President

Professor Nalaka Mendis is the President of the National Council for Mental Health - Sahanaya.

Nalaka Mendis obtained M.B.B.S.(Ceylon) in 1971 from University of Ceylon. After training in psychiatry in Sri Lanka and in the UK he completed the MRCPsych in 1979 and was subsequently awarded the Fellowship of the College in 1987.

Since 1981 he enhanced his skills by participating in special programmes and studies overseas (USA, Japan, UK, Norway) in mental health, drug abuse, medical education, social sciences , medical ethics and health policy development. He worked at the Department of Social Medicine and Health Policy at the Harvard Medical School in 1987, Wellington Medical School New Zealand in 1989 and Department of Anthropology of the University College Hospital in London in 1994 as a Visiting Fellow.

He joined the department of Psychiatry of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo in 1974 and was appointed to the chair in 1989. At present he continues working there as a senior Professor and a senior consultant psychiatrist at the university psychiatry unit of the National Hospital Colombo is presently the Senior Professor of the Department of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Colombo.

He has been a member of many statutory bodies and other organizations including a member of the Council of University of Colombo, Board of Management of the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, National Science and technology Commission, National Dangerous Control Board, National Council for Disabilities, Director of the Development studies Institute of University of Colombo. He has been a temporary Consultant in mental health for several agencies including the WHO.

Professor Mendis took the leadership in reforming the undergraduate curriculum of the Faculty of Medicine, expanding the department of psychological medicine, making psychiatry a separate subject in the Colombo Faculty and developing the Behaviour stream of the new curriculum. As the chairman of the Research Ethics committee he reformed and expanded its activities and brought in new resources.

He was a member of the Presidential task Force in Health in 1997. Dr. Mendis was instrumental in initiating the MOMH programme of the health ministry in collaboration with Sahanaya and the World Bank. This has been a success story in providing mental health care at the secondary level.

He was the founder chairman of the South Asian forum for mental health and later the vice president of the Asian federation of Psychiatric Associations. In addition he was the regional vice president of the World Association for Psychosocial rehabilitation.

The community based mental health development was stimulated and facilitated by the establishment of the National Council for Mental Health which provided a series of mental health activities to complement the institutional services. As its founder and the present President Dr. Mendis has played a leading role in this movement. The contribution of Sahanaya towards the development of mental health has been very well acknowledged not only in Sri Lanka but also the world over. He has published several monographs and articles in addition to presentations at international conferences. A present he is involved in compiling a book on historical review of mental health since colonial times.