I completed my specialization degree in psychiatry at the Rabat Faculty of Medicine in 1992. I was granted fellowships in Psychiatry and addiction medicine in France. I then opted for a sub-specialization in substance use and applied-epidemiology back in 1993. I was selected as a NIDA research fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health and studied there in 1994 and 1995. I became an Associate Professor in Psychiatry in 1997. I contributed to the creation of the first center for drug abuse treatment in 1999. As a full professor of Psychiatry, I took over as the Director of the University Psychiatric Hospital in Salé in 2005. I hold the position of the Moroccan Representative at the MedNET Network of the Pompidou Group (since 2006). I was appointed the Permanent Correspondent for Morocco at the Pompidou Group (the Council of Europe). I co-founded the Middle East and North Africa Harm Reduction Association (MENHARA). In 2011, I was nominated as the Director of the newly created National Observatory on Drugs and Addictions. I served as expert and consultant for many organizations such as WHO, UNODC, African Union, and Council of Europe. In 2015, I was elected by the ECOSC as a member of the UN International Narcotics Control Board in Vienna for which I was re-elected for a second five-year mandate in 2020. I chaired and participated in many committees and commissions, nationally and internationally in the filed of substance use. I also served as the Minister of Health advisor for mental health and drug use issues in the early 2000. I teach at the University of Rabat Faculty of Medicine. I’m the founder of the University Diploma on Addictology at the University of Rabat. I give lectures and contribute to teaching activities in many European and African countries in the area of substance use.
