Rakesh Jetly

Dr. Jetly is the former chief of psychiatry for the Canadian Armed Forces and retired in 2021 as a colonel after 31 years of service. He began his career as a general duty medical officer and flight surgeon deploying on missions in Rwanda and the Middle East. He spent his final 20 years as a psychiatrist deploying twice and leading mental health programs in Afghanistan. Dr. Jetly maintains academic appointments at Dalhousie University and the University of Ottawa. He is the inaugural chair of the CF Brigadier Jonathan C. Meakins CBE, RCMAC, and chair in Military Mental Health at the Royal Ottawa Hospital. During his career, Dr. Jetly has led initiatives within Canada and NATO to better understand and innovate solutions in the mental health field. He has published extensively on topics such as PTSD, suicide, leveraging technology in mental health and occupational psychiatry.