Mambalikalathil Sarada Menon is an Indian psychiatrist, social worker and the founder of Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF), a Chennai-based non-governmental organization working for the rehabilitation of people afflicted with Schizophrenia and other mental disorders.An Avvaiyyar Award recipient, she is a former Madras Medical Service officer and the first woman psychiatrist in India. The Government of India awarded her the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1992, for her contributions to society
Sarada Menon was born in a Malayali family on 5 April 1923 as the youngest of eight children of her parents in Mangalore, a coastal town in the south Indian state of Karnataka.Her father was a judge and when he was transferred to Chennai, young Sarada moved with him for her early schooling at Good Shepherd School and later at Christ Church Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School after which she graduated from Women's Christian College. Graduating in medicine from Madras Medical College in 1951, she did her residency at Irwin Hospital, New Delhi (present-day Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital) before joining Madras Medical Service in 1951 to start her career at Pittapuram Mission Hospital, Andhra Pradesh. She simultaneously studied for the post-graduate degree of MD which she obtained in 1957.[2] Subsequently, she successfully completed the Diploma in Psychiatric Medicine, a two-year course in psychiatry, at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), thus becoming the first woman psychiatrist in India.
Menon has served as the vice-president of the Chennai chapter of the Red Cross Society and has been a member of the state government panel set up for proposing prison reforms. She is also associated with the World Fellowship for Schizophrenia and Allied Disorders (WFSAD). The Government of India awarded her the civilian honor of the Padma Bhushan in 1992. She is also a recipient of the Best Doctor Award from the Government of Tamil Nadu, Best Employer Award from the Government of India, Special Award of the International Association of Psycho-Social Rehabilitation, Boston and the For the Sake of Honour Award from the Rotary Club, Chennai. In 2016, the Government of Tamil Nadu honored her again with Avvaiyyar Award.
