About Our Guest

Dr. Ananda Pandurangi is Director of the Schizophrenia Program and Brain Stimulation Therapy Program, Chairman and Medical Director, Division of Inpatient Psychiatry, and Vice Chair at the Department of Psychiatry at VCU. He received the MBBS degree from JIPMER, Pondicherry, India (1975) and an MD degree in Psychological Medicine (Bangalore University, India, 1978). He completed two residencies in Psychiatry, one at NIMHANS, Bangalore, India, and the second at Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse, New York. He completed a 2-year fellowship in schizophrenia research in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University in New York (1984) and is board certified in Psychiatry. His interests and work are in understanding the relation between brain and behavior in serious mental illness, medications for psychiatric disorders, and brain stimulation therapies. His work is also concerned with developing collaborations between public mental health and academic psychiatry. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and member of a number of other professional psychiatric societies, community organizations and mental health boards and advocacy groups. He currently serves as chair of the State Board of Behavior Health and Developmental Services, and is on the Governor’s Task Force on Improving Mental Health Services and Crisis Response.

Program Transcript

Jan Paynter: Hello. I’m Jan Paynter and I want to welcome you once again to our program Politics Matters. We are honored to welcome as our guest today Dr. Ananda Pandurangi, Professor of Psychiatry at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Welcome doctor.

Dr. Ananda Pandurangi: Well, thank you. Thank you. I’m really excited to be here, have this opportunity to have this conversation with you about mental health and challenges we are facing and how to go forward.

Jan Paynter: Dr. Pandurangi is Director of Schizophrenia Program and Brain Stimulation Therapy Program, Chairman and Medical Director, Division of Inpatient Psychiatry and Vice Chair for the Department of Psychiatry at VCU.

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