Prof Leslie Swartz

Leslie Swartz is an experienced trainer and researcher in the fields of mental health and disability studies in Africa.  His 1998 book Culture and Mental Health (Oxford University Press) is regarded as a standard in the field.  He conducted the first known two-stage epidemiological study of mental disorder in South Africa, and has headed a number of training programmes in mental health and disability studies, including the clinical psychology training at the University of Cape Town.  He was chair of the department of psychology at Stellenbosch University and has been a co-founder of the Alan Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health, the first of its kind in Africa.  His research team has received awards for innovative training of health professionals in South Africa, and he was Lead Research Partner for the Southern African Federation on Disability Research Programme.

 Amongst other duties in this project, he trains disabled researchers from ten African countries in research skills.  He is a very experienced research supervisor and trainer, and attracts the highest number of doctoral research trainees in his department.  He is currently working on a number of large projects focusing on mental health and disability issues in South Africa.  

He is editor-in-chief of the South African Journal of Science.