Taiwo Lateef is a Professor of Psychiatry at the Department of Psychiatry, College of Medical Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, and a member of high-level advisory committee to Africa CDC on NCDI and mental health.
He is an Alumni of Harvard Global Mental Health Course of Harvard Medical School, a Fellow of the West African College of Physicians (WACP), a Faculty Member and Examiner at the Faculty of Psychiatry, WACP, External Examiner at the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Faculty member at Global Mental Health, Harvard Medical School.
Professor Sheikh is a passionate mental health advocate, he is actively involved in mental health reforms and policy decisions in Nigeria, ECOWAS and the African Union, and held various policy positions. He is a member of the technical group that revised the 1991 National Mental Health Service Delivery Policy for Nigeria which was adopted in 2013 and he is actively involved in the integration of mental health into primary health care in Nigeria.
Professor Sheikh led the group that drafted and pushed for the passage of National Mental Health Act in Nigeria (2022), the first modern and post-independence mental health legislation for Nigeria (a major shift from the colonial “lunacy act’). He is presently collaborating with researchers in Africa and Europe, investigating the genetics of depressive disorders among Africans across three countries (Nigeria, Ethiopia and Malawi).
He has authored and co-authored many peer-reviewed publications in international journals, he has also participated in World Bank technical reports. Professor Sheikh served on the 2022 CPHIA Scientific Program Committee.
He is a recipient of several awards and honors, among which is the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation Merit Award for Services to Humanity and distinguished Fellow award the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria among others.