Dr. Alok Kulkarni

I am a Senior Consultant and Interventional Psychiatrist based at Hubli in Karnataka. I have trained in psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, an Institute of National Importance (INI). I have also worked as a Senior Registrar in psychiatry at NIMHANS. I am a recipient of the prestigious IMH Marshall Fellowship Award for the year 2022-23. This post-doctoral fellowship award is instituted by the Centre for Excellence in Mood Disorders at the University of British Columbia (UBC) at Vancouver, Canada. As part of this award, I have researched bipolar disorder and difficult-to-treat depression under the mentorship of Professor Lakshmi Yatham, a world authority on mood disorders. I am also a full member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists of the United Kingdom after having passed the three part exam (MRCPsych) in the first attempt with high distinction. I am currently engaged in private practice in India, and have attachments to multiple regional hospitals in the capacity of a senior consultant. I work at the Manas Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, an exclusive 40-bedded tertiary care psychiatric hospital; this is the oldest and largest privately owned psychiatric hospital in the northern part of Karnataka. My areas of clinical, academic and research interest include mood disorders, non-invasive brain stimulation and general adult psychiatry. I am well-versed in administering non-invasive brain stimulation methods, and these include electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). I have also acquired specialist expertise in the use of intravenous and oral ketamine therapy for difficult-to-treat depression. I am also a part of the team that carries out naltrexone implants at our centre for difficult-to-treat substance use disorders. I consult at the Manas Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, a state-of-the-art centre for excellence in mood disorders in India, a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country, in this niche segment. This centre delivers tertiary and quaternary care to persons with bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, substance misuse and psychosis.