May 7, 2019

Panelist: Mego Lien, MPH, MIA

As Suicide Prevention Manager of the Santa Clara County Behavioral Health Services Department in California, Mego Lien manages public health efforts to prevent suicide across the county, which includes Silicon Valley and the city of San Jose. Previously, Mego was Associate Program Manager of Injury and Trauma Prevention at Prevention Institute, a national public health non-profit that advocates for primary prevention and community wellbeing. She has worked as a suicide crisis line volunteer and volunteer recruiter in New York City, and she currently volunteers as a crisis line and in-person advocate for sexual assault survivors in San Mateo County, CA.

Mego's additional experience, in global health, includes managing national public education and policy advocacy programs in Southeast Asia, focusing on tobacco control and road safety, with the non-governmental organization Vital Strategies. She has also worked on gender-based violence prevention with the United Nations Development Programme in Thailand, and on health systems-strengthening with The Earth Institute in New York City, supporting the federal government of Nigeria.

Mego began her career as a journalist, primarily covering women’s health for magazines in the U.S. She holds dual Masters of Public Health and International Relations from Columbia University and a Bachelors in Psychology and Education from Swarthmore College. Mego grew up in Taipei, Taiwan and is proficient in Mandarin and French.

Panelist: Sukhraj Sohal

Sukhraj Sohal is a Biology teacher at Homestead High School in Cupertino, CA. As a pre-med student at UCLA, stress and mental health were constant topics arising in the student body. Having dealt with several suicides throughout his schooling career and again as a teacher, Sukhraj sees conscious career-choice and parenting as avenues to address the mental health issues surfacing today. In addition to serving as a high school teacher, Sukhraj is a certified Meditation Teacher and Coach, helping people resolve their problems and find peace. He currently lives in San Jose with his wife and puppy.

Panelist: Dr. Sangeeta Dey

She is a pediatric neuropsychologist with a private practice based in SFO and Palo Alto, who has been practicing for almost 15 years. She specializes in the evaluation of children with learning disabilities, attention/executive function deficits and primary neurological/developmental disorders. She also provides consultation to allied professionals, such as a teachers, pediatricians, and attorneys. Additionally, she makes presentations to groups of parents on the topics of learning disabilities. Dr. Dey has served on the board of multiple schools and organizations helping with advocacy efforts for children.

Dr. Dey came to US from India to pursue graduate studies in organic chemistry. However, taking a class in clinical psychology changed the course of her career. Given her background in pure sciences and an intense interest in brain and behavior relationship, she completed her Doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis on Neuropsychology. Around this time, she also developed a special affinity for working with children described as “untestable” due to significant behavioral problems. Dr. Dey completed a 2-year post-doctoral fellowship in Boston working with children with a range of learning and developmental issues. Over the years of working with children and families, she has helped advocate for children through participation in team meetings, mediations and hearings. Due to Dr. Dey’s specialization in early diagnosis of Autism, she served as a part of Committee of Professionals charged with updating “technical assistance advisory” for education of children with Autism, as defined by the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

Outside her clinical work, Dr. Dey is a landscape photographer. Her photography work has received numerous awards and has been published extensively worldwide in a large variety of media including National Geographic. Additionally, her photographs are licensed and used by prominent television channels across the world. Using her clinical knowledge, she is in the process of developing a module that would teach photography to children with language-based learning difficulties.