About Me
Dr Khanna is a practicing psychiatrist and experienced leader, researcher, educator, mentor, and friend to the start-up ecosystem. His primary areas of interest are psychological trauma and digital health. In addition to several clinical qualifications, he has pursued professional development in the areas of governance, research, finance, entrepreneurship, coding, artificial intelligence, design thinking, and leadership.
Relentless learning is a central tenant to his life and he is always looking to connect with other thinkers and do-ers.
Career overview
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🎓 Graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Medicine & Surgery and Arts (Philosophy) (MBBS/BA)
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🎓 Graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Master of Psychiatry (MPsychiatry)
🥇 Bruce Singh Prize for highest GPA in cohort -
🔬 Commenced academic appointment at the University of Melbourne, now a Senior Lecturer
📜Tutoring, subject development & co-ordination, and research
💰 >$5.1 million in competitive research grants -
🩺 Completed psychiatry training at Austin Health (FRANZCP)
Continued working clinically at the Psychological Trauma Recovery Service, supporting adults experiencing trauma-related mental ill health -
🔍 Commenced PhD in digital mental health / AI (Project short title: A digital diagnostics paradigm for PTSD) at the University of Melbourne
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🌿 Entered the start-up space, completing the Open Talent Pathway at RMIT activator
⚒️ Co-founded early-stage mental health IoT start-up Thumos Health which was selected into the TRAM Track pre-accelerator
Subsequently began advising Flintworks, then MoreGoodDays and several other early stage companies through Australian Clinical Entrepreneurship Program & CICA lab -
💼 Commenced work at Phoenix Australia as Director, Innovation & Medical Governance and subsequently co-leading what became Transforming Trauma Victoria
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🌱 Commenced work as the founding Clinical Director at Transforming Trauma Victoria
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🎓 Completed the Company Directors’ Course (GAICD) at the Australian Institute of Company Directors
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💼 Commenced a fractional executive role at SANE Australia as the Chief Clinical Officer
💼 Current roles
Founding Clinical Director | Transforming Trauma Victoria at Phoenix Australia
- Co-leading the design and establishment of the world’s first jurisdiction-wide trauma service and one of the largest collaborations in healthcare in Australia. Led by Phoenix Australia, TTV represents 13 nationally and internationally recognised health services, non-profits and research institutes coming together to build something new.
- Co-designed with hundreds of trauma impacted Victorians and those that care for them, supported by experts from over 85 local and international organisations.
Chief Clinical Officer | SANE Australia
SANE is a world leader in digital psychosocial recovery programs for adults experiencing complex mental illness and trauma, as well as for their family, carers and kin.
As a fractional executive, I lead the SANE service design and development unit.
Consultant Psychiatrist | Austin Health
- Oversaw clinical care and service delivery to outpatients and inpatients at the Psychological Trauma Recovery Service.
- Revived the outpatient group treatment program for veterans and serving members.
- Implemented a novel digital measurement-based-care initiative that delivered increased efficiency and more responsive care.
- Lead advisor, digital mental health
- Supervised psychiatry trainees.
Senior Lecturer | University of Melbourne
- Several research projects
- Regular online and face to face teaching activities
- Senior lecturer since 2021, previously Honorary Fellow (2016-2021)
Strategic advisor | More Good Days
More Good Days is a VC-backed health tech start-up that helps people manage their chronic pain with digital behavioural treatments.
I support its mission to transform the lives of those suffering from chronic pain through strategic, operational and clinical advice.
Coach, Women’s Fellowship | Startmate
⌛ Recent roles
Director, Innovation & Medical Governance
- Wide ranging role focused on fostering innovation in all parts of Phoenix’s operations from research to consulting, policy, training, and practice improvement.
- Launched two new clinical services with a range of stakeholders with a digitally enabled measurement-based-care approach and close research and training interfaces, one of which won an international award in 2022.
- Provision of clinical governance support to our four clinical streams which together treated over 400 individuals across > 270 in 2021-2022
- Business development and strategy
Co-Founder | Thumos Health
Thumos Health was an early stage start-up utilising smart-home technology to improve the lives of those with a Serious Mental Illness. I was reponsible for:
- Market validation and business model development
- Product features and roadmap
- User analysis and co-development
- Academic and industry partnerships
We wound up in 2021 to pursue other opportunities for impact.
Director & Consultant Psychiatrist | Khanna Psychiatry
- Assessment and treatment services
- DVA impairment assessments
Stopped private practice 2021 after 4 years.
💵 Grants & Scholarships
| Granting body | Grant(s) |
|---|---|
| Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs | Clinical Trial Award - Research Level 2 - Funding the STOP Trial |
| National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) | Ideas Grant (2024) funding the DECODE PTSD study |
| Commonwealth Government | Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship for PhD candidates of high academic merit |
| Sir Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop Medical Research Foundation | Research Grant: A digital assessment paradigm for PTSD |
| University of Melbourne | 1. MDHS Mid-Career Seeding Ideas Grants - Funding the Memflex Trial 2. Department of Psychiatry 2024 Early- and Mid-Career Researcher Grant funding the salivary proteomics study, supported by The Henry Freeman Trust |
| Austin Medical Research Foundation | 1. Transcranial direct current stimulation for PTSD 2. Funding the Sleep apnoea in PTSD study supported by the Estate of Shirley and James Riddell |
| Victorian Government | 1. Establishment of a Statewide Trauma Service 2. The Australian United Ex-Service Association Scholarship |
| Latrobe Health Services | Seed funding to establish the Regional Psychiatry Clinic at Phoenix Australia |
| Victorian Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing | Trauma informed practice capacity building project at the Women’s Recovery Network |
🎓 Qualifications
PhD Candidate
2019 - Current @ University of Melbourne
A digital assessment paradigm for PTSD
GAICD - Company Directors Course
[2023 @ Australian Institute of Company Directors]
Intensive practical course covering the essentials of contemporary governance, including legal compliance, strategy development, risk management & effective board skills.
Specialist Certificate in Clinical Leadership
[2018 @ University of Melbourne / Melbourne Business School]
Leadership course taught by faculty from the Melbourne Business School
FRANZCP - Fellow of the Royal Australia and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists
[2017 @ RANZCP]
Specialty training in psychiatry. I also had the priviledge to serve as president of the Victorian Association of Psychiatry Trainees (2014) and as the Austin’s principal registrar during my training years.
MPsychiatry - Master of Psychiatry
[2014 @ University of Melbourne]
Awarded the Bruce Singh Prize (Highest GPA)
MBBS/BA - Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and Bachelor of Arts
[2010 @ University of Melbourne]
- M.B.B.S - Undergraduate medical qualification
- B.A. with a major in philosophy
Additional activities included serving as President of the University of Melbourne Medical Students’ Society, representing medical students on the AMA Victoria & AMSA councils as well as various faculty committees. I also co-founded the Medical Student Council of Victoria.
🥇 Awards
Sarah Haley Memorial Award for Clinical Excellence [2022]
This award is given to a clinician or group of clinicians in direct service to traumatized individuals. The 2022 award was won by a team from Phoenix Australia, led by Jane Nursey (Head of Clinical Services) for BlueHub, an innovative mental health service for police members.
Bruce Singh Prize [2014]
Awarded to the Master of Psychiatry student with the highest grade point average in the cohort
📜 Other certificates
- Human-Centred Service design [2023 @ IDEOU]
Part of IDEOU’s advanced design thinking certificate, this cohort course covered the essentials of service design including co-design best practices, design research & development of service blueprints.
- Finance for Non-financial Managers [2023 @ Melbourne Business School]
Designed for mid-to-senior managers wanting to improve knowledge of accounting. It covered the basics of evaluating investment proposals, understanding financial reports, budgeting and costing. (Credential ID: IWvqXAtlSqK6QSmz3zHgFQ)
- Open Talent Pathway [2020 @ RMIT Activator]
Competitive program for graduate research students with entrepreneurial potential. I worked in a team to develop a sports technology business from the ground up, from product, customer and market research to developing and pitching a solution.
- Tram Track Pre-accelerator [2022 @ TRAM/University of Melbourne]
Translating Research at Melbourne (TRAM)’s TRACK program is a competitive, university-based pre-accelerator focused on market validation and business-model development. Thumos was selected to participate in the 2020 cohort.
- Machine Learning [2019 @ Stanford University on Coursera]
Introductory course to Machine Learning using MATLAB (Credential ID 7TGTHJRMVYGD)
- Learn to Program: The Fundamentals [2019 @ University of Toronto on Coursera]
Introductory course to coding in Python (Credential ID TJYABSD2P8HW)
- Design and Interpretation of Clinical Trials [2018 @ Johns Hopkins University on Coursera]
The name says it all 😉 (Credential ID XFSP8RPVLWJT)
- Statistics in Medicine [2013 @ Stanford University]
Medical statistics intensive course (Credential ID c61f9e2baddd4900a65fdb81d83317ff)