Uma Naidoo

Dr. Uma Naidoo is a Harvard-trained nutritional psychiatrist, professional chef, nutritional biologist, and international bestselling author of This is Your Brain on Food and Calm Your Mind with Food. Described by the late Michelin-starred chef David Bouley as the world’s first “triple threat” in the food and medicine space, Dr. Naidoo is a pioneer in the field of Nutritional Psychiatry and Culinary Psychiatry—an emerging discipline that integrates nutrition and cooking into mental health care.

She is the Founding Director of the first hospital-based Nutritional Psychiatry service in the United States at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), where she also serves as Director of Nutritional, Lifestyle, and Metabolic Psychiatry and Director of Nutritional Psychiatry at the MGH Academy. On faculty at Harvard Medical School, she developed the first CME certification program in Nutritional Psychiatry at an academic institution. She is now building this further to include Nutrition Courses for clinicians to fill the niche gap of nutrition education that US clinical providers need.

Cooking Show for Mental Health Professionals Nutritional Psychiatry Primer
Dr. Naidoo was named one of the Top 100 Women in Health Tech in 2024 by Parity. She serves on a national task force focused on transforming the Bronx into a certified Blue Zone community.

Recognized globally, she was the 2024 recipient of the Rundle-Lister Lectureship in Transformative Nutritional Medical Education by the University of Toronto and is a media contributor for CNBC and Harvard Health Publishing. She advises the World Economic Forum (New Frontiers of Nutrition), serves on a United Nations task force for mental health, and was appointed U.S. Ambassador for Mental Health by the UK College of Medicine, where she leads the international Food for Mood Campaign. Dr. Naidoo is also an instructor on @MasterClass. US News has featured her as America’s Nutritional Psychiatrist.

She was the first psychiatrist to be awarded the prestigious American Psychiatric Award in 2026: The Viswanathan Family Lifestyle Psychiatry and Medicine Award.

Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Today Show, Live with Kelly & Ryan, ABC, and more.