Anita is a psychiatrist from Kampala, Uganda. She received her Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery and her Masters of Medicine in Psychiatry at Makerere University, College of Health Sciences. Anita has a great passion for child and adolescent mental health research in low resource settings. Her area of research interest is in neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and she is interested in characterizing its presentation among Ugandan children as well as associated comorbidities. Anita is also interested in studying stress, resilience and risk in children, and hopes to understand the role of adverse childhood events (both in-utero and early childhood) on child behavior and development and future mental health outcomes. She hopes to become an established independent researcher in child and adolescent mental health and develop cost-effective and feasible intervention programs for children with neurodevelopmental disorders and their families. Outside of work, she enjoys reading and watching documentaries.
I was inspired to join GINGER as there are so few mental health professionals in Uganda. I hope to make a great impact by adding myself to the number, and this program has given me the room and opportunity to advance my clinical and research career.