Dr. Paul Bolton is the USAID Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Coordinator.
Created in October 2020, this new position allows USAID to advance the size and the quality of its global work in MHPSS. Dr. Bolton has over 20 years of experience in MHPSS working in program design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation with international and local NGOs and governments. He has led program development and research in Europe, Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, and the Pacific region. His research includes qualitative and quantitative studies as mixed methods, including many randomized controlled trials exploring effectiveness and implementation practices for MHPSS interventions, qualitative studies of population-specific needs, and the development and testing of valid assessment instruments. Prior to working in mental health, Dr. Bolton led humanitarian health programs on the Thai-Khmer border during the conflict that followed the ouster of the Khmer Rouge, and in Bosnia during the conflict following the break-up of Yugoslavia.
Dr. Bolton received his medical degree from the University of New South Wales, Australia. He received masters’ degrees in public health and science from Johns Hopkins University and continues to hold a faculty appointment as Senior Scientist in the Departments of Mental Health and International Health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.