Dr. Adel Korkor
Founder, AB Korkor Foundation for Mental Health
In 2016, Dr. Adel Korkor, a retired nephrologist, founded the AB Korkor Foundation for Mental Health. With 37 years of experience as a physician, he began a new mission to address mental health issues.
“During the years of carefully tending to the nuances of the human body, I became intensely aware of the body and brain connection,” Korkor says on the foundation’s website. “I understood and experienced the complexity of the brain and the pivotal role that mental health plays in our physical wellbeing. Additionally, I have observed the painful, pervasive struggle of patients with mental illness from stigma, limited access to care and inadequate insurance coverage.”
The foundation developed the Five Fifty Run/Walk series of 5K races in all 50 states in 50 days to raise awareness and funds to support organizations that address mental health issues. Korkor has led every one of them for two years in a row.
Korkor, who himself has lived with panic disorder, is the driving force and funder behind the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee College of Nursing’s first cohort of students in the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner program. Six enrolled practitioners will graduate this month from the program. In addition to providing funds to launch the program, Korkor is funding two scholarships per year for the first five years of the program.
The foundation also provided funds to start an integrated medical/behavioral health program at ProHealth Care, and enabled a Milwaukee area school to start a suicide prevention program.
