Board Changes in Vancouver (Last Updated On: ) Board Changes in Vancouver Pirkko Lahti is the new WFMH President and will also serve as interim Secretary General/CEO. Photo credit: Pekka Elomaa Pirkko Lahti, the Executive Director of the Finnish Association for Mental Health, began her term as President of WFMH in Vancouver and will hold the position until February 2003. Because of the resignation of Marten deVries as Secretary General, the Board has also asked her to serve as interim Secretary General/CEO. She is a psychologist, and had academic and government experience before taking up her present position with FAMH in 1983. From 1984 to 1992 she also served as Editor-in-Chief of the Association’s journal Mielenterveys (Mental Health). The FAMH has a strong commitment to the human rights of persons with mental illness, to mental health promotion, and to the consideration of broader quality of life issues connected with good mental health, such as protection of the environment. Pirkko Lahti has been active in Mental Health Europe (formerly called the European Regional Council of WFMH) since 1984, joining its Executive Committee in 1991 and serving as its President in 1997-1999. She joined the Board of WFMH in 1993. Her background includes a longstanding concern with prison and detention conditions in European countries. She was Director of the Finnish Prison Administration Personnel Training Center from 1977 to 1983, and has since served on inspection teams reviewing prison conditions in Europe. She was a member of the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment from 1992 to 1999. President Elect L. Patt Franciosi, President Elect, USA The Membership Assembly chose L. Patt Franciosi as President Elect. She is Chair of World Mental Health Day and was a Board Member-at-Large. Dr. Franciosi, a psychologist, has served as President of the U.S. National Mental Health Association and Chair of the U.S. National Prevention Coalition. She has received two Presidential appointments, to the National Institute for Mental Health Advisory Council and to the U.S. Health and Human Services, Secretary’s Council on Promotion and Disease Prevention. She has provided services for young adults at Marquette University, and currently teaches in the Department of Psychiatry at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Terms Completed Andres Gaitan (Mexico), Shimpei Inoue (Japan), Knud Jensen (Europe) and Harvey Whiteford (Australia) left the Board at the end of their terms as Members-at-Large. Hassan Kassim Khan (Yemen) and Eva Gonzalez (Philippines) finished their terms as Regional Vice Presidents. All of them provided wise counsel and support to the Board, and the Federation is grateful for their commitment. New Members Three new Board Members-at-Large and three new Regional Vice Presidents joined the Board at the Membership Assembly in Vancouver. Here are short profiles to introduce them: Board Members at Large Dr. Hani Mohamed Abd El Khalek Metwally of Egypt is the Secretary General of Parents Resouces Institute for Drug Education (PRIDE), a voting member organization of WFMH. He is the general manager of the marketing department of Arab Contractors, a major company in Cairo, and chairman of Mohandes Computer & Information Systems Co. (MIS). Dr. Agustin Ozamiz is the chief of insurance in the Health Department of the Basque Government in Spain. He was an elected member of the Executive Committee of Mental Health Europe, WFMH’s European Regional Council, from 1996 to 1998. He has been very active in promoting mental health, and was the coordinator of the project “Unemployment and Mental Health” funded by the European Commission. Kristina Salonen, Finland Kristina Salonen is a journalist and editor specializing in medicine, and supervises the overall communications strategy of the Finnish Association for Mental Health. She has organized a number of international conferences for the Association, and was Secretary General of the WFMH World Congress in Lahti, Finland, in 1997. She is currently active in Mental Health Europe, where she is involved in a project on mental health promotion for adolescents and young people. Elizabeth Matare, Zimbabwe Elizabeth Matare is the Director of the Zimbabwe National Association for Mental Health and the Honorary Secretary of the African Regional Council. She is an executive member of Zimbabwe’s National Association for Non-Governmental Organizations, and Vice-Chairperson of the National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped. Kazuyoshi Yamamoto, Japan Kazuyoshi Yamamoto is a senior psychiatrist in the Department of Neuropsychiatry of Ryukyu University Hospital, Japan, and an Assistant Professor in Community Psychiatry and Social Psychiatry. He is the Secretary General of the Ryukyu Asia-Pacific Medical Exchange Association, and a Board Member of the Japanese Society of Transcultural Psychiatry and the Japanese Society of Social Psychiatry. Maan A. Barry, Yemen Maan A. Barry, a psychologist, heads the department of behavioral sciences in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Aden, Yemen. He has been president of the Yemeni Mental Health Association since 1998 and was one of the founders of the Association, serving as its first secretary general in 1990-93. He designed a telephone hotline for psychological help which was introduced in Aden in 1999. Regina de Jesus, Philippines Regina deJesus is the National Executive Director of the Philippine Mental Health Association. She is a registered social worker with special training in psychiatry. Currently she serves on the Board of the Philippine Council for NGO Certification, and is also President of the Community Crafts Association of the Philippines.