Dr. Vikram Patel is a distinguished psychiatrist and global leader in mental health research with a focus on low-resource settings. He currently serves as the Paul Farmer Professor and Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, a position he assumed in 2024 after previously holding the Pershing Square Professorship. Dr. Patel earned his medical degree from the University of Mumbai in 1987, followed by a Master's from the University of Oxford in 1989, and completed his PhD at the University of London in 1997 with research on mental disorders in Harare. His career has spanned prestigious institutions including the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where he co-founded the Centre for Global Mental Health, and the Public Health Foundation of India, where he serves as Co-Director of the Centre for Control of Chronic Conditions.
Dr. Patel's groundbreaking research has fundamentally transformed approaches to mental healthcare in resource-limited settings through innovative community-based interventions. His pioneering work establishing evidence-based task-sharing models has demonstrated that non-specialist healthcare workers can effectively deliver mental health services, making quality care accessible to millions who would otherwise go untreated. This paradigm-shifting approach has influenced mental health policy across dozens of low and middle-income countries and has been adopted by the World Health Organization in its global mental health action plan. His co-leadership of the landmark Lancet Commission on Global Mental Health & Sustainable Development provided a comprehensive evidence base that has catalyzed unprecedented investment in mental health systems worldwide. His transformative contributions were recognized in 2015 when TIME Magazine named him among the world's 100 most influential people.
Beyond his research contributions, Dr. Patel has been instrumental in building the global mental health community through his co-founding of Sangath, an Indian NGO recognized with the MacArthur Foundation's International Prize for Creative and Effective Institutions, and the Movement for Global Mental Health. He has served on critical advisory committees including the drafting of India's first National Mental Health Policy and the WHO High Level Independent Commission for Non-Communicable Diseases. His current work focuses on scaling mental health innovations through the Mental Health for All Lab at Harvard, which develops and implements digital solutions to extend mental health services to underserved populations. Dr. Patel continues to shape the global mental health agenda through his leadership roles in major international initiatives and his commitment to training the next generation of mental health researchers and practitioners.
