Catalina Popoviciu is a clinical psychologist, researcher, and social entrepreneur based in Romania. She is affiliated with the University of Bucharest and the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy. Catalina leads the u’Good research grant at the University of Bucharest, where she is testing the Relational Wellbeing Framework for youth aged 10 to 24 years.
She works with Orygen on the Being Learning Network Initiative, where she leads the EMROSA Hub, providing knowledge translation and technical support to youth mental health projects funded under the Being Initiative across the Eastern Mediterranean, Romania, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Catalina is also part of Orygen Global’s collaboration with the Wellcome Trust, contributing to the commissioned project exploring the development of an open-access platform for common mental health measures.
She is the co-founder of Let’s CEE!, a regional initiative advancing youth mental health in Central and Eastern Europe, where she is developing an accessible, low-intensity, stepped-care model for youth mental health in the region. She also founded the Project Well Association in Romania, which supports youth well-being and community-based care innovation.
Catalina completed her PhD at the University of Bucharest, focusing on the associations between social media use and youth mental health. She is a Fulbright Alumna, having spent a year at the Center for Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing at Stanford University. Her previous work includes serving as a consultant for the World Health Organization, where she co-authored the WHO Framework on Youth Engagement in Mental Health and contributed to the WHO Pan-European Coalition’s workstream on child and adolescent mental health. Catalina has also provided psychosocial support to Ukrainian refugees in Romania, leading community-based interventions for displaced youth and women.