Karima Chédia Viksten Assel

I am a medical doctor specialised in child and adolescent psychiatry and a PhD candidate in the EPiCSS research group at the Department of Global Public Health, I also serve as an expert coordinator in mental health preparedness at the Centre for Health Crises. There, I contribute to the centre's work with my experience of developing training programmes, producing knowledge support material, and collaborating with community stakeholders.

Previously, I worked as a consultant psychiatrist at Region Stockholm's Transcultural Centre, where I focused on strengthening healthcare professionals' capacity to respond to the mental health needs of refugees. I also have experience from working with mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian settings. 

My doctoral studies focus on evaluating interventions aimed at increasing newly arrived children’s access to early psychological support in primary care, including health communication to parents and training for referring staff. I am also part of clinical trial investigating whether integrating the DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Interview can improve the mental health assessment in primary care. In the project evaluation, we are using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The knowledge generated is intended to strengthen mental health care for newly arrived children, other vulnerable groups, and children and young people in general. The project is funded by the Swedish Research Council.

I currently teach in Karolinska Institute’s Master’s programmes in Public Health Sciences. Previously, I taught at the undergraduate medical programme, organized specialist training for resident doctors in psychiatry, and developed training courses for professionals in health care, schools, social services, and non-profit organisations.