Frank Kortmann

Frank Kortmann (1942) is emeritus professor of transcultural psychiatry, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. He recieved his psychiatry training at the University of Groningen and became psychoanalist as well. He was invited to take the position of Associate Professor in Psychiatry in Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. There he wrote his PhD on empirical crosscultural research with the Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ) developed by the WHO. After this he was general and medical director in psychiatric hospital ‘Wolfheze’ (840 beds), now Pro Persona. In 1993 he became professor in General Psychiatry in the University of Nijmegen in The Netherlands.  After seven years he continued as professor in Transcultural Psychiatry. He also was very active in global mental health projects around the world, especially East Timor, Cambodia, Nepal, Afghanistan, Jemen, Turkey, Bosnia, Kosovo, Suriname, Sierra Leone and Ethiopia. After being involved in transcultural psychiatry for many years, he became more and more convinced that all psychiatry is transcultural psychiatry, as there is always a cultural gap between the doctor and the patient.

Emeritus Professor in Psychiatry and Transcultural Psychiatry
Radboud University Nijmegen
The Netherlands