Nirmaljit Dhami

My journey into mental health began when I was 10 years old and I recall reading a newspaper that was almost blank (had many censored pieces). This was the 1984 Sikh Genocide. Human trauma, pain and suffering touched me and that began my journey into understanding human mind . I constantly searched for answers about human pain and suffering , I continued this search into medical school where I saw victims of rape , horrendous traumas and sickness. I completed my residency in adult psychiatry from UCSD ( UC San Diego) and worked in a Veteran’s hospital in Palo Alto in the addiction department. During my residency, I received the APA -Lilly Women Leadership Award and then I began working at El Camino Hospital. I lead a program for women with pregnancy and postpartum related mental health issues.

The program (that I still lead) started in 2008 and was the second of its kind in United States. My work involves education to both public and trained professionals about the mental health issues that women face during pregnancy and childbirth including depression, anxiety, bipolar illness, psychosis and suicide. I developed a specialized ECH MOMS scale to screen women for these conditions and have shaped the MOMS program to address these needs clinically.

The MOMS program is recognized as a novel program that has touched many lives  and was recently featured in NPR. It has inspired other programs and now El Camino Hospital will be opening a 6-bed women unit with an inpatient focus (the second of its kind in the United States). I have been involved in advocacy, design, programming of this new unit and strongly believe that it will serve an unmet need of women’s mental health awareness in our community.

I served on the board of the International Marce Society 2010-2018 which focuses on education, advocacy and research on perinatal and women mental health. I have presented my work related to diagnosis and treatment at numerous conferences. Currently I am on the steering the Committee of Marce 2020 conference and am involved in deciding themes related to trauma, role of IPV(intimate partner violence, pregnancy denial, suicide and infanticide)

I am a panel member of the California perinatal task force (CA-PMR) and reviewed all the perinatal suicides in the state of California in the past 10 years with the goal to understand these events and save women lives.

the core my work is advocacy for better screening of mental health conditions in pregnancy and postpartum at a personal, community and medicine level

On a personal side I am married and have 3 kids that keep me on my toes. I am a volunteer Sunday school teacher at San Jose Gurudwara and a member of US masters swim team.

I and my entire family are very actively involved as a Fundraiser for the El Camino YMCA annual giving campaign to raise funds for underserved kids to attend summer school