Speakers



Dr. Aicha Hind Rifai 
Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Weil Cornell Medicine - Qatar

Dr. Rifai joined Weill Cornell Medicine - Qatar (WCM-Q) in June of 2016 and is actively involved in teaching with a focus on the second-year medical students in the Brain and Mind Course and third year medical students during the Psychiatry Clerkship. Dr. Rifai is Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology-in Psychiatry and in Geriatric Psychiatry. She is also Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine. Prior to joining WCM-Q, Dr. Rifai served as a Clinician Teacher in a variety of academic and clinical settings nationally in the USA: University of Pittsburg Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (1988-1994), St Joseph Medical Center Reading, PA(2000-2010), and the Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI (2012-2016) and internationally: in Germany at the Evangelisches Krankenhaus Elisabethenstiftin Darmstadt (1998-2000) and at Hamad Medical Center in Qatar (2011-2012). Dr. Rifai’s areas of expertise include The management of depression in the elderly, and in patients with chronic multi-morbidities. The expansion of community services for patients with mental illness and Community outreach and Education with special focus on fighting the Stigma of mental illness.

She has participated in NIMH funded studies on the Maintenance Treatment of Major Depression in the Elderly. Along with colleagues in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, she co-authored and edited a volume on the Contribution of the German-Speaking Countries to the History of Psychiatry for the World Psychiatric Association. Dr. Rifai’s research interests include the study of depression and suicide in the elderly with special interest in the course of Hopelessness during the treatment of Major Depressive disorder. The study of the etiology and treatment of chronic comorbid psychiatric and medical conditions. The History of Psychiatry and the narrative of war trauma in civilian women in areas of conflict.