Matthew Tikhonovsky

A recent high school graduate, Matthew Tikhonovsky is spending his gap year before entering college further pursuing his interest in the intersection of global mental health and forced migration. This interest was sparked by his trips as a child to Ukraine, his parent’s homeland, which opened his eyes to the barriers to and stigmas surrounding mental health services abroad. Matthew also shares a passion for refugee advocacy and regularly highlights the stories of refugee youth for UNICEF’s Voices of Youth platform.

As a summer intern with the Global Mental Health Programs, Matthew worked with Dr. Sabrina Hermosilla on a systematic review looking at how clinicians’ attitudes and behavior impact their prescribing. Matthew was involved in researching the World Health Organization’s list of psychotropic medicines, developing the study protocol, identifying and screening relevant literature, and designing the data extraction tool. The results of this study will shine light on the current prescribing habits of clinicians worldwide and be used to shape clinician prescribing guidelines.