Annika C. Sweetland, DrPH

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 TW009675; PI: 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.