Event Speakers' Biography | University of Houston-Downtown
Schizophrenia & Culture:
Insights from Four Decades of Research at SCARF, India
Tuesday, August 26th 5:00 p.m.
Commerce Street Building in room C100 and via ZOOM
(Guest Speakers)
Dr. Padmavati Ramachandran, Director at the Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF)
Dr. Padmavati Ramachandran
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Padmavati Ramachandran is currently the Director at the Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF), a premier mental health NGO based in Chennai, India. With over 35 years of experience, she has contributed extensively to various areas of mental health research, including phenomenology, epidemiology, stigma in mental illness, and physical comorbidities in schizophrenia.
A dedicated clinician, Dr. Ramachandran is deeply invested in needs-based psychosocial interventions for individuals seeking treatment and rehabilitation at SCARF’s clinical services. She serves as the Principal Investigator for the Grand Challenges Canada project on Youth-Friendly Spaces for Young Adolescents in the Juvenile Justice System. She is also the India Site Investigator for the PIECEs study, a collaborative project between India and Pakistan aimed at improving outcomes for individuals with psychosis using the DIALOG+ app. Dr. Ramachandran has led multiple research initiatives supported by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and holds key advisory positions, including as a member of the WHO South-East Asia Regional Reference Group on Mental Health (RRG-MH) and the WPA Action Group for Geopsychiatry, which explores the geopolitical determinants of mental health. Very recently, she has received a grant from the ICMR that aims at developing community adaptation strategies for mental health effects of Heat waves in South India.
A prolific academic, she has authored over 80 publications in national and international peer-reviewed journals. She serves as an invited editor for BMC Psychiatry and Frontiers in Psychiatry, and is on the Advisory Board of the Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine. For the past two decades, she has been the Organising Secretary of the biennial International Conference on Schizophrenia (IConS) held in Chennai. In recognition of her contributions, she was recently awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) by Queen Mary University of London. Dr. Ramachandran is a sought-after speaker and has delivered numerous lectures and plenary talks at national and international conferences.
For more information contact Steven Villano, director of the Center for Public Service and Community Research at villanos@uhd.edu.