India ACAMH Hub

Welcome to the India ACAMH Hub launched in December 2020. We are very excited to be joining the international ranks of ACAMH and look forward to spreading the message of ACAMH with a focus of ‘Sharing best evidence, improving practice’.

We meet regularly online, and are planning many new initiatives for the region, and looking forward to learning and sharing with other ACAMH Hubs and branches.

We are friendly group and are looking to expand our committee so do please get in touch via ACAMH CEO Martin Pratt.

  • Meet the branch
    Dr. Soumitra S Datta

    Dr. Soumitra S Datta

    Soumitra is a consultant child psychiatrist currently working in the field of pediatric liaison psychiatry in Tata Medical Center, Kolkata. His research interests are psycho-oncology, decision making, attachment, and social aspects of medicine. Soumitra holds an honorary research appointment with the Institute of Clinical Trials & Methodology of the University College London. He trained in psychiatry in Christian Medical College Vellore and also in the United Kingdom. He worked as a consultant child psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital and Kings College Hospital, London prior to his current post in India. He has been a lead reviewer for Cochrane Collaboration and his recent Cochrane review on Psychological interventions for adolescents with psychosis was a featured review of the Cochrane Collaboration in 2020.

    Professor Dr. K John Vijay Sagar

    Professor Dr. K John Vijay Sagar

    Dr. John is currently the Head of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India. He completed his undergraduate medical training at S.V. Medical College, Tirupati, India and MD(Psychiatry) from NIMHANS. John has extensive academic, clinical and research experience over the past 20 years having worked in reputed institutions like Christian Medical College, Vellore, JIPMER, Pondicherry . He has been working as a Consultant Child Psychiatrist at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, NIMHANS over the past 10 years. His current areas of interest include neurodevelopmental disorders especially ASD ,paediatric psychopharmacology, adolescent mental health, child abuse, and neurobiology of child psychiatric disorders. John has authored 60 research papers and 7 book chapters. He was awarded the prestigious NIH(USA) funded Indo-US Fogarty Fellowship in 2014 and trained at the McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, USA. John was recently appointed Affiliate Faculty at the School of Biological and Population Health sciences, Oregon State University, USA.

    Associate Professor Chhitij Srivastava

    Associate Professor Chhitij Srivastava

    Chhitij is a child and adolescent psychiatrist working as Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, MLN Medical College, Allahabad. He holds an affiliate research appointment with the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London and is also an adjunct faculty at Centre of Behaviour & Cognitive Sciences, University of Allahabad. He trained in psychiatry at King George’s Medical University, Lucknow and at the Maudsley hospital, London. Chhitij is the current Secretary of the Indian Association of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (IACAM) and is regularly involved in planning and organizing academic conferences in this capacity. He considers himself a student of psychiatry more than anything else and is interested in all aspects of child psychiatry. However, he has a special interest in neuro-developmental disorders and spends considerable time in an honorary capacity at a child development centre managed by his wife who is a paediatrician.

    Dr. Jai R Ram

    Dr. Jai Ranjan Ram

    Jai is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist now working in Kolkata, India. He works from Apollo Gleneagles Hospital, Kolkata, India and is also attached Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy and Institute of Child Health, Kolkata as Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist. He received his undergraduate medical education from Kolkata and then did his postgraduate training from National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India. He worked as a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist in Wakefield, South Yorkshire, UK, after obtaining his CCST from Wessex Deanery. He wanted to be a travelling chef but chose a far less interesting career of Medicine instead. However, as a Psychiatrist with special interest in children and young people, he gets to relive the dreams and aspirations of young minds and feels blessed that he has, in his own very small way, enabled some troubled minds to gain freedom and blossom. He co-founded Mental Health Foundation, Kolkata (www.mhfkolkata.com) which focuses on providing treatment for mental illness and provides training for capacity building for organisation working on the interface of education and social care. He is a firm believer in improving access to mental health care and believes that is only possible if there is increased access to high quality training program for frontline community workers.

    Dr. Ramya Mohan

    Dr. Ramya Mohan

    Dr. Ramya Mohan (www.ramyamohan.com) is a senior NHS Developmental Consultant Psychiatrist , Medical Educator, Music Composer, trained Singer, exhibiting Artist, invited Author, Orator and Humanitarian working across Asia and Europe for international Community Development. An alumna of Bangalore Medical College (India), Ramya completed her MRCPsych as a trainee with South London and the Maudsley on the Guy’s, King’s and St .Thomas hospitals training scheme. Following her sub-specialisation on the Great Ormond Street /Royal London training programme, she was awarded a board-certification in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry through the London Deanery. She has worked as a Consultant Psychiatrist (CAMHS,Developmental Neuropsychiatry and Learning Disability of childhood and adolescence ) on the NHS since 2008, with Oxleas Partnership, Surrey and Borders Partnership and Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation trusts. She is trained in the ADOS ,3Di , EMDR and Mindfulness and holds a clinical certificate form the British Association of Psychopharmacology. Her special interests and expertise are in the areas of Paediatric Psychopharmacology and Neurodevelopmental Psychiatry. Her research interests include the cognitive neuroscience of creativity and psycho-oncology. As a Qualified Educational Supervisor and Medical Educator (KSS Deanery), Ramya is actively involved in teaching medical students and postgraduates on the NHS . She supports Psychiatry and CAMHS trainees as a specialty champion for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry ( Health Education England) . She is visiting faculty for the College of Counselling and Psychotherapy Education , London. Ramya has been teaching faculty as part of a UK-India mental health training initiative in 2020 ( A UK-India voluntary sector collaboration) . She has extensive experience in international community development (in the context of the UK and Indian healthcare systems /communities) and contributes her expertise actively to the voluntary sector across the UK and India. The Royal College of Psychiatrists UK have commended Ramya as a global pioneer in amalgamating Creative Arts and Neuroscience for youth and societal development , awarding her a fellowship for distinctive contributions to world Psychiatry (2018) and shortlisting her nomination twice for the Royal College of Psychiatrists ‘Communicator of the year ‘ national awards in 2019 and 2020.Her original work has pioneered a global movement in integrating music and the creative arts with Psychiatry for optimal mental health across the west and the east over the years. Her internationally acclaimed neuroscientific therapeutic technique CAPE : Creative Arts for Processing Emotions ® has dedicated users across the globe. Alongside being an NHS CAMHS consultant and initiating clinical CAMHS work in India with her home community, Ramya is the Medical Director and Creative Head of I MANAS London, a trail-blazing organisation with and established body of globally acclaimed work in integrating Medicine, Music, Art, Neuroscience and Ability in societies through high-impact events, global projects and large-scale media awareness work in the UK and India. Described as an accomplished polymath by thought leaders, Ramya’s repertoire of invited talks, music, art and oratory on a prestigious world platform includes TEDx, The United Nations UNGSII SDG Champions conference, The High Commission of India UK (Cultural wing) , The houses of Lords and Commons, Mental Wealth Festival, world media ( BBC, Aaj Tak/India Today, Huffington Post etc) and some of the world’s top Universities, schools, colleges and hospitals.

    Dr. Vivek Agarwal

    Dr. Vivek Agarwal

    Dr. Agarwal is currently professor and head of Psychiatry department at King George’s Medical University, Lucknow. He has been trained in psychiatry from the same institute. He worked in IHBAS Delhi for some time before joining the present institute. He has been working in child and adolescent psychiatry unit for 20 years. His area of interest has been neurodevelopmental disorders specially ADHD, stress related disorders like conversion disorders and neuroimaging. He has published more than 100 papers. Dr. Agarwal is a member of Global Burden of Disease India Mental Disorders Expert Group.

    Prof Dr Srivats Bharadwaj

    Prof Dr Srivats Bharadwaj

    Prof Dr Srivats Bharadwaj is an accomplished and passionate healthcare entrepreneur with over 24 years of experience in practicing and teaching dentistry. An academician and researcher at heart with an unyielding enthusiasm to modernise the medical education system, teach, and mentor the next generation of healthcare professionals to achieve their absolute best and contribute to furthering healthcare. Passionate about elevating health care delivery by promoting interdisciplinary learning and collaboration, with the objective of providing people across all strata of society to access affordable and superlative healthcare. Key influencer in the academic and thought leadership fraternity in dentistry and health care in India. Keen interest in furthering research and practical, holistic, application-oriented focus in teaching as well as the practice of medicine. On a mission to positively influence the integration of dentistry into mainstream medicine with a strong emphasis on community healthcare. Dr Bharadwaj has been the Council member of the International association for disabilities and oral health , Clinical Director of Special Olympics International and the Founder of Vatsalya oral health foundation.

    Professor Satya Raj

    Professor Satya Raj

    Dr Satya Raj is a Professor, in the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India. She has completed her Diploma in Psychological Medicine, MD (Psychiatry) and also her Diplomate of the National Board. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. Following the completion of her training in Psychiatry at Christian Medical College, she has been a Faculty in the Child and adolescent Psychiatry unit, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India. She completed her FRANZCP, and was working as a Staff specialist in the Child and youth mental health service in Queensland, Australia. She was a Consultant in Infant Mental Health, and Evolve – working with children with trauma backgrounds. She has been trained in the Circle of security. Her areas of interest include, Infant mental health, Childhood trauma, Attachment in children, School Mental Health, and Neurodevelopmental disorders in children. She has been a faculty at various national and International conferences. She has conducted workshops for Pediatricians, General practitioners, school teachers, psychologist and social workers - on various topics in Child and adolescent mental health. She also worked with ED LINQ in Australia, with a focus on School Mental Health. She has many publications in National and international journals. She is also a Consultant for the “Infant mother nurture clinic” in CMC, the first of its kind in India. She is an avid speaker and enjoys teaching. She has won many academic awards like, best outgoing student in MBBS and MD. She was the recipient of the SARADA MENON GOLD MEDAL in 2009, for securing the highest marks in the National board of exams. She was awarded the MICHAEL HONG TRAVEL FELLOWSHIP, in ASCAPAP, 2013. She is a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Life fellow of the Indian Psychiatric society and Life fellow of the Indian association of Child and Adolescent Mental health.

  • Opportunities for you

    We want to hear from a range of professionals, at all stages of their career, who focus on child and adolescent mental health. Please take a look at the ‘Meet the branch’ section, and contact one of the members, and let us know how you would like to be involved.

    Discussion

    I am a pediatric dentist working on children with special needs.. Do guide me how could I be involved

    Matt Kempen

    Hello, do let us know if you are still interested

    Hi, I am a counselling psychologist and researcher, working in the area of neurodevelopmental Impairment. I would like to know how to get involved. Thanks

    Add a comment

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    *

  • Nuts and Bolts of Pediatric Psychopharmacology and management of Psychosis in children (recording)

    This event aims to enhance learning of child and adolescent mental health, with practical insights in the area of Paediatric Psychopharmacology for trainee and practising psychiatrists. The content is primarily practice focused with additional research evidence relevant to clinical practice.

    Speakers are Dr. Eesha Sharma, Assistant Professor, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, NIMHANS, Bangalore, will talk on ‘Basic Principles of Paediatric Psychopharmacology’. Dr. Soumitra Shankar Datta, Senior Consultant Psychiatrist, Department of Palliative Care and Psycho-oncology, Tata Memorial Centre, Kolkata, will talk on ‘Management of Psychosis in children and adolescents’

    Slides Dr. Eesha Sharma

    SlidesDr. Soumitra Shankar Datta

    ACAMH Members can receive a CPD certificate, simply email and let us know the date and time that you watched the recording.

    Learning objectives

    1. Basic principles of Psychopharmacological management in children and adolescents
    2. Initiation and maintenance of antipsychotic medication in children and adolescents diagnosed with Psychosis
    3. Cochrane systematic reviews on management of psychosis in children and adolescents

    About the speakers

    Dr. Eesha Sharma works as an Assistant Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NIMHANS. She completed her MD(Psychiatry), Post-doctoral Fellowship in Obsessive Compulisve Disorder, and PhD at NIMHANS. Her areas of interest include Psychopathology, Psychotherapeutic Processes, Psychopharmacology, Biological Psychiatry, Outcome assessments, Health systems, and Psychiatric Epidemiology.

    Dr. Soumitra S Datta is a consultant child psychiatrist currently working in the field of pediatric liaison psychiatry in Tata Medical Center, Kolkata. His research interests are psycho-oncology, decision making, attachment, and social aspects of medicine. Soumitra holds an honorary research appointment with the Institute of Clinical Trials & Methodology of the University College London. He trained in psychiatry in Christian Medical College Vellore and also in the United Kingdom. He worked as a consultant child psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital and Kings College Hospital, London prior to his current post in India. He has been a lead reviewer for Cochrane Collaboration and his recent Cochrane review on Psychological interventions for adolescents with psychosis was a featured review of the Cochrane Collaboration in 2020.

  • The Future is CAMHS – Exploring a Career in Child and Adolescent Mental Health (recording)

    Why a career in mental health in India? Mental health problems in childhood can have an immense impact on a child’s development. As a child and adolescent mental health professional, and by helping to identify and treat the mental health problems of young people, not only can you help to improve their quality of life, but you can potentially alter their future for the better.

    The ACAMH India Branch welcomed Professor Shoba Srinath to talk on ‘Choosing a career in child and adolescent mental health’, chaired by Professor Vivek Agrawal. This talk covered the crucial aspects of how to become a child and adolescent mental health professional and what to expect on the way to qualifying.

    Following this we had a panel discussion, chaired by Dr. Jai Ranjan Ram and Dr. Soumitra Shankar Datta, on the topic of ‘Becoming a child and adolescent mental health professional: What do you need to think of?’. Panel; Professor Satya Raj, Dr. Nithya Poornima, and Dr. Amit Sen.

    ACAMH Members can receive a CPD certificate, simply email and let us know the date and time that you watched the recording.

    Speakers

    Dr. Soumitra S Datta

    Dr. Soumitra Shankar Datta

    Soumitra is a consultant child psychiatrist currently working in the field of pediatric liaison psychiatry in Tata Medical Center, Kolkata. His research interests are psycho-oncology, decision making, attachment, and social aspects of medicine. Soumitra holds an honorary research appointment with the Institute of Clinical Trials & Methodology of the University College London. He trained in psychiatry in Christian Medical College Vellore and also in the United Kingdom. He worked as a consultant child psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital and Kings College Hospital, London prior to his current post in India. He has been a lead reviewer for Cochrane Collaboration and his recent Cochrane review on Psychological interventions for adolescents with psychosis was a featured review of the Cochrane Collaboration in 2020.

    Professor Shoba Srinath

    Dr Shoba is retired Senior Professor from the Dept. of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, (NIMHANS), Banglore. She, along with her colleagues, was instrumental in starting the first accredited super-speciality training programme in child and adolescent psychiatry in India. Her areas of interest are autism, mood disorders, epidemiology and obsessive-compulsive disorders. She has been author to numerous international peer reviewed publications in the field of child and adolescent mental health.

    Professor Vivek Agrawal

    Dr. Agarwal is currently professor and head of Psychiatry department at King George’s Medical University, Lucknow. He has been trained in psychiatry from the same institute. He worked in IHBAS Delhi for some time before joining the present institute. He has been working in child and adolescent psychiatry unit for 20 years. His area of interest has been neurodevelopmental disorders specially ADHD, stress related disorders like conversion disorders and neuroimaging. He has published more than 100 papers. Dr. Agarwal is a member of Global Burden of Disease India Mental Disorders Expert Group.

    Professor Satya Raj

    Dr Satya Raj is a Professor, in the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India. She has completed her Diploma in Psychological Medicine, MD (Psychiatry) and also her Diplomate of the National Board. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. Following the completion of her training in Psychiatry at Christian Medical College, she has been a Faculty in the Child and adolescent Psychiatry unit, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India. She completed her FRANZCP, and was working as a Staff specialist in the Child and youth mental health service in Queensland, Australia. She was a Consultant in Infant Mental Health, and Evolve – working with children with trauma backgrounds. She has been trained in the Circle of security. Her areas of interest include, Infant mental health, Childhood trauma, Attachment in children, School Mental Health, and Neurodevelopmental disorders in children. She has been a faculty at various national and International conferences. She has conducted workshops for Pediatricians, General practitioners, school teachers, psychologist and social workers – on various topics in Child and adolescent mental health. She also worked with ED LINQ in Australia, with a focus on School Mental Health. She has many publications in National and international journals. She is also a Consultant for the “Infant mother nurture clinic” in CMC, the first of its kind in India. She is an avid speaker and enjoys teaching. She has won many academic awards like, best outgoing student in MBBS and MD. She was the recipient of the SARADA MENON GOLD MEDAL in 2009, for securing the highest marks in the National board of exams. She was awarded the MICHAEL HONG TRAVEL FELLOWSHIP, in ASCAPAP, 2013. She is a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Life fellow of the Indian Psychiatric society and Life fellow of the Indian association of Child and Adolescent Mental health.

    Dr. Amit Sen

    Dr Sen is a co-founder of Children First and has been practicing child psychiatry for over 25 years. He proudly believes that he has ADHD. As a child, Dr. Sen started by wanting to become a bus driver, changed to a doctor at an epiphanous moment, was driven to become a footballer through adolescent years, dreamt of being a rock star during medical college days till he realized that he had no talent for it, and finally reconciled to become a doctor after all. After finishing medicine from AFMC Pune, he went to NIMHANS Bangalore for an MD in Psychiatry and had a blast for the next 3 years. A longish stint in Newcastle UK made him serious about life and proud of his country. Besides growing his family, he managed to get another 2 qualifications, one of them being in child and adolescent psychiatry. Working with children, the football and rock music, dreams and aspirations, have all come together for him. Through the myriads of magical and fulfilling experiences, Dr Sen feels that he has developed empathy over the years and can connect to children and their families. In doing so, he hopes to make a difference, however little, in their lives. (Bio from Children First)

    Dr. Nithya Poornima

    Dr. Nithya Poornima is a Clinical Psychologist who completed her MPhil and Ph.D. from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, and worked for more than a decade in the same institute as a faculty.  She was a Donald Cohen Fellow from the International Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists and Allied Professionals in 2008. She has a keen interest in training mental health professionals and encouraging self-care among mental health professionals. Her work is influenced by her core professional training, creative expressive methods, and mindfulness. Her perspective often focuses on promoting mental health through the lens of early identification and intervention and her clinical work is primarily with children and adolescents.

    Dr. Jai R Ram

    Dr. Jai Ranjan Ram

    Jai is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist now working in Kolkata, India. He works from Apollo Gleneagles Hospital, Kolkata, India and is also attached Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy and Institute of Child Health, Kolkata as Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist. He received his undergraduate medical education from Kolkata and then did his postgraduate training from National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India. He worked as a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist in Wakefield, South Yorkshire, UK, after obtaining his CCST from Wessex Deanery. He wanted to be a travelling chef but chose a far less interesting career of Medicine instead. However, as a Psychiatrist with special interest in children and young people, he gets to relive the dreams and aspirations of young minds and feels blessed that he has, in his own very small way, enabled some troubled minds to gain freedom and blossom. He co-founded Mental Health Foundation, Kolkata (www.mhfkolkata.com) which focuses on providing treatment for mental illness and provides training for capacity building for organisation working on the interface of education and social care. He is a firm believer in improving access to mental health care and believes that is only possible if there is increased access to high quality training program for frontline community workers.