Manasi Kumar, PhD

I am a Professor at the Institute for Excellence in Health Equity and the Department of Population Health at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine.  I am a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist specializing in interpersonal psychotherapy, psychodynamic and trauma informed treatment approaches.I have extensive mental health policy and research experience in public mental health systems and translating research into policy and practice with a focus on development of public health surveillance and routine outcomes monitoring systems. My research focuses on designing and implementing public mental health interventions addressing leading causing of mental, neurological and substance use disorders amongst highly marginalized and disadvantaged populations in LMICs and provide policy informed evidence to reduce mental health treatment gap. Advancement of multilevel strategies to address socioeconomic disparities is at the center of my research efforts. I have lived and worked in many diverse cultural contexts of India, the United Kingdom, and Kenya, that have informed my professional and personal
development.  I completed my PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University College London, University of London in the UK, Masters in Theoretical Psychoanalysis from University College London, UK and a Master's in Clinical Psychology from the University of Delhi in India, and BA Honors in Clinical and Counseling Psychology in India.  I have published widely on social, environmental, economic, digital and commercial determinants of mental health with a focus on perinatal and adolescent populations. For the last 10 years, I have focused on the interface of mental health within infectious diseases management and the role of behavioral health in disease control. I am also extensively deploying mental and behavioral health strategies to address environmental degradation, pollution and climate change.