Board of Directors
Executive Committee, President-Elect, South Asia
Muhammad Irfan
Prof. Dr. Muhammad Irfan is currently a professor in and head of the Department of Mental Health, Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at Peshawar Medical College in Peshawar, Pakistan. He has received membership and fellowship degrees in psychiatry from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Pakistan. He holds a master’s degree from the New University of Lisbon, Portugal, in Mental Health Policy and Services. From the same university, he has completed his PhD (summa cum laude) on his work on culturally adapted interventions (Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy) in conflict-affected areas. He has received certifications and diplomas in various related fields and has been honored with national and international awards and medals.
Dr. Irfan is currently the chair of the special interest group of the World Association of Cultural Psychiatry on “Culturally adapted interventions”. He also serves as the general secretary of the Pakistan Association of Cognitive Therapists (PACT) and has been the provincial chapter chief of the Pakistan Psychiatric Society.
He has published extensively in high-impact factor journals around the globe and has received national and international recognition as a prolific researcher. He has authored books and book chapters published by Oxford, Wiley, and Elsevier, among others. Prof. Muhammad Irfan has been a member of the editorial boards of various national and international journals since 2005 and is currently the president-elect of the Pakistan Association of Medical Editors (PAME). He is the first and only Pakistani to be elected as the council member of the Committee On Publication Ethics (COPE). He is the founding member of the Institutional Review and Ethics Board at the Postgraduate Medical Institute, Peshawar and has regularly been involved in capacity-building activities in the fields of research and publication ethics.
His professional interests include global/ digital mental health and culturally adapted and non-pharmacological interventions in psychiatry.