Devora Kestel

World Health Organisation representative (observer): Devora Kestel, WHO Director of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Use.

Country Base: Switzerland

Dévora Kestel is a senior mental health policy specialist with more than twenty five years of international experience in Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America, implementing and advising governments on national policies related to mental health systems. She is a strong advocate for the rights of people with mental health issues.

Ms Kestel obtained her MSc in Psychology from the Universidad Nacional de La Plata, in Argentina and her MSc in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK. After completing her university studies in Argentina she worked for 10 years in the development and supervision of community-based mental health services in Trieste, Italy. In 2000 she joined the World Health Organization (WHO) as a mental health officer first in Kosovo and then in Albania where she became the WHO Representative to Albania. In both countries, she worked closely with the Ministries of Health to help establish comprehensive community-based mental health systems.

In 2007 Ms Kestel joined the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) as the Sub-regional Mental Health Advisor for the English Speaking Caribbean Countries, based in Barbados. In 2011 Ms. Kestel was appointed to the position of the Regional Mental Health Advisor, at the headquarters in Washington DC, providing technical cooperation in the mental health field to the entire region. In 2015 she became the Unit Chief for Mental Health and Substance Use at PAHO/WHO. Over the years, Ms. Kestel has contributed to and co-authored publications in the area of mental health.

Since 2019 Ms Kestel is the WHO Director of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Use.

Ann Willhoite

UN agency: Ann Willhoite, Mental Health Advisor, UNICEF

Country Base: South Africa

Ann Willhoite is a Mental Health Advisor with more than 15 years of experience working with MHPSS in global development and humanitarian emergencies. She is currently MHPSS Expert with UNICEF, leading on the development of a Minimum Service Package for MHPSS, and supporting UNICEF’s MHPSS work globally. 

Prior to joining UNICEF, Ann was Senior Mental Health Advisor to USAID, where she advised USAID’s mental health work across the globe, advised the US$12M Victims of Torture fund, and started the USAID MHPSS Working Group. Previously, she served as International Clinical Advisor for Mental Health with The Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) where she oversaw mental health and psychosocial support services in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe, provided clinical supervision for embedded psychologists, and worked on global mental health advocacy. Ms. Willhoite also worked as an advisor and trainer for The World Bank on an effort to integrate mental health into livelihoods and development programming, and as a consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO) on the Psychological Interventions Implementation Manual. 

Previously, Ms. Willhoite served as CVT’s mental health Clinician/Trainer for client care and training projects in Freetown, Sierra Leone and Dadaab, Kenya where she trained and supervised local and refugee psychosocial staff in providing mental health services to survivors of torture, war trauma, gender-based violence and trafficking in persons in emergency settings. Ms. Willhoite has also worked for Harvard University's Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human rights in Sierra Leone on the Youth Readiness Intervention, for Jesuit Refugee Services in Malawi developing a new humanitarian-focused counseling program for refugees from The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Eritrea, and as a Clinical Consultant for locally-based mental health organizations in Africa and Asia.

Sarah Kline

Host Organization: Sarah Kline, Co-founder and CEO, United for Global Mental Health

Country Base: UK

Sarah Kline is Co-Founder and CEO of United for Global Mental Health. In her role she is responsible for the overall running of the organisation and has a particular interest in, and oversight of, the policy, advocacy, financing and campaigns work. Over the course of her career she has developed and delivered successful national and international campaigns and initiatives aimed at governments, international institutions and political parties at the highest levels. From 2011 to 2017 she worked at the World Health Organisation in a variety of positions based in Switzerland, Nigeria, the Philippines and the US. Her focus at WHO was on polio, emergencies and disease outbreaks including as part of the Ebola response management team. Prior to working for WHO, Sarah worked for UK DFID, the UK FCO, the World Bank, Oxfam GB and a private lobbying company in Washington DC. She founded Malaria No More UK in 2008, an NGO dedicated to helping end malaria.