St. John's Medical College, India

Fellowship Site Directors: Prof Dr. Smita Neelkanth Deshpande

Site Contact: Prof Dr. Smita Neelkanth Deshpande (smitadeshp@gmail.com)

Site Specialties: Mental health, HIV, Infectious diseases, NCDs,

Site Description:

St John’s Research Institute (SJRI) (1998) is an integral research component of the St John’s National Academy of Health Sciences (SJNAHS) and the St John’s Medical College & Hospital (SJMCH) - a premier medical training, research and clinical care institution which celebrates its Diamond Jubilee in 2023. It is one of the topmost rated medical research institutions in India and keenly supports transformational research that benefits the people of India. Started in 1975, SJMCH is a tertiary level medical care centre and a premier medical training facility which offers more than 40 specialty and super-specialty services.

The St John’s Research Institute fosters and collaborates for national and international research. The SJRI is a collaborating centre for the IAEA´s Nutritional and Health-related Environmental Studies Section and the the WHO-Kangaroo Mother Care Project, a partner for the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI), Hamilton Health Sciences and McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and a Centre of Excellence for the UnitedHealth Chronic Disease Initiative and the NHLBI. Its Division of Medical Informatics aspires to drive the future of technology and innovation in healthcare and biomedical research. Its Centre for Advanced Research & Excellence in Autism and Developmental Disorders (CARE-ADD) is a multi-disciplinary research centre which aims to build autism research and care networks for the development of tools & technologies for early detection and intervention for Autism and related developmental disorders. The Child Psychiatry services at SJMCH cater to adolescent and adult people with autism, almost the only centre in the country to do so. SJNAHS has a much sought after Nursing College (operational since 1980). The SJNAHS administration is extremely supportive of mental health research. Its students include medical, paramedical, nursing, health management, and community health workers.