GOVERNANCE

Updated: April 2024

PRESIDENT

Dr. Geetika Dembla, a native of New Delhi, India serves as the first and current president of SCIAPA. She is double board certified in Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine and has additional fellowship training in Integrative Psychiatry. She works at Greenville Mental Health in downtown Greenville.

She is a current board member at the National Alliance of Mental Illness - NAMI of Greenville county and is also involved in the South Carolina Psychiatric Association annual meeting planning committee as well as NAMI subcommittee. She has been collaborating with the India Association of Greenville for last few years in organizing community events to raise awareness on mental health issues in the Indian community. In September of 2023, in a joint collaboration with IAG and NAMI she started an annual mental health seminar, DIYA -Discussing issues in youth and adults to raise awareness on mental health issues in the community.

She has received several awards in the past including Outstanding Senior Resident as well as the Veterans Affairs sponsored MIRECC TRIPS award during her psychiatry residency. She was honored with the Outstanding Teacher of the Year award during her time as academic faculty at Louisiana State University by the Psychiatry Residency Program.

VICE PRESIDENT

Renu Bhatia MD is a Psychiatrist who has been serving the mental health needs of the community in Greenville and surrounding areas in the state of SC since 2004. She is board certified in General Adult Psychiatry. She went to Medical school at Lady Hardinge Medical College in New Delhi, India. She moved to US in 1995.

She finished her residency training in Psychiatry at Medical College of Georgia in 2004 after which she moved to Greenville SC and worked for Greenville Mental Health Center for 14 years from 2004-2018. She has been working with Bon Secours Mercy Health behavioral health department from 2018 to present. She currently works with general adult population and manages patients who suffer from various mental health issues including Major Depression, Bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, various anxiety disorders and other comorbid mental health conditions.