Vijaya L. Appareddy, M.D. 

Dr. Vijaya L. Appareddy has been appointed by President George Bush to the President's Committee on Mental Retardation (PCMR), a nineteen member advisory commission. She is the first Indian American woman to be appointed to a presidential commission in the history of the United States. Dr. Appareddy was born in India and has been living in the United States since 1983. A naturalized U.S. citizen, Dr. Appareddy has been practicing medicine in Chattanooga, TN.

            After completing her college degree from St. Francis College for Women, Hyderabad, India, Dr. Appareddy attended Osmania University Medical School, Hyderabad from which she graduated with high honors and several awards (four gold medals). She also had obstetrics and gynecology training from that university. She obtained a fellowship for child and adult training from Mount Sinai Medical School, New York, and completed her residency in Adult Psychiatry Training Program at Elmhurst General Hospital.  She was also a Chief Fellow in the Child Psychiatry Fellowship Program at Mount Sinai Hospital. She received her Board Certification in General Psychiatry and also in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

            Dr. Appareddy co-authored two textbooks, The Siblings of the Psychiatrically Disordered Child (John Wiley Publisher), and Normal Sleep in Neonates and Children (W.B. Saunders Company). She was a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Brown University Medical School, Providence, Rhode Island, and also the medical director of the residential unit of Columbia Valley Hospital, Chattanooga, TN.

            Dr. Appareddy has been involved in numerous professional and community organizations. She is presently the vice chairman, Board of Trustees of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI); was the president of Chattanooga Chapter of American Medical Women’s Association; member of International Task Force of American Medical Women’s Association; president-elect, Osmania University Medical Alumni; founder and secretary of Chattanooga Association of Physicians from India; board member of HCA Valley Psychiatric Hospital; secretary/treasurer of Chattanooga Psychiatric Network; secretary of Medical Staff, Columbia Valley Hospital; regional director of American Association of Physicians from India; member of Medico-Legal Committee of Chattanooga Hamilton County Medical Society; delegate to the Tennessee Medical Association from local medical society; and co-chairman of Women Physicians Committee of AAPI.

            Dr. Appareddy was inspired by her father Dr. Balakrishna Reddy to become a doctor. She has been married for 21 years and her husband, Ramesh, is in computer business. She has two daughters, Mayuri age 17 and Nina age 9.

            Contact address: 6918 Shallowford Road, Suite 200, Chattanooga, TN 37421. E-mail: appareddy@ramtec.com