Dr Carrie Brooke-Sumner is a Specialist Scientist in the Mental Health, Alcohol, Substance Use and Tobacco Research Unit of the South African Medical Research Council.

She holds a BSc Honours Degree in Biochemistry and Microbiology from Rhodes University. She completed a Master’s degree in Public Health (specialising in Health Promotion) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2007, and on returning to South Africa worked as a consultant for a variety of NGOs in the disaster response, HIV prevention and youth development sectors.

Her PhD in Psychology from UKZN focused on developing, piloting and evaluating a community-based psychosocial rehabilitation programme for people with severe mental health conditions. She is Co-PI on the PRIZE study (Psychosocial rehabilitation and peer support for people with psychosis in South Africa: a pilot randomised trial) and on the SAMRC Flagship study Ntombivimbela+ study, which is developing and evaluating a sexual violence prevention and mental health intervention for heterosexual, lesbian and bisexual women in South African higher education institutions.