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 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 with Doctors without Borders.

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 project 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, 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 have taught in the medical programme and was responsible for organizing specialist training in trauma for resident doctors in child psychiatry. I have extensive experience from developing and implementing training for health care professions, schools, social services, and non-profit organisations.