Karima 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 capacity building, collaboration with community stakeholders, and provision of mental health services in humanitarian settings. Previously, I worked as a senior 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.

My doctoral studies focus on evaluating interventions aimed at increasing migrant children’s access to early psychological support in primary care, and to strengthen the quality of care. In the evaluation, we are using both quantitative and qualitative methods, with a special focus on register-based data. The knowledge generated is intended to strengthen mental health care for migrant children as well as children and young people in general. The project is funded by the Swedish Research Council.

I teach in Karolinska Institute’s Master’s programmes in Public Health Sciences. Previously, I taught in the undergraduate medical programme and was responsible for organizing specialist training in trauma for resident doctors in child and adolescent psychiatry. I have extensive experience in developing and implementing training for health care services, schools, social services, and non-profit organisations.