Dr Sitalakshmi Mallavalli Nanjudiah

Since 1975 she has been associated with Psychiatry. her training in two prestigious institutions (CMC Vellore and NIMHANS Bangalore) under some of the best professors in the country has given her a very strong foundation in Psychiatry and she finds it a very meaningful field of medicine. Learning has been a continuous process about people and life. Children have taught me a lot about how environmental factors affect their growth, development, and personality. Children are very insightful and must be given an opportunity to express themselves. There is a lot of work with the families in putting things together, and helping them find solutions is part of her work. Child psychiatry deals with problems faced by children, family issues, physical illness, intelligence, learning problems, emotional and behavioral problems. All these issues need to be looked into and sorted out for the child and family. For her, it is very rewarding when issues related to children are sorted out. At Kusumagiri Hospital, Kochi, she has started the child psychiatry unit in 1995, the first of its kind in Kerala. Work in autism started in 1999 with a survey; now there is an institute for autism where identification and training for children and parents take place. There is a two-year diploma course in autism spectrum disorders. she was also instrumental in settings a second unit at the Lourdes Hospital Institute for Behavioural Sciences, Kochi. she has presented several papers at professional forums, given lectures at schools, parent groups, and counsellors, and contributed to Satyadeepam weekly magazine on women and children’s issues, and other popular regional magazines.