Iris Graef-Calliess, MD, PhD, MBA, is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist based in Germany. She is Medical Director at Ulm University, leading the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy I and heading the research group for Social and Transcultural Psychiatry and Psychotherapy. She holds a BA in Slavic languages, philosophy and Eastern European history and was trained internationally in Germany, the USA, Spain, Switzerland, Poland and Israel. Her expertise spans psychodynamic and systemic psychotherapy as well as intercultural mediation, and she is enrolled in the IPU Berlin Master’s program “Leadership and Consulting.” Born into a German-Polish bicultural family, she is committed to culturally informed mental health care. Since 2017 she serves on the Steering Committee of Refukey, a state-funded stepped-care pilot for traumatized refugees. She also chairs DGPPN’s Section for Intercultural Psychiatry and Psychotherapy and co-chairs the EPA’s Section on Cultural Psychiatry; a WPA member since 2004. Her work focuses on social psychiatry, minority mental health, global and transcultural psychiatry, immigrants and refugees, and diversity management. Postdoctoral work developed a culture-dynamic model for bicultural identity. She has published 68 peer-reviewed papers, 74 books/chapters, and 252+ conference contributions.
Research Focus:
- Mental health in refugees
- Public mental health with regards to minorities
- Mental health care for refugees
- Intercultural psychotherapy, identity and context of flight and migration
- Intercultural opening of health care services
- Advocacy