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Project Associate almalma008@gmail.com Back Back to People Page Back Lab Team, Doctoral Candidate Almas M Project Associate CBM, A-BIG-NET Meet Almas, a dedicated professional with a Master of Science in Molecular and Cellular Biology with a keen interest in the mysteries of cellular behavioural processes. She combines meticulous experimentation with a deep understanding of cellular dynamics to uncover insights into the intricate workings of living organisms at the microscopic level. Beyond the lab, she finds joy in expressing creativity through micron pen art, capturing the beauty of life at a cellular scale. When not immersed in research or books, Almas is a sports enthusiast, that enjoys the thrill of competition, particularly in basketball, cricket, football and Formula 1 racing.

Clinical Post Doctoral Fellow (Equivalent to Senior Resident, Psychiatry) chidatma.a@gmail.com ORCID ID: 0009-0005-1300-2317 Back Back to People Page Back Clinical Team Dr Chidatma A Clinical Post Doctoral Fellow (Equivalent to Senior Resident, Psychiatry) CBM Dr. Chidatma A is a Clinical Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Brain and Mind with an MD from Karnataka Medical College and Research Institute, ranked 4th at RGUHS. He has a strong background in community mental health, psychiatric training, and research. His work includes international presentations and published research, with a focus on neurobiology, schizophrenia, and psychopathology. Dr. Chidatma is passionate about advancing mental health care through clinical expertise and multidisciplinary collaboration.

Scientific Development & Communication Officer cbm.nimhans@gmail.com Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn ORCID ID: 0000-0001-5616-8003 Science Writing Making research inclusive: Bringing patients and the public into the fold The Great Divide: India and Mental Illness | MIND: The Gap Variations in Bipolar Disorder: Insights from and Treatment Implications in Indian Patients De-stigmatizing mental health care in India: a way forward Back Back to People Page Back Communication Team Anushka Banerjee Scientific Development & Communication Officer CBM Anushka Banerjee is a molecular biologist by training and a science communicator by choice. She holds an M.Sc. in Molecular Medicine from the Amrita Centre for Nanoscience & Molecular Medicine (ACNSMM), Kochi. She has research experience in neuroscience from the ADBS Lab (now the Rohini Nilekani Centre for Brain and Mind) at NIMHANS, Bengaluru. With over five years of experience in science communication and public engagement, Anushka works at the intersection of neuroscience, mental health, and society. Currently, she leads science communication and outreach at the Centre for Brain and Mind at NIMHANS, where she translates complex neuroscience research into meaningful and accessible content for diverse audiences. Her work includes strategic communication, programme development, public engagement, policy research, project management, fundraising, workshop facilitation, and science education. She also co-leads efforts to develop a Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) programme to strengthen meaningful collaboration between researchers, people with lived experience, and wider communities. Anushka has contributed to writing, securing, and delivering grant-funded outreach and public engagement programmes that promote non-animal research methods (CPHMS, AIC-CCBMB), strengthen mental health awareness, and support more participatory approaches to science and research engagement (CBM–NIMHANS). Her work spans educational resources and engagement initiatives across visual, audio, digital, and social media platforms. Outside work, she enjoys photography, watching Hindi films, and exploring restaurants. Projects mglnimhans.org An informal, safe and supportive outreach approach to bridge the Mental Health Gap in India | IndiaBioscience Outreach Grant With support from the IndiaBioscience Outreach Grant, we created platforms for scientists, clinicians, patients, caregivers, and general public to connect and share insights. Through awareness events, expert interviews, an art competition, and an e-book, we sparked conversations on mental health, tackled stigma, and made research more accessible. www.mglnimhans.org Coffee, Cinema and Community: Redefining Mental Health | MGL NIMHANS

Professor, Department of Psychiatry Google Scholar Back Back to People Page Back Investigator Team Dementia, Schizophrenia Dr John P John Professor, Department of Psychiatry Dr. John P. John is a Professor of Psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India. He underwent post-graduate training in Psychiatry at NIMHANS and post-doctoral training in MRI analyses at the Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA. He has been a faculty at NIMHANS since 2002. His area of clinical specialization is General Adult Psychiatry. His research interest is in linking multi-modal brain imaging techniques (sMRI, fMRI, MRS, DTI, EEG, ERP, PSG) and genomics in understanding the neurobiology of schizophrenia, dementia as well as of different cognitive states. He is the Faculty-in-Charge of the Multimodal Brain Image Analysis Laboratory (MBIAL) at the Neurobiology Research Center at NIMHANS. He is also the faculty-in-charge of the ADBS Neuroimaging Centre (ANC) and the Centre for Brain Mapping (CBM) of the Department of Psychiatry at NIMHANS. Arora, S., Praveen, A. P., Subu, O., Suhas, S., Gowda, G. S., Reddi, V. S. K., & John, J. P. (2025). Sequential ketamine infusion and electroconvulsive therapy in severe depression with psychotic symptoms and pseudo-dementia – A case report. Asian Journal of Psychiatry , 104 , 104383. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2025.104383 Arora, S., Suhas, S., Gowda, G. S., Reddi, V. S. K., & John, J. P. (2025). Avertible filicide: A call to action for early intervention and mental health support in India. Archives of Women’s Mental Health . https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-025-01559-0 Feng, Y., Chandio, B. Q., Villalon‐Reina, J. E., Thomopoulos, S. I., Nir, T. M., Benavidez, S., Laltoo, E., Chattopadhyay, T., Joshi, H., Venkatasubramanian, G., John, J. P ., Jahanshad, N., Reid, R. I., Jack, C. R., Weiner, M. W., Thompson, P. M., & for the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. (2025). Microstructural mapping of neural pathways in Alzheimer’s disease using macrostructure‐informed normative tractometry. Alzheimer’s & Dementia , 21 (1), e14371. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.14371 Malipeddi, S., Mehrotra, S., John, J. P. , & Kutty, B. M. (2024). Practice and proficiency of Isha Yoga for better mental health outcomes: Insights from a COVID-19 survey. Frontiers in Public Health , 12 , 1280859. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1280859 Villalón-Reina, J. E., Zhu, A. H., Benavidez, S., Moreau, C. A., Feng, Y., Chattopadhyay, T., Nabulsi, L., Kushan, L., John, J. P. , Joshi, H., Thomopoulos, S. I., Lawrence, K. E., Nir, T. M., Jahanshad, N., Bearden, C. E., Kia, S. M., Marquand, A. F., Thompson, P. M., & the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. (2024). Lifespan Normative Modeling of Brain Microstructure . https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.15.628527

Multi Tasking Staff ramyashreemtsnimhans@gmail.com Back Back to People Page Back Support Team Ramyashree Multi Tasking Staff CBM

Additional Professor, Department of Psychiatry urvakhsh@gmail.com LinkedIn | Google Scholar Back Back to People Page Back Co-Investigator Team Dr Urvaksh M Mehta Additional Professor, Department of Psychiatry Urvakhsh Mehta practices in Bengaluru, India. He is highly rated in 2 conditions, according to our data. His top areas of expertise are Schizophrenia, COVID-19, Bipolar Disorder (BPD), and Delirium Tremens. His clinical research consists of co-authoring 119 peer reviewed articles in the past 15 years.

Accountant rajeevbhats@gmail.com Back Back to People Page Back Admin Team Rajeev Bhat Accountant CBM

Professor, Department of Psychiatry a.shyamsundar@gmail.com Google Scholar Back Back to People Page Back Co-Investigator Team Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Dr Shyam Sundar Professor, Department of Psychiatry Dr. Shyam Sundar A is an Associate Professor in psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India. He completed his MBBS from Coimbatore Medical College, Tamil Nadu in 2002 and his postgraduate training in psychiatry at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in 2006. He worked in AIIMS, New Delhi and Christian Medical College, Vellore before joining NIMHANS as a faculty in the department of psychiatry in 2011. He has been part of the obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) clinic since then. His areas of interest include obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). He was involved in a research project on the use of rTMS for OCD. He has published in many national and international scientific journals and authored various book chapters on psychiatry. He recently completed a fellowship in bipolar disorders from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

Clinician Scientist (Equivalent to Assistant Professor) in Psychiatry drpathak13@gmail.com Back Back to People Page Back Clinical Team Dr Harsh Pathak Clinician Scientist (Equivalent to Assistant Professor) in Psychiatry CBM Harsh Pathak has completed his MD in Psychiatry and PhD in Psychiatry from NIMHANS. He works at the Centre for Brain and Mind, NIMHANS, as a clinician–researcher. His areas of interest include severe mental illness, neuroimaging and neuromodulation.

Professor, Department of Neuro Imaging & Interventional Radiology jsaini76@gmail.com LinkedIn | Google Scholar Back Back to People Page Back Co-Investigator Team Dr Jitender Saini Professor, Department of Neuro Imaging & Interventional Radiology

Senior Technical Officer - A (Hardware and Data Management) kshankarachary@gmail.com Back Back to People Page Back MRI/EEG Team K Shankarachary Senior Technical Officer - A (Hardware and Data Management) CBM

Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Centre for Integrative Medicine and Research hollabharath@gmail.com LinkedIn ORCID ID: 0000-0003-0999-1237 Back Back to People Page Back Co-Investigator Team Addiction Dr Bharath Holla Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Centre for Integrative Medicine and Research Dr. Holla is a physician-scientist (MD, PhD) involved in patient care, research and post-graduate training in psychiatry. He has a deep interest in designing novel treatment approaches for psychiatric disorders, as well as using traditional approaches (like yoga) for health and well-being After completing postgraduate residency in psychiatry, he specialised in the field of addiction psychiatry with a post-doctoral clinical fellowship at NIMHANS. His PhD work involved imaging-genomics of addiction vulnerability in adolescents. He strongly believes that future progress in neuroscience and psychiatry will stem from open-science and multi-disciplinary collaborations. Therefore, he has been actively involved in several multi-institute and multi-country population neuroscience work that have resulted in high-impact research publications and larger impacts on the community. Benegal, V., Chakrabarti, A., Holla, B. , Basu, D., Sharma, E., Purushottam, M., Mahadevan, J., Goyal, N., Nebhinani, N., Basu, A., Singh, R. L., Khanra, S., & Viswanath, B. (2024). W57. PATHWAYS TO RESILIENCE AND MENTAL-HEALTH [PARAM]: A NEURODEVELOPMENTAL COHORT FROM INDIA. European Neuropsychopharmacology , 87 , 132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2024.08.266 Bhargav, H., Raghavan, V., Rao, N. P., Gulati, K., Binumon, K. V., Anu, K. N., Ravi, S., Jasti, N., Holla, B., Varambally, S., & Ramachandran, P. (2024). Validation and efficacy of a tele-yoga intervention for improving psychological stress, mental health and sleep difficulties of stressed adults diagnosed with long COVID: A prospective, multi-center, open-label single-arm study. Frontiers in Psychology , 15 , 1436691. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1436691 Jeevan, Y., Mahadevan, J., Viswanath, B., Jain, S., Ganesh, S., Holla, B., Purushottam, M., & Shankarappa, B. (2024). F35. INVESTIGATING GENETIC RISK FOR PSYCHOSIS IN BIPOLAR DISORDER IN INDIA USING POLYGENIC SCORES. European Neuropsychopharmacology , 87 , 224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2024.08.446 Mahadevan, J., Holla, B. , Ganesh, S., Shankarappa, B., Paul, P., Sud, R., Jain, S., Purushottam, M., & Viswanath, B. (2024). W32. A GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDY OF BIPOLAR DISORDER FROM INDIA. European Neuropsychopharmacology , 87 , 118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2024.08.241 Shekar Mv, C., Bhargav, H., Holla, B., Mahadevan, J., Singh, A., Narasimha, V. L., Katla, N., Snigdha, A., S, K., & Maheswari, E. (2024). Efficacy of yoga-breath linked intervention to stop smoking (Y-BLISS) in reducing the number of cigarettes smoked per day among smokers attempting to reduce or quit: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Wellcome Open Research , 9 , 693. https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.22839.1