Vikram Patel

Vikram Patel is the Paul Farmer Professor and Chair of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS), heading the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine. He also holds a professorship in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. His research focuses on mental health burden across the life course, its links to social disadvantage, and community-based interventions for prevention and treatment. Patel co-leads the Mental Health for All lab and the GlobalMentalHealth@Harvard initiative.

He co-founded the Movement for Global Mental Health, Sangath (an Indian NGO), and the Centre for Global Mental Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He has served on critical committees, including India’s first National Mental Health Policy drafting committee and the WHO High-Level Commission on Non-Communicable Diseases. Patel chairs the Lancet Citizens Commission on Reimagining India’s Health System and co-led landmark Lancet Commissions on Global Mental Health and Sustainable Development, and on Depression.

Patel is a Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and a member of the US National Academy of Medicine. His honors include honorary professorships at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and multiple prestigious awards, including the TIME 100 list recognition in 2015.