Adjunct Professor Manjula O’Connor,

Victorian Senior of the Year 2024

MBBS FRANZCP MMED DPM

Adjunct Professor Manjula Datta O’Connor is an award-winning psychiatrist in private practice. She is an author, researcher, reviewer of journals, educator, community leader, advocate, changemaker. Consultant Psychiatrist in private practice for four decades.  Manjula is a published author of highly acclaimed book Daughters of Durga.

Her clinical and research interests around  women’s mental health including family domestic violence, culturally and linguistically diverse women, anxiety, depression, complex trauma, She has  been influential in producing change in  her  profession of psychiatry, the care of migrant women, survivors of gender based violence, shone a  light on dowry abuse , led the campaign to change the Victorian Family Violence Laws to include dowry abuse in the meaning of family violence , brought innovative change in the mental health care of women suffering trauma and domestic abuse .  Manjula spearheaded the need for psychiatrist to incorporate family violence in mental health treatments within the Royal Australian College NZ college of Psychiatrists in 2022 as the Chair the first Family Violence Working Group 2014, within the College and later the Bi national group Family Violence Psychiatry Network in 2017-2025.      

She is Hon Clinical Associate Professor at the Department of Psychiatry University of Melbourne and Adjunct Professor at University of New South Wales. Manjula is invited examiner of psychiatrists and PhD students. Manjula has mentored and guided dozens of junior doctors and supervised Ph D and Masters Students She works internationally with Universities in India. She taught at DSVV University Haridwar Uttarakhand India 2005-2009. She is regular invited lecturer to institutions in India - MBCP University Lucknow, National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, Delhi India. She is invited lecturer to Melbourne University’s International Mental Health Systems Leadership program, and medical students at UNSW, Sydney.      

Having presented at UN Women in 2014, Manjula was invited to participate in study tour of UN Geneva office under the auspices of UNAA 2018. She is the invited Faculty member of International Mental Health Leadership course 2022-23 University of Melbourne and Department of Psychiatry Post Graduate training in Psychiatry. She is often invited as a keynote speaker. 

She is invited expert to the 2017 Federal Senate Hearing into dowry abuse, 2025 Victorian Parliamentary hearing into Perpetrators, advisor to a number of Government Committees, and invited expert by Victorian and NSW Coroners' Inquests around FV, mental health and cultural aspects, and suicidality.

Manjula regularly publishes her research in peer reviewed journals.