Petr Winkler is the Head of the Department of Social Psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health, Czech Republic (NIMH CZ). After graduating in Social Policy and Social Work at the Charles University in Prague, he became one of the Bakala Foundation scholars and went to the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, at King’s College London, to pursue his PhD in mental health economics. Petr’s main expertise is in psychiatric epidemiology, health economics, and mental health care systems, and he is also interested in suicidology and research on stigma and discrimination. In the past few years he has been involved in the development of the mental health care reform strategy in the Czech Republic; and currently he is working on a matrix of analyses that will enable informed decision making with regards to the reform and its evaluation. In close collaboration with international partners, Petr and his team at NIMH CZ are also working towards the establishment of the Centre of Research Excellence in Social Psychiatry for the region of post-communist Central and Eastern Europe.