Karen Maré, MD

Dr. Karen Maré is a Clinical Research Psychiatrist and the recently appointed Global Mental Health Scholar for South Africa. She received undergraduate medical training at Stellenbosch University (SU) and qualified in 2001. She trained in psychiatry on the East London & the City rotation and obtained membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in the UK in 2006. She acquired extensive experience in pharmacological and psychotherapeutic interventions for a broad range of mental and substance related disorders among the culturally diverse populations of East London. She developed clinical interests in transcultural psychiatry, developmental psychiatry, and psychodynamic, cognitive-based therapy, and family psychotherapy. A career break and motherhood laid the foundation for a passionate interest in maternal mental health.

Since 2015, Dr. Maré has been a member of the Brain Behaviour Unit (within the Neuroscience Institute) of the University of Cape Town (UCT). Here her research roles have included being trial manager of an interventional study on Dialogic Book Sharing, maternal mental health assessments using a structured diagnostic instrument, grant applications coordination, staff recruitment and training, and staff debriefing sessions. Dr. Maré also joined the MRC Unit on Risk and Resilience (a joint UCT/SU venture) in 2017. Here she has served as clinical assessor in NIH-funded global studies on neuroimaging and genetic findings among people with anxiety and OCD and related disorders. She has been  involved in undergraduate medical education in psychiatry on a variety of topics including managing difficult patients, physician burnout, and differential diagnosis of anxiety disorders.

Dr. Maré is excited about joining other members in the Global Mental Health Scholars Program and the opportunities for future collaboration and international dissemination of findings this will yield. Her research/academic interests in cross-cultural psychiatry, communication and language, and Psychiatric Diagnosis have culminated in her current project. Her work will centre around development and clinical evaluation of a structured diagnostic interview based on the ICD-11, the SCII-11, as part of the international working group led by Dr. Michael B. First and Dr. Geoffrey M. Reed.