Dr Ajay Prakash
MBBS, MD (Psychiatry), Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Women ‘s mental health (NIMHANS)
FRANZCP (Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists)
Dr Ajay Prakash is a psychiatrist with more than a decade of experience in the field of mental health. He completed MBBS from Rajarajeshwari Medical College (Bangalore) in 2011 & MD -Psychiatry from Bangalore Medical College in 2016. Following this he completed a one-year post-doctoral fellowship in Women’s mental health from NIMHANS (2016-17), Bengaluru a premier institute of mental health and neurosciences in Southeast Asia. He moved to Australia in 2019 and subsequently completed his Fellowship of Royal college of Australian & New Zealand Psychiatrists (FRANZCP) in 2023. He worked predominantly worked in Melbourne, Australia for 5 years.
Dr Prakash is compassionate medical professional, dedicated to providing excellence and attentiveness in all patient care. He believes in a holistic approach, his patient-centred style emphasises on bio- psychosocial approach. His approach entails involving families and /or carers in each step of treatment including participation in care and decision making about treatment.
He is fluent in Kannada, English, Hindi, Malayalam, Konkani and knows the basics of Tamil and Tulu.
Dr Prakash has been involved in clinical research. He has published several articles in national and international journals. He has presented in many national and international conferences. He has been involved in continuing medical education of General physicians and other clinicians on a variety of topics in psychiatry. He has experience in teaching and supervising psychiatry trainees, interns, medical officers and undergraduate medical students both in India and overseas. He continues to work as a locum psychiatrist in different regions of Australia and is part of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programme in Australia and India.
He has extensive experience in managing Mood Disorder (Bipolar, Depression), Psychotic Disorders (including Schizophrenia), Anxiety Disorders (OCD, Social Phobia, Agoraphobia, Panic Disorder, PTSD), Psychogeriatric services (Dementias) and Personality Disorders. His areas of interests are Perinatal Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Consultation Liaison Psychiatry.
Research and Publications
Published research:
• Ganjekar, S., Dcruz, M., Thippeswamy, H., Sutar, R., Prakash, A. & Chandra, P.S. (2018). Autoimmune disorders and postpartum psychosis: Case report with a comprehensive topical review. Personalised Medicine in Psychiatry.
• Ganjekar S, Prakash A, Thippeswamy H, Desai G, Chandra PS. The NIMHANS (National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences) Maternal Behaviour Scale (NIMBUS): Development and validation of a scale for assessment of maternal behaviour among mothers with postpartum severe mental illness in low resource settings. Asian Journal of Psychiatry. 2020 Jan;47:101872. DOI: 10.1016/j.ajp.2019.101872. PMID: 31760369.
Awards:
• 1st Place in Free Paper Session in KANCIPS 2014, Udupi, India on the topic ‘Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in Depressive Disorder’
• 3rd place in Poster presentation in South Zone Conference 2015, Bangalore, India for the topic ‘suicide attempts in the elderly’.
Professional Memberships
Life Member of Indian Medical Association
Fellow Royal college of Australian & New Zealand Psychiatrists (FRANZCP)