Raj Mukatira PhD, PMHNP​-BC

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection”
—-Buddha

In the spring of 1994, I left Bangalore, India in search of a life that would challenge me intellectually and spiritually. This journey began in Honolulu, Hawaii with a master’s program in Molecular Biology followed by a doctoral degree at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN. I began my career at the National Center of Biotechnology Information (NCBI) which led me to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital where I worked as a research scientist. This allowed me to grow personally and professionally in my career as a researcher and as a clinician. During my twelve years at St. Jude, I was fortunate to work on various projects related to childhood cancer as well the analysis of the avian flu genome. The opportunities at St. Jude allowed me to be in the forefront of the research and treatment of various diseases. My work had been fascinating and exciting………

In the fall of 2011, as I celebrated a milestone birthday, I decided to embark on a journey to pursue a career that would be service-oriented and personally fulfilling. I avidly pursued pre-requisite course work, that led me to begin an accelerated BSN program at Barnes-Jewish hospital’s Goldfarb school of nursing, in St. Louis, MO. This was followed by a second master’s degree in advanced psychiatric mental health from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN. The challenging journey that provided me with varied experiences at simulation labs, hospitals and private clinics equipped me with the knowledge to care for mental health ailments in adolescents and adults.