Dr Rodrigo Ramalho is the Academic Director of the Postgraduate Certificate in Health Sciences in Alcohol and Drug Studies and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social and Community Health, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. He holds a PhD in Population Health from the University of Auckland, and he also qualified as a medical doctor and a psychiatrist after gaining degrees at the Universidad Nacional de Asunción in Paraguay.
Rodrigo is a psychiatrist and population health scientist with a transdisciplinary and collaborative approach. His main research interests include global mental health, addiction, e-mental health, and ethnicity, diversity, and cultural safety in mental health and addictions. He is also interested in academic inequities, which particularly affect the Global South. For more information about his research, see his ‘Research Interests’ tab in this profile.
Rodrigo has published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles in internationally renowned journals, as well as various book chapters; he is a regular presenter in national and international professional and academic gatherings (see ‘Research outputs’ tab in this profile). He also serves in various national and international committees (see ‘Engagement’ tab in this profile).
Rodrigo has received various distinctions throughout his career:
- In 2019, he received the Butland Award for Early Career Excellence in Teaching (FMHS, University of Auckland).
- In 2015, he received the Early Career Psychiatrists Award (11th Ain Shams International Congress. Cairo, Egypt).
- In 2013, he was accepted into the Early Career Psychiatrists Fellowship Programme, as part of the WPA International Congress. Istanbul, Turkey. In that same year, he was also awarded the University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship, by the University of Auckland.
- In 2008, he was accepted into the 5th Edition of the Young Psychiatrists and Trainees Development Program of the Association of Argentinian Psychiatrists (APSA). This same year he was also accepted into the Latin American Fellows Program. He was also elected a member of the Young Psychiatric Council Member of the World Psychiatric Association.
Overall, Dr Rodrigo Ramalho’s teaching and research aim to contribute to developing person and community-centred, ground-up, and culturally and contextually responsive health policies and healthcare.