Shekhar Saxena
Indian psychiatrist
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Through Delhi
Education
- MD, Psychiatry - All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, India (AIIMS)
- Medical residency - All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, India (AIIMS)
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Career
Before joining WHO in 1998 and moving to Geneva, Saxena served as a clinical psychiatrist to patients in Delhi, India. One of the organizations he worked for was the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. In 2010, he was appointed the Director of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse.
Some of his work involves the prevention and management of mental, developmental, neurological, and substance use disorders, and suicide prevention. At WHO, he also led the implementation of the organization's mental health Gap Action Programme.
On 9 May 2017, he received the 8th Annual Leon Eisenberg Award at the Harvard Faculty Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In June 2018, after 8 years, he stepped down as the Director of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse at WHO.
Personal life
Shekhar Saxena is married to Dr. Abha Saxena, Director of Global Health Ethics at the World Health Organization. She is also a medical doctor, anesthesiologist, and a bioethicist, and together they live in Geneva, Switzerland. They have two adult daughters no longer living with them.