Diego, School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and since then he serves as faculty member of the Department. In 2013-2016 he served as Chief of Prevention, Treatment, and Rehabilitation at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, United Nations Office in Vienna. Dr. Koutsenok is also a member of the International Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT). Over the last 25 years Dr. Koutsenok led the design and implementation of multiple training and technical assistance programs for mental health and addiction treatment practitioners, primary health care and social work practitioners, criminal justice professionals in the United States and around the world. Dr. Koutsenok teaches general and addiction psychiatry to medical students, psychiatry residents, psychology trainees, social workers, criminal justice professionals, and policy makers around the world. He is a recipient of numerous national and international awards. He has authored and co-authored over 60 scientific publications, one monograph, and contributed to 5 books. He serves as Director of the Universal Treatment Curriculum (UTC) Coordinating Center for North American Universities, located at the University of California San Diego. Dr. Koutsenok has been invited as a presenter and trainer to hundreds of conferences and workshops in the USA and more than 40 countries around the world. He is a proud father of three and a professional jazz musician.
Melody M. Heaps founded TASC (Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities) in 1976 and led the NGO to become a nationally recognized agency before she retired as president in 2009. Under Ms. Heaps’ leadership, TASC grew from a small pilot program in Cook County, Illinois, to a 20 million dollar, statewide organization providing treatment alternatives to incarceration services in the criminal justice system to 20,000 individuals annually.
She is currently providing consulting services on public policy related to public health and addiction in the United States and internationally. Ms. Heaps serves as the Chair of the International Society of Substance Use Prevention and Treatment Professionals (ISSUP) and on the Board of the International Consortium of Universities for Drug Demand Reduction (ICUDDR).
A graduate of Northwestern University, Ms. Heaps received the university’s prestigious Service to Society award in 1995. She has co-written a number of published articles, including Recovery-Oriented Care for Drug-Abusing Offenders in 2009, Toward a Recovery-Oriented System of Care Within the Criminal Justice System in 2008, Toward a Rational Drug Policy: Setting New Priorities in 1994, and Making the Connection: Substance Abuse and the Use of Intermediate Punishments in 1992. She is also the President of MMH and Associates.
Dr. Hamad A. Al Ghafri is the Former Director General of the WHO Collaborative Centre for substance use prevention and treatment of substance use disorders, National Rehabilitation Centre Abu Dhabi, UAE from 2008 to June 2022.
He received his medical degree from the Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science and Technology in 1999 and his masters degree in 2002 Public Health from Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, USA with delta omega certificate. He obtained his PhD from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom in 2013.
Dr. Hamad Al Ghafri serves in many national and international bodies. He is the Head of Higher Committee for Treatment, Rehabilitation and Social Re-integration and a Board Member of Anti Dugs Council in the UAE. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the College of Medicine and Health Sciences of the United Arab Emirates University and head of advisory board of school of environmental health in Sh. Hamdan Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum Smart University in Dubai, UAE.
Internationally he is the Chair of the Commissioners of the International Centre for Credentialing and Education of Addiction Professionals (ICCE) of the Colombo Plan. He is also the Vice President of the Arab Federation for Drug Prevention since 2005-2008. He was a member of the Management Board that established the new journal the International Journal of Prevention and Treatment of Drug Use Disorders (IJPTSUD). Under his leadership, this was re-launched as the International Addiction Review (IAR) in 2017 where he serve as a chair for its management board. He is a Mental Health Advisor to the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) of the WHO and Chair of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) of UNODC and WHO 2009-2010. He is a Board member of the International Society for Addiction Medicine and was the chair of the local organizing committee of ISAM 2017 conference and a Board Member of the International Consortium of Universities for Drug Demand Reduction (ICUDDR). He is also Emeritus Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Jordan.
His research interests include public health aspects and prevention of addiction, particularly in Arab countries. He has published widely in these areas. He has a particular interest in promoting research in the developing world and dissemination of research information.
In recognition of his contribution to his field and the country, Dr. Hamad Al Ghafri was awarded the Sheik Rashed Award for Science and Culture in 2003 and 2014. In 2017, he was awarded the honor of Lifetime Membership of the American Society for Addiction Medicine.
Dr. Le Minh Giang is an Associate Professor in epidemiology and global health at Hanoi Medical University, in Vietnam.
Since 2019, he has led the Center for Training and Research on Substance Abuse and HIV (CREATA-H) to become a national center of excellence for addressing the burden of HIV, substance use, mental health and other co-morbidity among the most vulnerable populations in Vietnam. Since 2012, he has served as the Principal Investigator and Director of the Vietnam-HIV Addiction Technology Transfer Center (V-HATTC) and the Vietnam-International Technology Transfer Center (V-ITTC) with the goal of building the addiction workforce in Vietnam.
He has been the Principal Investigator and Co-Principal Investigator of multiple grants funded by the US National Institutes of Health and one grant by ANRS. He is the Chief of the Sexual Health Promotion (SHP) Clinic of Hanoi Medical University Hospital, a unique one-stop-shop health care facility for gay men and transgender women in Hanoi.
Dr. Le graduated as a doctor of medicine from Hanoi Medical University and received his PhD in sociomedical sciences from Columbia University in New York City, New York.
Director of the Institute of psychiatry of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
Vice-President of the Association Psychiatrists of Ukraine, Head of ISSUP Chapter Ukraine
Member of the Board of Directors of ICUDDR
Country Director of International Technology Transfer Center (ITTC Ukraine)
Dr. Iryna Pinchuk graduated as a medical doctor in 1991 at the Donetsk Medical University (Ukraine). After completing psychiatry residency training she worked as a psychiatrist in Psychiatric Hospital, Deputy Chief Doctor of the Psychoneurological Dispensary, chief doctor of the City Psychoneurological Hospital, and Director of the Institute of Psychiatry. From 2005-2009 and 2012 – 2017 she was the Chief Psychiatrist and Addiction Psychiatrist of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.
Dr. Iryna Pinchuk has served as an expert on mental health for the Ministry of Health of Ukraine since 2021. She is continuing her experience in clinical work with adults with mental health and substance use disorders. She provides training for undergraduate medical students and postgraduate mental health specialists on SUD and mental health.
Dr. Pinchuk organized the WHO project 'Mobile Community Mental Health Teams' in 2015-2016 and participated in 2020-2021 as a WHO Consultant. Over the last 15 years Dr. Iryna Pinchuk participated and led the design and implementation of multiple research and pilot projects in mental health and addiction treatment. She is an author of more than 150 scientific works, including monographs and training manuals.
Diana S. Lesme Romero holds a degree in Clinical Psychology (Universidad Católica “Ntra. Sra. De la Asunción”) and a Masters Degree in Educational Sciences.
She participated in an internship and professional development program at the University of Minnesota, the Hennepin County Prevention Center, and Prevention Alliance, and served as the Coordinator of the Education Department at a civil organization focused on the prevention of drug use.
Ms. Lesme focuses her research in clinical and developmental psychology. She has a background of 34 years in private practice counseling with families, children, adolescents, and adults. She is a co-author of five books, mainly in the field of families, psychological development, adolescence, violence prevention, and bullying. Ms. Lesme served as President of the Sociedad Paraguaya de Psicología (National Association of Psychologists) and is currently serving as Coordinator of the Scientific and Academic Committee. For the last 29 years, she has been working as a Professor at the Psychology School of the same university in Asunción and Itapúa Campus. She is also a Member of the Board of Directors of ISSUP-Paraguay Chapter of ISSUP.
Dr. Fernando Salazar is Principal Professor at the Cayetano Heredia Peruvian University in Lima - Peru.
Dr. Salazar received his doctorate in 1994 from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill School of Public Health. He has over 15 years of experience conducting evaluations in the field of substance use prevention in school and community settings. Currently, he is principal investigator of a randomized trial involving secondary schools in Lima, Callao and Cajamarca to evaluate the effectiveness of the Universal Prevention Curricula (UPC) on substance use prevention among school children.
Dr. Ferrer is a specialist on clinical psychology and expert on health promotion. Working in addictions since 1978, he has been linked to prevention and research in the field of higher education, organizing seminars on addictions at the University of Barcelona (UB) (1978-85), and published a proposal (1983) to create a multidisciplinary specialist course on addictions at the University level.
In 1986, the UB approved the creation of such a postgraduate Master Degree on Drug Dependence: http://www.ub.edu/drogodependencies/es/. He is currently the Director, finishing his 32nd year. Since then, more than 600 professionals belonging to more than 10 different professions and 15 countries have graduated. The degree includes a wide range of interventions (from a traditional therapeutic approach to harm reduction and, of course, prevention), and a large cooperation scheme with public and NGO programs, with more than 45 centers available for the students' internship, which cover more than half of the 82 ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) of the Degree.
Apart from his position as UB, Xavier Ferrer is the Executive Director at FSC (Foundation Health and Community), (www.fsyc.org) a professional-led NGO operating in Spain, now employing 1600 professionals in more than 130 centers and programs, including 37 focusing in addictions. The FSC also runs programs for victims of social exclusion, abused women, former prisoners, the elderly, mental patients, and more. In the drug field, he has been both designing new centers and working personally in outpatient settings, harm reduction, safe injection rooms, therapeutic communities, and more. In prevention, he has been active in drug abuse prevention at school, and researched on prevention through the family and the media. In the mid-1990s, he coordinated the PHARE project on Drug Demand Reduction for the European Commission, which opened cooperation with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe before their incorporation to the Union.
Dr. Toufiq completed his specialization degree in psychiatry at the Rabat Faculty of Medicine in 1992. He was granted fellowships in Psychiatry and addiction medicine in France then opted for a sub-specialization in substance use and applied-epidemiology in 1993.
Dr. Toufiq was selected as a NIDA research fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health and studied there in 1994 and 1995. He became an Associate Professor in Psychiatry in 1997 and contributed to the creation of the first center for drug abuse treatment in 1999. As a full professor of Psychiatry, he took over as the Director of the University Psychiatric Hospital in Salé in 2005.
He holds the position of the Moroccan Representative at the MedNET Network of the Pompidou Group (since 2006) and was appointed the Permanent Correspondent for Morocco at the Pompidou Group (the Council of Europe). He co-founded the Middle East and North Africa Harm Reduction Association (MENHARA). In 2011, Dr. Toufiq was nominated as the Director of the newly created National Observatory on Drugs and Addictions. He served as expert and consultant for many organizations such as WHO, UNODC, African Union, and Council of Europe. In 2015, he was elected by the ECOSC as a member of the UN International Narcotics Control Board in Vienna for which he was re-elected for a second five-year mandate in 2020.
He chairs and participates in many committees and commissions, nationally and internationally in the filed of substance use and also served as the Minister of Health advisor for mental health and drug use issues in the early 2000. He teaches at the University of Rabat Faculty of Medicine and is the founder of the University Diploma on Addictology at the University of Rabat. He gives lectures and contributes to teaching activities in many European and African countries in the area of substance use.
Prof. Tarek Abdel Gawad is a Professor of Psychiatry at Cairo University, Cairo Egypt.
He graduated in 1981 from the Faculty of Medicine at Cairo University where he received his M.B. BCh ; Master degree in Psychological Medicine and Neurology (1985) ; MD Psychiatry (1991) and a Diploma in Addiction Behaviour from the Institute of Psychiatry, London University (1987) .
Since his graduation, he was appointed as staff member at the department of Psychiatry Faculty of Medicine at Cairo university, where he is still holding his position as professor since 2001.
Internationally, he is a member of the ICUDDR Board of Directors since Jan. 2023. He served as the past President of the International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM) as well as the past Chair of the World Psychiatric Association Section of Addiction Psychiatry (WPA). Treatment & Rehabilitation Director at NRC, UAE (2011 – 2022).
He participated and published numerous research covering a wide array of psychiatric subjects, notably in addiction. He is primarily interested in co-morbidy studies and developing addiction psychiatric services. He is the Co-PI of the Fogarty grant of Addiction Research between Cairo university and UCLA since 2012.
His goal is to participate in establishing scientifically based collaborative facilities of drug addiction with suitable network, both regionally and internationally.
Dr. Rania Mamdouh has a PhD degree in Psychiatry from Cairo University, Egypt. She received an ISAM Diploma in Addiction Medicine in 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 the development and implementation of the Egyptian National Program for Prevention of Drug Use in Schools and Youth Centers from 2004 to 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 in 2007 and currently serves as the Program Manager.
Dr. Rania Mamdouh participates in many research projects in the domain of Women and addiction, adolescents drug use and prevention program implementation, mindfulness techniques among opiate use patients, and the impact of group therapies among substance use patients. Her research on synthetic drugs has been published internationally and nationally. She began the family intervention program in the Addiction Unit at Cairo University in 2015 and still currently runs the program.
Dr. Rania Mamdouh participated with the ministry of health in the National biannual Surveys on drug use 2009 till 2018. She is a consultant of Addiction Psychiatry in Al Amal Hospital, Sultanate Oman, since 2017. She co-developed the Egyptian National Program for Pregnant Addict Women which won the best practice in Africa in 2021 by the African Union.
Dr. Rania Mamdouh 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. In 2021, she joined the technical committee of the Egyptian National Observatory of Drugs and Drug Use. She 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. Since 2021 she has served as a board member for the African Global Health Association (for expanding the Health Harm Reduction Programs).
Dr. Nonkululeko Boikhutso serves as Chief Executive Officer of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital in Johannesburg. A medical doctor specializing in public health medicine, she brings extensive experience in health systems leadership, governance, and hospital administration.
Dr. Boikhutso has led complex healthcare organizations, overseeing clinical operations, financial sustainability, and long-term strategic planning. Her work includes close collaboration with governing boards, government ministries, academic institutions, and international partners.
Her expertise in governance, workforce development, quality improvement, and institutional partnerships brings an important health systems perspective to the ICUDDR Board, aligning closely with ICUDDR’s growing focus on sustainability and systems change.
Dr. Salman Shehzad is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Institute of Clinical Psychology, University of Karachi. A clinical psychologist with a PhD, he brings extensive experience in substance use–related education, service delivery, and systems strengthening.
His work spans academic leadership and applied practice, with a focus on prevention, treatment, and recovery systems. He has contributed to the development of training programs for health and behavioral health professionals and has engaged with policymakers, academic institutions, and international partners to advance workforce development.
His combined academic and clinical perspective, along with his deep understanding of workforce needs in low- and middle-income countries, brings valuable insight to ICUDDR’s global work.
Dr. Chuan-Yu Chen serves as Director of the Division of Public Health at the School of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taipei. A psychiatrist and academic leader, she brings extensive experience in addiction medicine, public health, and medical education.
Dr. Chen’s work integrates clinical practice, research, and academic leadership. She has led university-based public health programs, supervised faculty and trainees, and contributed to research in addiction, mental health, and population health.
Her strong academic and research-oriented perspective, combined with her expertise in addiction and public health, supports ICUDDR’s efforts to strengthen university-based education and the global workforce.
