Annika C. Sweetland, DrPH

  • Assistant Professor of Clinical Sociomedical Sciences (in Psychiatry)
Profile Headshot

Overview

Dr. Annika Sweetland is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Sociomedical Sciences in Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons/Mailman School of Public Health. For the past 20 years, she has conducted global mental health work in Latin America (Peru, Haiti, Brazil), Africa (Nigeria, Mozambique, South Africa) and the United States, with a topical focus on tuberculosis (TB) and depression. She is a faculty instructor and peer mentor on three implementation science training grants including an NIMH-funded T32 Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Global Mental Health (T32 MH096724; PI: Wainberg & Arbuckle) and a Fogarty-funded D43 Implementation Research Training grant to build research capacity in Mozambique (D43 TW009675PI: Wainberg & Oquendo) and NIMH funded U19 mental health hub grant in Southern Africa (U19 MH113203; PI: Wainberg). She is Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the TB and Mental Health Working Group at the International Union Against TB and Lung Disease and Lead Consultant to the World Health Organization in developing guidance and training materials for TB and mental health integration. In 2020, Dr. Sweetland completed an NIMH-funded implementation science pilot study in Brazil which sought to explore whether using the principals of social network analysis could accelerate the scale up of a brief depression intervention, interpersonal counseling (IPC), among TB patients in primary care (K01 MH104514; PI: Sweetland). She is now leading a large clinical trial in South Africa to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of implementing IPC for people with TB and depression delivered by lay counselors in order to improve health and mental health outcomes (R01AI148461; PI: Sweetland). She is also engaged in research examining how to address the complex multimorbidities of TB, HIV, and mental and substance use disorders in Mozambique, and exploring the mental health impact of COVID-19 on individuals and their families. Finally, she is the Director of Research and Evaluation for a newly launched Columbia Psychiatry/New York State Psychiatric Institute Mental Wellness Equity Center which is partnering with New York State to explore how a similar approach can be used in the U.S. wherein lay counselors are trained to deliver brief evidence-based interventions to individuals with mild- to moderate- disorders to improve patient (symptoms) and service (treatment access, reduced waitlists) outcomes. Throughout her global mental health research career, she's subspecialized in implementation and dissemination science, cross-cultural measurement of psychiatric disorders, transcultural adaptation of evidence-based interventions, e-learning, mobile technology to enhance data driven health planning, and sustainable development.

Academic Appointments

  • Assistant Professor of Clinical Sociomedical Sciences (in Psychiatry)

Administrative Titles

  • Co-Founder and Co-Chair, TB and Mental Health Working Group, International Union Against TB and Lung Disease
  • Editorial Board, PLOS ONE

Languages

  • Portuguese
  • Spanish

Credentials & Experience

Education & Training

  • BA, 1998 Psychology, Wesleyan University
  • MSW, 2002 Social Work, University of California, Berkeley
  • DrPH, 2010 Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health
  • Fellowship: 2012 Columbia University, New York, NY
  • Fellowship: 2015 Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons

Editorial Boards

PLOS-One

Honors & Awards

Gray Matters Fellowship, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons

Research

Research Interests

  • Cross-cultural measurement of psychiatric disorders
  • Dissemination and implementation science
  • Evidence-based training using educational technologies
  • Global Health
  • Global Mental Health
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Mental Health
  • Tuberculosis and depression

Grants

The Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness of Implementing Evidence-Based Depression Treatment within the TB Care Platform in South Africa: A Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation Trial, NIAID (R01AI148461; PI:Sweetland)

Exploring patients' and provider' perspectives on managing the complex multimorbidities of TB, HIV, common mental disorders and substance use disorders within primary care in Mozambique, Columbia Global Mental Health Council Grant

Harnessing the science of e-learning to increase access to mental health care in Brazil

Presidential Global Innovation Fund, Columbia University

Integrating evidence-based depression treatment in primary care: Tuberculosis in Brazil as a model
National Institute of Mental Health, K01 Career Development Award in Global Mental Health

Depression biomarkers in latent and active TB (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Rio de Janeiro State Research Foundation (FAPERJ)/Columbia Global Centers - Rio de Janeiro

Mobile Community Mapping to Integrate Evidence-Based Depression Treatment in Primary Care in Brazil: A Pilot Project (Itaborai, Brazil)
Rio de Janeiro State Research Foundation (FAPERJ)/Columbia Global Centers - Rio de Janeiro

 

Selected Publications

  1. Collins, P., Sweetland, A. C., Wagenaar, B. (2020). Ending HIV and TB: What's Mental Health Got to Do with It? JAMA Health Forum. Available at: https://jamanetwork.com/channels/health-forum/fullarticle/2768717
  2. *Lee, Ga Eun; Scuffell, James; Galea, Jerome T; Shin, Sanghyuk S.; Magill, Elizabeth; Jaramillo, Ernesto MD; Sweetland, A. C. (2020) Impact of mental disorders on active tuberculosis treatment outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, 24(12): 1279-1284.
  3. *Sweetland, A. C., Galea, J., Shin, S. S., Driver, C., Dlodlo, R. A., Karpati, A., Wainberg, M. L. (2019) Integrating TB and Mental Health Services: Global Receptivity of National TB Program Directors. International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. 23(5):600-605. 
  4. Carlson C, Sweetland A, Wainberg M. (2018). Ethical challenges in global mental health clinical trials.Lancet Psychiatry, 5(11):866-867.
  5. *Sweetland AC, Jaramillo E, Wainberg ML, Chowdhary N, Oquendo MA, Medina-Marino A, Dua T. (2018) Tuberculosis: an opportunity to integrate mental health services in primary care in low-resource settings.Lancet Psychiatry, 5(12):952-954.
  6. *Sweetland, A. C., Kritski, A., Oquendo, M. A., Sublette, M. E., Norcini Pala, A., Bastista Silva, L. R., Karpati, A., Silva, E. C., Moraes, M. O., Lapa e Silva, J. R., Wainberg, M. L. (2017). Addressing the TB-depression syndemic to end the TB epidemic. International Journal Against TB and Lung Disease. 21(8): 852-861.
  7. *Sweetland, A., Oquendo, M. A., Carlson, C., Magidson, J. F., Wainberg, M. L. (2016) Mental health research in the global era: Training the next generation, Academic Psychiatry, 40(4), 715-720.
  8. *Sweetland, A., Oquendo, M., Vermund, S., Fortunato, P., Sidat, M, Duarte, C., Arbuckle, M., Wainberg, M. (2014).  Closing the mental health treatment gap by building research capacity in low-income settings: Mozambique as a case example.  Annals of Global Health. 80(2): 126-33.
  9. *Sweetland, A., Oquendo, M., Wickramaratne, P., Weissman, M., Wainberg, M. (2014). Depression: A silent driver of the tuberculosis epidemic. World Psychiatry, 13(3):325-326.
  10. *Sweetland, A., Belkin, G. & Verdeli, H. (2014).  Measuring depression and anxiety in sub-Saharan Africa.  Depression & Anxiety, 31(3):223-32.
  11. Acha, J., Sweetland, A. , Guerra, D., Chalco, K., Castillo, H., Palacios, E. (2007).  Psychosocial support groups for patients with MDR-TB:  Five years of experience, Global Public Health, 2(4):404-417.

 

Global Health Activities

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of integrating depression and TB treatment in South Africa (1R01AI148461-01A1), South Africa: Dr. Sweetland is Principal Investigator of a NIAID funded hybrid type I effectiveness-implementation trial that will increase understanding of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of integrating a brief evidence-based treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) within the tuberculosis (TB) care platform in South Africa. Findings from this R01 are likely to inform policy and treatment guidelines for the integrated management of TB and MDD in low- and middle-income countries globally.

Global Mental Health Research Fellowship: Interventions That Make a Difference (5T32MH096724-10), Global: Dr. Sweetland is Co-Training Director of this NIMH funded Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in Global Mental Health.

PALOP (Portuguese-Speaking African Countries) Mental Health Implementation Research Training, Mozambique: Dr. Sweetland is Faculty Instructor on this NIMH/Fogarty funded