Professor Malcolm Hopwood
Current President of The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP).
President 2015–2017
Professor Hopwood graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1986 with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), and gained his Fellowship of the RANZCP in 1994, along with a Masters of Psychological Medicine from Monash University. In 1997 he also completed a Doctor of Medicine (MD) from the University of Melbourne.
After working in the public health-care system for many years, he now holds the positions of Professor of Psychiatry with Ramsay Health Care at the University of Melbourne and Clinical Director, Professorial Psychiatry Unit at the Albert Road Clinic.
He has contributed to a number of committees, including the Victorian Department of Human Services Bushfire Psychosocial Recovery Evaluation Advisory Committee, the Victorian Psychosurgery Review Board, the Commonwealth Department of Veterans’ Affairs National Clinical Advisory Group and the Multidisciplinary Panel for the Revision of the Australian NHMRC Guidelines for Acute Stress Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. He is also Chairman of the Board of the Sumner Foundation, which provides advocacy, support and sector development for young people with acquired brain injuries living in nursing homes.
Professor Hopwood has held a number of roles with the College, most recently as Victorian Branch Chair (2009–2013). He was a member of General Council from 2007 to 2009 and a member of the Board of Research for 10 years. He is a member of the Faculty of Psychiatry of Old Age and the Section of Neuropsychiatry.
At the College’s Annual General Meeting in May 2015 he began his 2-year term as President.
Professor Vincent Agyapong
Consultant psychiatrist, Alberta Health Services; Edmonton Zone Clinical Section Chief, Canada
Professor Agyapong holds multiple specialist and postgraduate certifications in psychiatry, including a Research Doctorate in Medicine, MD in Psychiatry, Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (FRCPC) and Fellowship of the American Psychiatric Association (FAPA). He is also a Fellow of the Royal Academy for Medicine in Ireland (FRAMI) and holds memberships of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, U.K (MRCPsych) and the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland (MCPsychI). In addition he holds a PhD in Global Health and postgraduate certifications in forensic medicine, statistics and health services management.
Professor Vincent Agyapong is the Clinical Section Chief for Community Mental Health in the Edmonton Zone in Alberta, Canada. He is a consultant psychiatrist within the Alberta Health Services and an Associate Clinical Professor at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta, Canada. Prior to this, he was an Associate Clinical Professor of psychiatry at the University of Dublin, Trinity College in Ireland. He has been a visiting scholar to the Department of Psychiatry of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana since 2009 where he delivers lectures intermittently to medical students at no cost to the university.
He has published over fifty articles in refereed journals and made over forty research presentations at major international conferences and workshops. He has reviewed journal articles for the International Journal of Health Policy and Management, Psychiatric Research, the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, the International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice, the Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, the Journal of Research in Peace, Gender and Development, Globalization and Health and the British Journal of Psychiatry.
Professor Agyapong has won several academic and social awards including Best Research Prize from the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland, Henry Hutchinson Scholarship from the University of Dublin and the Outstanding Innovation in Health Award from the Royal Power Magazine. In 2011, the Royal Power Magazine named him one of ten most influential Africans in Ireland.
Dr Aishatu Yusha’u Armiya’u
Head of Forensic Psychiatry, Jos University Teaching Hospital; Consultant Psychiatrist in-charge of Jos Maximum Security Prison clinic, Plateau state Nigeria.
Dr Armiya’u graduated from Bayero University Kano, Nigeria in 2003 with MBBS, Fellowship of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (FMCPsych) in 2012, West African College of Physician (FWACP) in 2016, along with a Masters of Forensic Psychology and Criminal Investigation (MSc. FP&CI) from the University of Liverpool.
She is Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist and Head of Forensic Psychiatry Unit of Jos University Teaching Hospital, Plateau state Nigeria as well as the Consultant Psychiatrist in-charge of the Prison clinic at the Jos Maximum Security Prison.
She has contributed to professional committees, including member of the Association of Psychiatrist in Nigeria including its Constitutional Review committee, WHO Global Clinical Practice Network, Norman Sartorius Workshop, Nigeria Medical Association and as an International Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.
In recognition of her outstanding leadership and organizational skills in the field of Mental Health, she was selected (the only one from northern Nigeria) for a course on the development of Leadership and Professional Skills for Young Psychiatrist in the year 2011 by Norman Sartorius Workshop, a World Health Organization affiliated program. She has a certificate of Leadership and Professional Skills for Young Psychiatrist and has been recognized by Treatnet (UNODC affiliate) for a training workshop on addiction treatment, by the Nigerian Military for facilitating a workshop on capacity building on mental health in the military, by the Association of Resident Doctors in Plateau state and the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) of Nigeria. She continues trauma healing, free mental health care and drug/alcohol screening for communities in Plateau state.
Dr Armiya’u is the first Female Consultant Psychiatrist and a fellow of the two colleges from northwestern Nigeria. She is married to a Sports Physician the current team doctor of the Senior Nigerian Football Team (Super Eagles) and has two sons.
Zoe Evans
Case Management Coordinator of Out of Home Care team, Anglicare Riverina, Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia
Zoe is currently a Bachelor of Arts student in – Community Development at Murdoch University Western Australia while working with Anglicare Riverina in Wagga Wagga NSW, coordinating the Case Management Out of Home Care team.
In 2002, she was a family support worker in the welfare sector of Victoria dealing with moderate intellectual disabilities. After relocating to Western Australia in 2003, Zoe worked for a range of youth focused services ranging from WA State Government Policy office (Office for Children and Youth), to Local Government as Coordinator of the Derby Youth Service and then the Coordinator LYRIK Youth Incentive Program. It was during this role that Zoe was a finalist in the 2008 WA Community Services Industry Awards and LYRIK won the National Local Government Innovation Award in March 2009.
In April 2009 Zoe was the Coordinator of the StandBy Suicide Response Service with Anglicare WA, providing 24/7-postvention support in suicide bereavement. It was during this time StandBy Kimberley was recognised for their work in Kimberley communities by winning, Suicide Prevention Australia Life Award “Healthy Communities”. In 2011, she was personally acknowledged by the Billard Community at the Blank Page Suicide Prevention Summit by winning the “Stand up for Life” for work in the West Kimberley, supporting families and communities in suicide prevention and after suicide.
In 2013, Zoe took on the role Manager of Suicide Prevention and Postvention Kimberley with Anglicare under the WA State Governments Suicide Prevention Strategy in response to the growing suicide death rates in the West Kimberley. During this period Zoe was involved in providing 24/7 crisis support after suicide and working alongside families and communities to increase skills, knowledge and capacity to respond to crises, through training and community development projects.
A key focus for Zoe is working from a community development framework to address stigma associated with mental health and suicide, being creative and utilising and building on existing strengths (cultural, family, social) in order to shift language and how the community thinks about mental health and suicide, to help contribute to suicide safer communities and families.
