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Dr Nina Ferencic

Senior Regional Adviser on Adolescent Health, Development and Participation, UNICEF

Dr Nina Ferencic

Dr Nina Ferencic, MA, PhD, is the Senior Regional Adviser on Adolescent Health, Development and Participation, UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Development and Participation at the UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, based in Geneva, Switzerland. She has over thirty years of experience working on influencing policies and programmes designed to improve equity, resilience and health outcomes among marginalized, socially excluded populations, including women, children and youth. She has expert knowledge on working with young people as partners in co- creating change by building on their strengths and resilience. Prior to joining UNICEF, she held senior positions with the World Health Organization, in areas of health promotion, community engagement and monitoring & evaluation; with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) as Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean and as Team Leader for Financial Initiatives responsible for collaboration with financing partners such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Nina holds a PhD in Communication, Arts & Sciences from the Annenberg School of Communications, University of Pennsylvania, USA; a Master’s Degree in communications for development and a BA in Sociology from the City University of New York. She is fluent in English, Spanish, French, Croatian and has basic knowledge of Russian.

Guided by a Network of Global Leaders

Our Global Leadership Council

Global Leadership Council members provide thought leadership from a diverse range of professional backgrounds and experience in eMHIC’s Special Interest Groups. 

Special Interest Groups

GLC Members

Ethics and Law

Richman Wee

Senior Researcher, University of Waikato, New Zealand

Piers Gooding

Senior Research Fellow, University of Melbourne, Australia

Nick Titov

Executive Director, Mindspot, Australia

International Phone and Text Helplines

Andrew Slater

Chief Executive Officer, Whakarongorau, New Zealand

Victoria Hornby

CEO, Mental Health Innovations, UK

Colin Seery

Chief Executive Officer at Lifeline Australia

Policy, Strategy & Standards

Christine Morgan

CEO, National Mental Health Commission of Australia

Ed Mantler

SVP Chief Program Officer, Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC)

Charles Curie

Principle and Founder, The Curie Group, LLC

Dr. Daniel Fung

CEO, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore

Louise Bradley

Former Chief Executive Officer, Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC)

Fran Silvestri

President and CEO, International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership (IIMHL)

Dr Nina Ferencic

Senior Regional Adviser on Adolescent Health, Development and Participation, UNICEF

Liz Ashall-Payne

Founder and CEO, ORCHA

Lived Experience

Mary O'Hagan

Executive Director Lived Experience, Department of Health, Victoria, Australia

Mental Healthcare Workforce

Nicholas Watters

Director of Access, Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC)

Anna Elders

Clinical Lead, Just a Thought, New Zealand

Ashley de Silva

CEO of ReachOut Australia

Niki Legge

Director of Mental Health and Addictions, Government of Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Corrections & Confined Spaces

Jay Buckey

Professor of Medicine at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, USA

Juanita Ryan

Deputy Chief Executive at Ara Poutama, New Zealand

Evidence Creation

Professor Chee Ng

Professor and Healthscope Chair of Psychiatry at The Melbourne Clinic, Australia

Mindfulness

Angie Chew

Adjunct Associate Professor of mindfulness at the National University of Singapore.

Addie Wooten

CEO, Smiling Mind, Australia

Dr Craig Hassed

Senior lecturer at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Dr Bruce Arroll

Professor of General Practice and Primary Health Care at the University of Auckland , New Zealand

Artificial Intelligence

Prof. Andrew Greenshaw

Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience University of Alberta, Canada

Join the discussion

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Victoria Hornby

CEO, Mental Health Innovations, UK

International Phone and Text Helplines

Victoria is CEO of Mental Health Innovations, the charity behind SHOUT, the UK’s first 24/7 crisis text service. From 2011 to 2017, she was Director of Programmes at The Royal Foundation, building a portfolio of projects including the Invictus Games, Coach Core, United for Wildlife and Heads Together.