
Col (Retd) Rakesh Jetly, OMM, CD, MD, FRCPC
Mental Health Scientist
Dr. Rakesh Jetly is the former Chief of Psychiatry for the Canadian Armed Forces. He occupied various roles such as mental health advisor to the Surgeon General and maintains academic appointments at Dalhousie University (Halifax) and the University of Ottawa. In addition, he has been appointed 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 her deployed twice to Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Col(ret’d) 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. Research and academic interests are varied and include suicide prevention, Nabilone as a treatment for PTSD related nightmares, Neurofeedback, pharmacogenomics and other innovations in Mental Health. Recent 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. Career achievements include being named a fellow of the CIMVHR and the American Psychiatric Association.