Technical Advisory Group on Social Connection (TAG-SC)
WHO has established the Technical Advisory Group on Social Connection to provide the Organization with advice in its work on the issues of social connection, social isolation and loneliness on a global level.

Members

The Technical Advisory Group on Social Connection (TAG-SC) members were selected through an open call for independent experts in all aspects of social connection, social isolation and loneliness. The TAG consists of 20 members representing 16 WHO Member States across all WHO regions. The TAG includes psychologists, psychiatrists, social epidemiologists, social gerontologists, paediatricians, public health specialists and experts in digital mental health.

To access the biography of the TAG-SC members, click on the links next to the photos below.

 

Co-Chairs

Professor Aparna Shankar

Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychological Sciences, FLAME University, Pune, India

Professor Pamela Qualter

Professor, Psychology for Education, and Director of Research, School of Environment, Education & Development Faculty of Humanities, Manchester Institute of Education, University of Manchester, UK

Members

Dr Fransisca Agung

Associate Professor, Child and Adolescent Health Department, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Pelita Harapan, Tangerang, Indonesia

Professor Manuela Barreto

Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Exeter, UK

Professor Munmun De Choudhury

Associate Professor of Interactive Computing, and Director of the Social Dynamics and Well-Being Laboratory, College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA

Professor Razak M. Gyasi

Professor and Associate Research Scientist, Aging and Development Unit, African Population and Health Research Center, Nairobi, Kenya

Professor Ahmad Hajebi

Director of Research Center for Addiction and Risky Behaviors Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Professor Julianne Holt-Lunstad

Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA

Professor Shereen Hussein

Professor of Health and Social Care Policy, Health Services Research and Policy, Faculty of Public Health Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

Dr Rosco Kasujja

Head, Department of Mental Health & Community Psychology, Makerere University School of Psychology, Kampala, Uganda

Dr Ichiro Kawachi

John L. Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb Professor of Social Epidemiology, Social & Behavioral Sciences Department, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA

Dr Brigitte Khoury

Professor, Vice Chair of Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

Professor Naoki Kondo

Professor and Chair, Department of Social Epidemiology, Graduate School of Medicine and School of Public Health, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

Professor Mathias Lasgaard

Professor in Applied Psychology (part time), Department of Psychology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

Associate Professor Michelle H. Lim

CEO & Scientific Chair, Ending Loneliness Together. Principal Research Fellow, Prevention Research Collaboration, Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

Professor Fernando Lolas Stepke

Professor and Director, Center for Bioethics, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile Professor and Researcher, Faculty of Medicine, Central University of Chile, Santiago, Chile

Professor Pallab K. Maulik

Director of Research and Program Director at the George Institute for Global Health (IN) and the University of New South Wales (AS), India

Dr Palmira Fortunato dos Santos

Coordinator of the Mental Health, Trauma and Violence Program – Research Development and Management Department, National Institute of Health, Marracuene District, Mozambique

Professor Howard White

Professor of Evidence-Based Social Policy, Centre for Evidence-Based Social Sciences, Lanzhou University

Associate Professor Bin Yu

Associate Professor of Health Psychology, Institute of Applied Psychology, Medical College Tianjin University, Tianjin, China

WHO Secretariat

Dr Christopher Mikton

Technical Officer and Scientific Lead on Social Connection, Demographic Change and Healthy Ageing, Department of Social Determinants of Health, World Health Organization

Dr Daniel Surkalim

Consultant – Social Connection, Demographic Change and Healthy Ageing, Department of Social Determinants of Health, World Health Organization