Biography
Basant Pradhan, MD
Professor of Psychiatry
Professor of Pediatrics
Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics
Education and Training
| Medical School: | Shrirama Chandra Bhanj, Medical College, Cuttack, Odisha, India |
| Residency: | Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India, Albert Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA |
| Fellowship: | Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA |
Board Certifications
- Psychiatry
About Me
Dr. Pradhan is an academic psychiatrist, researcher, inventor, meditation practitioner and author. He currently serves as professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, and is the founding director of the Yoga and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (Y-MBCT) and the magnetic brain stimulation (TMS) treatment programs at Cooper University Health Care in Camden, NJ.
Dr. Pradhan had a few years of monastic training before he entered into an immersed career in neuropsychology and neuropsychiatry. Since 1993, his pioneering research work has revolved around cognitive neuroscience, translational research in yoga and mindfulness methods, and developing new models of treatments for adults and children. Known as the Y-MBCT models, these treatment methods are disorder-specific and are based on cutting-edge research on effective medications as well as culturally-adapted models of evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions. The Y-MBCT models combine the methodology and pragmatism of the cognitive behavioral therapy with the techniques of yoga in its entirety (all eight limbs inclusive of meditation), rather than in piecemeal, thus broadening their scope and efficacy. TIMBER© (Trauma Interventions using Mindfulness Based Extinction and Reconsolidation) is the prototype of the Y-MBCT models and is shown to change the expression of trauma memories, the core of PTSD. TIMBER© has been proven effective in the treatment of refractory PTSD, depression, traumatic psychosis and related conditions. It can also be combined with other modalities including rapidly-acting medications like low-dose ketamine.
Dr. Pradhan’s work has been awarded with grant support from the National Institute on Aging (NIA/NIH), Huntington Study Group, and the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, USA. He has received the Institutional Bronze Medal from the Prime Minister of India for scholarship, and has been listed in the registry of the prestigious “Marquis: Who’s Who in America”. Dr. Pradhan has been an invited speaker nationally and internationally, and has widely published his evidence-based research and clinical work. In addition to being a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), Dr. Pradhan serves as an executive member of the prestigious Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) and the APA’s National Caucus on Integrative Psychiatry.