About Rob Giel

The research center was named after Rob Giel, the emeritus professor of social psychiatry. He stimulated psychiatric-epidemiological research in the Netherlands from 1969 till 1995. His involvement and interests are the source of inspiration for the researchers of the Rob Giel Research center.

Rob Giel (1930-2009) studied medicine in Groningen and specialized in both psychiatry and neurology. From 1966 till 1969 he was an associate professor at the Haile Selassie University in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, where he founded a psychiatric department at the faculty of medicine. He did the first psychiatric-epidemiological research in Ethiopia, and studied the social background of leprosy.

As a consultant of the World Health Organization he contributed to the organization of the mental health services in several countries and participated in the development of diagnostic classifications and instruments. From 1971 till September 1995 he held a chair in Social Psychiatry at the University of Groningen.

Rob Giel was editor of a number of international journals and received several awards for his diverse scientific and social activities.