Eliot Sorel, MD, DLFAPA, FACPsych (1940–2024): World Psychiatry’s Ambassador-at-Large

Eliot Sorel, MD, DLFAPA, FACPsych (1940–2024), Past President of WASP, was an inspirational and transformational leader in American and world psychiatry and a catalytic figure in promoting social psychiatry and social justice. Prof. Sorel was a significant and tireless leader at WASP, serving as president from 1996 to 200, and instrumental in organizing several WASP World Congresses: XII Washington, DC, USA (1990), XVI Vancouver, BC, Canada (1998), and XXIII Bucharest, Romania (2019). Prof. Sorel died in Washington, DC on October 13th shortly after his 84th birthday after a rapid illness discovered just two weeks earlier. He chose palliative care at home where he was surrounded by the loving care of his wife Christiane E. Sorel, Esquire, and two children, Marc A. Sorel, Esquire (wife Maura) and Marie-Adèle Sorel Kress, MD (husband Jeremy), who survive him, along with six beloved grandchildren. With two of his dearest friends, Rahn Bailey, MD and Constance Dunlap, MD – like me, mentees and beneficiaries of Eliot’s mentorship and leadership – we sent out the news of Eliot’s death to our friends and colleagues on every continent and received a multitude of messages of condolences, expressing surprise because of his vitality and vigor until the very end and a deep sense of an irreplaceable loss for Eliot’s unique qualities and contributions. Of these, the consensus that emerges is of mentorship, bringing people together across differences, and corralling, cajoling, and tirelessly encouraging us to come together in a mission that he summed up with the Jewish concept of tikkun olam – “healing the world.” We may call it social action in pursuit of social justice. Born in Romania to a Jewish family during WWII and taken to safety in Paris, France, at the age of 21, Prof. Sorel made his way as a “stateless person” to the USA where he worked his way through school. He studied at New York University, the State University of New York-Binghamton, the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and Yale, where he would meet his future wife. After a pioneering 2-year stint establishing mental health services in the US Virgin Islands, Prof. Sorel moved to Washington, DC. Prof. Sorel was an innovative global health leader, health systems performance expert, practicing physician, and Clinical Professor of Global Health, Health Policy and Management at The George Washington University, where he was also a Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health. Prof. Sorel served as a subject matter expert for the World Health Organization, Pan American Health Organization, US National Institute of Health, National Institute of Mental Health, World Bank Group, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. He was founding Editor-in-Chief of the Global Mental Health (GMH) and Psychiatry Review and a cofounder of the Africa GMH Institute. Beyond his contributions to WASP, Prof. Sorel was a Distinguished Life Member of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), where he was instrumental in making health and mental health as a human rights part of APA policy. He was a Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists; active in the World Psychiatric Association (WPA); Past President of both the Washington Psychiatric Society and the Medical Society for the District of Columbia, and creator of the TOTAL Health model, an integrated, collaborative template for health care combining the fields of primary care, mental health and public health. His honors and initiatives were diverse and extensive. They include the Rehabilitation International Centennial Award (2023); the Ronald A. Shellow Award from the APA (2021); recognition as a Pioneer and Leader in Public Health from the Milken Institute School of Public Health of The George Washington University (2019); the Mental Health Champion Award at the Universal Health and Mental Health for All Conference in Malta, EU (2018); the Excellence Prize from the Government of Romania at the Romanian Embassy, Washington, DC (2018); Doctor Honoris Causa, Carol Davila Medical University (2009) and the Politehnica University of Bucharest (2014) of Romania; Star of Romania, Order of Commander, awarded by The President of Romania in Bucharest (2004); and a commendation from the US Congress for initiating and chairing “Resilience in the Face of Terror: Healing the Trauma of 9/11” (2002) signed by President Obama. All the living past presidents of WASP join me in this memorial tribute to Eliot Sorel – Jorge Alberto Costa e Silva (1992–1996), Shridhar Sharma (2001–2004), Driss Moussaoui (2010–2013), Thomas Jamieson-Craig (2013–2016), Roy Abraham Kallivayalil (2016–2019), and Rachid Bennegadi (2019–2022). Here are selected tributes from the WASP community. PROF. JORGE ALBERTO COSTA E SILVA OF RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL, WASP PRESIDENT (1992–1996) It is difficult to find words to describe the friend, the doctor, the psychiatrist, the human being, Eliot Sorel.… He leaves a great and important legacy for mental health in the world, especially for social psychiatry. Eliot was tireless in his fight for the growth of social psychiatry in the world. We had the opportunity to work together in the organization of several congresses and symposia. During my term as President of the World Association of Psychiatry and as International Director of the Division of Mental Health and Substance Abuse at WHO in Geneva, Eliot Sorel was always a partner and a very active participant. Eliot Sorel will be greatly missed by all of us and by the world of social psychiatry. A unique personality, a friend who was always there. Eliot rendered services of the utmost importance to all who knew him and to all who did not, but who benefited from his work around the world. I often stayed at his home in Washington, and he often took me to the Cosmos Club Restaurant where important figures from the worlds of politics and health would frequent. Eliot was always recognized as an extraordinary person. There are no words to describe all that Eliot did and all that he was to his family and friends. My deepest sympathy is with his family and loved ones. PROF. ROY ABRAHAM KALLIVAYALIL OF THIRUVALLA, INDIA, WASP PRESIDENT (2016–2019) The passing away of Eliot Sorel… marks the end of an, especially in Social Psychiatry… Eliot’s contributions to Psychiatry, Public health, and especially Social Psychiatry will ever be remembered. He believed in dialogue, inclusiveness, and mutual respect. Above all, he was a great human being. We join his family and friends in this hour of grief and offer our prayers and support. DR. SAïD FATTAH OF MULHOUSE, FRANCE, CHAIR, WASP SECTION ON FAMILY INTERVENTION PROGRAMS Thank you for your deeply touching and humanist letter. The least we can do is support your tribute through this letter, in my name, on behalf of the members of the WASP Section on Family Intervention Programs throughout the world, and also on behalf of the French-speaking network of the Profamille psychoeducation program in Europe, the Antilles and in Africa. These numerous messages from my colleagues across the world reflect the goodness, benevolence, humanity, erudition, and spirit of sharing of Professor Eliot Sorel. DR. HACHEM TYAL OF CASABLANCA, MOROCCO, PRESIDENT, MOROCCAN ASSOCIATION FOR DYNAMIC PSYCHIATRY; CO-PRESIDENT OF THE MOROCCAN ASSOCIATION FOR DYNAMIC PSYCHIATRY-WASP JOINT CONFERENCE CELEBRATING WASP’S 60THANNIVERSARY IN RABAT, MOROCCO, APRIL 2025 The psychiatric community is mourning the loss of Professor Sorel. Unfortunately, I did not have the privilege of knowing him personally, but it is publicly known that he was a remarkable man of science, that he was an immense person, always full of life, and rich in the ethical, moral, and human values. Allow me, dear friend, on my own behalf and on behalf of the members of Moroccan Association for Dynamic Psychiatry, to extend to you, his family, and his friends our deepest condolences in this cruel circumstance. A PERSONAL APPRECIATION “Look at Silone,” said Albert Camus, “he is radically tied to his land but is the most European of writers. Silone speaks to all of Europe.” Like the Italian writer Ignazio Silone, Eliot was totally himself as a Romanian and a Jew and genuinely identified with the people of the world. We heard numerous affirmations that each group he met felt understood and accepted by him. My francophone colleagues in Montreal complimented him on his French and he signed off E-mails with “Abrazos” and “Abraços” in Spanish and Portuguese. Out of the blue, I would pick up his calls to be greeted in Italian with, “Ciao, paisano.” He often affirmed that we all started in Africa and indeed he showed great respect for Africans and the African diaspora in the Americas. Among his proudest achievements are two prizes named for Chester Pierce, MD, and Charles Prudhomme, MD, Black psychiatrists who were pioneers in human rights. His last wish to me as President of WASP – a position I owe to his leadership and support – was to facilitate the founding of a Sub-Saharan Association of Social Psychiatry and I am pleased to announce that through the leadership of our mutual friend, Prof. Gabriel (Gabby) Ivbijaro in London, we are now realizing Eliot’s dream – the West African Association of Social Psychiatry. He is Gabby’s warm envoi: Thank you for all you did for our good friend Eliot to ensure that his memories continue to remain in our consciousness. I would like to highlight his contribution to Primary Care Mental Health, World Mental Health Day, and psychiatry in West Africa. Eliot was a connector, a mentor, and a facilitator. If you wanted to get something done through the labyrinthine structures of professional associations such as the APA, WASP, and WPA, he was the “go-to” person. I sat at many conversations where people consulted him to strategize their leadership campaigns in these organizations. And he seemed to know everyone! Born and raised in Italy where I publish and present regularly, Eliot nonetheless introduced me to key people in my own country, notably Prof. Mario Maj and Prof. Silvana Galderisi in Naples, who are European and world leaders in psychiatry. When I told that story, he chuckled quietly with evident gratification. I cannot count the many relationships that I have benefited from as a result of his generous introductions. Prof. Norman Sartorius, Past Director of the WHO Division of Mental Health and Past President of the WPA and the European Psychiatric Association who has been named “psychiatry’s living legend” by The Lancet, shared the following testimony: Thank you for your letter. Your write-up describes Eliot’s life and work with admiration and precision. Please add my name to the list of those who remember Eliot as a leader of social psychiatry worldwide and a major figure in the field of mental health sciences and practice. Inspired by this, I wish to recognize Eliot Sorel’s lifework as world psychiatry’s “ambassador-at-large.” Beyond his particular projects, Eliot was a mentor to people young and old, a connector across partisan interests, and a facilitator of any worthy cause that was brought to him. He was a consummate diplomat who retained the capacity to speak frankly and critically while always pointing to “conflict management and resolution,” and indeed he founded that section at the WPA, which he discussed in an interview with Past WASP Treasurer, Marianne Kastrup (2022). Why “world psychiatry?” Eliot was the cofounder and first elected chair of the APA Caucus on GMH and Psychiatry and remained its guiding spirit. He edited the first volume on GMH in 2012. By world psychiatry, I mean not just an orientation but a nonideological embrace of the reality that mental, relational, and social suffering exists around the world and that all of us who are committed to alleviating that suffering must work together across all our divides and differences, commitments, and concerns. My mentor, friend, and colleague Eliot Sorel did much to bring us out of our sectarian silos to open doors, encourage solution-focused communication among us psychiatrists, and expand the conversation about mental health to include public health and primary care. In this way, he did a great deal to increase psychiatry’s reach and relevance around the world. And that is why I wish to remember Eliot Sorel as world psychiatry’s ambassador-at-large. Words we heard in the days after Eliot’s death included “passing on” and “transitioning.” Our mutual friend from India, Debasish Basu, MD, Editor-in-Chief of this journal, expressed this evocatively: I wish him the best in his last journey. In Hinduism we believe in the literal sense of the word “passing” – the mingling of the Ātman with the Paramātman – the individual soul with the all-permeating eternity. His journey here complete, Eliot Sorel leaves a legacy which lives on in WASP and through this journal to which he contributed. KEY PUBLICATIONS IN SOCIAL PSYCHIATRY, CONFLICT MANAGEMENT, AND GLOBAL MENTAL HEALTH Kastrup M. Psychiatry and Conflict Management: Interview with ELIOT Sorel. The Nordic Psychiatrist; 2022. Available from: https://www.thenordicpsychiatrist.com/post/psychiatry-and-conflict-management. [Last accessed on 2024 Nov 01]. Sorel E, editor. Family, Culture, and Psychobiology. Ottawa, ON: Legas; 1990. Sorel E, Favazza A, Sarwer-Foner G, Miller M, Schwab J, Vigotsky HM, editors. Social Psychiatry in the Late Twentieth Century: Selected Proceedings of the XII World Congress of Social Psychiatry. Ottawa, ON: Legas; 1993. Sorel E. Social psychiatry: A mission and a vision for the 21st century. Int Med J 1998;5:247-9. Sorel E, Padoan PC, editors. The Marshall plan: Lessons learned for the 21st Century. Paris, France: OECD Publishing; 2008. Sorel E, editor. 21st Century Global Mental Health. Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning; 2012. Sorel E. Translating scientific evidence into global health policy: Making mental health count for individuals’ and populations’ health. Indian J Soc Psychiatry 2016;32:185-7. Sorel E. The social brain: Wired to connect and belong. World Soc Psychiatry 2019;1:23-4. Sorel E. The COVID-19 pandemic: A national and global social contracts stress test. World Soc Psychiatry 2020;2:2-73. Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.

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