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. For the last 17 years, she has worked as a psychiatric epidemiologist at the Emergency Response and Recovery branch (ERRB) formerly called the International Emergency and Refugee Health Branch (IERHB) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, building CDC’s mental health and psychosocial program in humanitarian emergencies from the ground up.

She is one of the founding members of Doctors without Borders (MSF) – 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 Earthquake, Armero (Colombia) Volcano disaster, Peru cholera epidemic, as well as aid to victims of violent conflict in Somalia, Uganda, Haiti, and Nicaragua.

While employed at CDC, Dr. Lopes Cardozo has conducted numerous mental health surveys and outcome evaluations of mental health programs in war-affected countries among others in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Israel, and Jordan. She has also conducted mental health studies among humanitarian aid workers who work in these stressful conditions. She has been a pioneer in the field of mental health in emergencies. She teaches courses on public health and mental health in emergencies at Emory University as well as the University of Washington and the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Dr Lopes Cardozo is also providing psychiatric care to patients at the International Medical Center, Grady Hospital.

Dr. Lopes Cardozo is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, and the School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University.