Bio

 

Dr Petrea is a senior international mental health expert with over 23 years of experience working with national governments, as well as 9 years at the WHO and 9 years as Head of Trimbos International Department of the Netherlands Insitute of Mental Health and Addiction, where she also served as Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Mental Health. She is currently the CEO and co-founder of INSIGHT International, a mental health charity based in the Netherlands  and the UK that is partnering with national governments and health authorities to design and implement high quality and innovative mental health services. In addition, she is Board Director, co-initiator and founding member of the European Network of Community Mental Health Service Providers (EUCOMS), currently having over 60 members from 25 countries. She is also Board Director of Amplio Global, a cross-border digital therapy platform.
Dr Petrea’s work focuses on steering mental health policy change, transformation of national mental health systems, capacity building and training, research and dissemination of good practices on mental health and well-being. She has a long track record as a leader and successful fundraiser for high visibility projects with European-wide policy impact and for large projects (scope and/or value) with notable societal impact. Throughout her career, Dr Petrea sought to further evidence-based health care primarily through implementation and health service research; she led the design, implementation and management of numerous health projects and programmes that delivered measurable results in both LMICs and HICs.
Overall, she has operated in over 50 countries and has a far-reaching formal and informal network of contacts with influencers & decision-makers in national governments (often at ministerial level), international organisations, civil society, scientific communities & donor agencies across EMEIA.
Dr Petrea holds a PhD in Medicine as well as a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Health and Policy from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her background education is in psychology, she has an MSc in International Health from the University of Copenhagen. She is fluent in English, French and Romanian, intermediate in Spanish, Italian and Dutch.