Decolonizing Mental Health:
Exploring Colonialism, Treatment, and  Trauma

Dr. Yaqub currently serves as the medical director of psychiatric acute care services within the Prtizker Department of Psychiatry at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. He is also an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, where he was voted the department teacher of the year in 2023.
He completed medical school at Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine. He then completed an adult psychiatry residency program at the Medical College of Wisconsin, followed by a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Michigan. During his training, he was the recipient of the inaugural Residence Excellence in Psychotherapy Award through Austen Riggs. He then became a fellow of the American Psychoanalytic Association and concurrently completed further training through the Adult and Child/Adolescent Advanced Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Program at the Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute.
He is involved in multiple initiatives dedicated to increasing access to mental health care for marginalized and vulnerable populations. He currently conducts forensic and diagnostic psychiatric evaluations for minors seeking asylum through the Forensic Assessment for Immigration Relief (FAIR) Clinic at Lurie Children’s Hospital. He also consults with pediatricians regarding optimizing mental health treatment for children through Lurie Children’s Hospital’s Mood, Anxiety, ADHD Collaborative Care (MAACC) clinic. He has presented regionally and nationally on various mental health topics, particularly pertaining to youth and feelings of “otherness.” He has no financial conflicts of interest to disclose.