Col Rakesh Jetly, MD, FRCPC

Chief Psychiatrist, Canadian Armed Forces

Dr. Rakesh Jetly is the chief psychiatrist for the Canadian Armed Forces. He occupies various roles such as mental health advisor to the surgeon general and academic appointments at Dalhousie University (Halifax) and Ottawa. In addition, he has been selected as the inaugural chair in military mental health at the IMHR (Institute for Mental Health Research). He began his military career as a general duty medical officer and flight surgeon and deployed to the middle east and Rwanda. After his post graduate training at the University of Toronto in psychiatry he deployed twice to Kandahar, Afghanistan. Col Jetly has an interest in operational mental health with a focus on PTSD and has worked within Canada and with allies (NATO) to advance the field. Occupational and workplace mental health are also specific areas of interest. Research and academic interests are varied and include suicide prevention, nabilone as a treatment for PTSD-related nightmares, neurofeedback and pharmacogenomics. Current international collaborations include a lecture series on Morality and Mental Health as well as chairing Research Task Groups (RTG) Leveraging Technology in Mental Health and Personalized Medicine. An imminent study is one looking at the safety and efficacy of cannabis in the treatment of PTSD.