Janice  Cooper

Janice L. Cooper is Senior Project Advisor on Global Mental Health for the Carter Center Mental Health Initiative in Liberia.  From 2010-2019, she was the Project Lead for the program.  It’s Post-Basic Mental Health training program for mid-level primary care clinicians trained 166 mental health clinicians, and implements an anti-stigma and policy support initiative that uses a social engagement model to address of stigma and support advocacy and empowerment for persons living with mental illness.  She oversees “Supporting Psychosocial Health and Resilience”, a project funded by the Japanese government through the World Bank that addresses the mental health and psychosocial consequences of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak and builds the mental health capacity at the community level.  The project also creates a new cadre of 100 child and adolescent mental health clinicians.   During the EVD outbreak, she headed the Mental Health and Psychosocial Pillar for the national response.   Dr. Cooper’s careers spans the intersection between research, policy and practice.  She has led research studies in the US and Liberia and published widely.  She is a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Clinical Trials During the 2014-15 Ebola Outbreak, and of Johns Hopkins’ University’s Expert Working Group on Ethics Issues in Public Health Containment for Ebola and other Infectious Diseases.   She holds an academic appointment at Emory University as Instructor and was Assistant Professor while at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health (2005-2010).  She is member of the Lancet Commission on Global Health 2017 and the editorial board of the journal entitled Intervention.  She is on the Steering Committee for the International Conference in Mental Health & Psychosocial Supports in Crisis Situations.  She is the recipient of the Beyond Health Award 2017, from Boston University School of Public Health.