Dr Lakshmi Vijayakumar, is the founder of SNEHA, an NGO in Chennai for the prevention of suicide. She is the Head, Department of Psychiatry, Voluntary Health Services, Adyar, Chennai. She is a member of the WHO’s International Network for Suicide Research and Prevention. She is an Honorary Associate Professor in the University of Melbourne, Australia. She was the Vice President of the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) for four years and was awarded the Ringel Service award. She has been conferred Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (FRCPsych), UK and FRCP (EDIN) for her work on suicide prevention.
She was one of the editors of the WHO’s report ‘Preventing Suicide — A global imperative’ published in 2014. She has published widely in peer-reviewed journals, has authored several chapters, and has edited two books. She has received numerous awards in India such as ‘For The Sake Of Honour’, Bharathi Virudu, Women Doctor of the year etc. She has actively worked for decriminalisation of suicide, media guidelines for reporting of suicide and developing a national suicide prevention strategy for India. Her area of interest and expertise includes developing cost effective community intervention to prevent suicide.
