Zoë Ayres, PhD (she/her)

Location: Warwick, United Kingdom Status: Research Scientist in the water industry Why do you think mental health in academia is important?  Mental health is just as important as physical health, yet there is still a lot of stigma around mental health. For us to be our best selves we need to be able to be open and honest about every …

Victor See, PhD (he/him)

Location: Exeter, UK Status: Postdoctoral researcher (astrophysics) at the University of Exeter Why do you think mental health in academia is important? I have first hand experience of mental health problems (generalised anxiety disorder) and have seen too many colleagues go through similar struggles. From a practical point of view, mental health issues only make academics less effective at what …

Tiffany I. Leung, MD, MPH, FACP, FAMIA (she/her)

Location: Maastricht, The Netherlands Status: Assistant Professor (M.D. Internal Medicine) and PhD candidate (Creating Value in Care, Care and Public Health Research Institute), Maastricht University Why do you think mental health in academia is important? As an academic physician, I’ve encountered reduced mental health among peers in medicine and/or research, both as a colleague/co-worker and also as patients. For such …

Dr. Dr. Olga Vvedenskaya

Location: Dresden, Germany Status: Postdoc in mass spectrometry and translational medicine Why do you think mental health in academia is important? Mental health is a basis everything else stands on. 

Chloi Syranidou, PhD (she/her)

Location: Jülich, Germany Status: Researcher, Power systems Why do you think mental health in academia is important? As exciting as it sounds to do research, working in academia can be detrimental to someone’s mental health. Due to different psychological, societal and systemic factors, academic environments are encouraged and do reproduce toxic and abusive conditions that are also hard to change …

Vic Zamloot (they/them and he/him)

Location: Duarte, CA, US Status: Biology PhD Student Why do you think mental health in academia is important? Academic culture is steeped in toxic notions that we are not good scientists unless we are overworked and suffering. Too often I hear academics, particularly in STEM, perpetuate this environment by stating that since they suffered, others should too or they will …

Muhammad Moshtohry

Location: Raleigh, NC, US Status: Physics PhD Student Why do you think mental health in academia is important? Everyday we lose people to mental health. I have lost a few. I want to be a part of it not happening to anyone. 

Calliope Holingue, MPH, PhD (she/her)

Location: Baltimore, MD, USA Status: Currently a Research Postdoctoral Fellow at Kennedy Krieger Institute (Center for Autism and Related Disorders & Dept of Neuropsychology) and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (Dept Mental Health) Why do you think mental health in academia is important?  Because I think academia should be inclusive of all people, and I think our …