Dr. Gertrude Seneviratne

Dr Seneviratne is a Consultant General Adult and Perinatal Psychiatrist and a Clinical Director at Maudsley Health, Abu Dhabi. She has over 30 years of experience with the NHS in England and over 25 years experience  as a consultant psychiatrist. Having trained at St Bartholomew’s medical school , she went onto train at the Maudsley and undertake her research training and subsequently worked at the Maudsley as a consultant.  She is registered with the General Medical Council (GMC, UK), the Medical Defence Union. She is a Fellow of the Royal College Psychiatrists. 

As an adult/ perinatal psychiatrist, she specialises in treating mood disorders, psychotic disorders – bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, post partum psychosis anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorders, trauma, post traumatic stress disorder, complex post traumatic stress disorder, personality disorders, pregnancy loss, tokophobia, assisted conception, and supporting women through preconception, pregnancy and the postnatal period, including looking at hormonal changes. She has led the development of services both locally and nationally and worked directly as a perinatal consultant psychiatrist at both the Mother and Baby Unit and community perinatal services at the Maudsley & Bethlem hospitals. She has worked extensively in family courts and conducting parenting assessments.  She has also been Clinical Director for Psychological Medicine at South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, leading the development of specialist mental health services , general adult /crisis services. As a general adult psychiatrist, she is able to see patients with a wide range of psychiatric and psychological conditions.  

She has held a number of national positions such as, Vice Chair Perinatal mental health NHSE England, elected Perinatal Chair of the Perinatal Faculty (2016-2020). She led the training of psychiatrists/ other disciplines and supported the expansion of perinatal mental health services.  Elected Registrar (Vice-President) of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (2020-2025), she led all areas of policy, communications and looking after the membership. She spearheaded the development of a public mental health implementation center at the Royal College of psychiatrists. She is an advisor to the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood.  In 2018, she was honored with an OBE for services to perinatal psychiatry and was awarded the President’s Medal and Honorary Fellowship from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the highest award given to a psychiatrist.  

Beyond clinical roles, she is am passionate about research, teaching, and service development and mental health policy. She has led and collaborated in numerous research projects and published extensively on topics such as psychotropic medication in pregnancy and clinical outcomes for pregnant and postnatal women and policy on mental health services. As an extensive educator, she has developed training programmes for psychiatrist and other disciplines. Continuous involvement in research has helped to improve patient outcomes through clinical, factors that aid recovery from serious mental health issues, such as the use of mother-infant video guidance.

Languages spoken : English /Sinhalese