Leena Akhtar

Leena Akhtar

The Greater Us, Principal and Founder
Leena Akhtar

Research Interests: Trauma and PTSD; activism and clinical practice; The DSM; second wave feminism and violence against women.

Leena Akhtar completed her PhD in the History of Science at Harvard University in 2017. Prior to this, she received an MA in Cultural History from the University of London and an advanced certificate in Trauma and Violence Transdisciplinary Studies from New York University. After spending several years working in finance, she served as the Director of Exhibits and Archives at the Museum of American Finance from 2008-2011. Her scholarly interests focus on the history of medicine and mid to late 20th century psychiatry, particularly trauma psychiatry, as well as in historical and cultural changes around sexual violence and harassment and discrimination in the workplace—all of which was influenced and informed by her six years as a rape crisis counselor and emergency room advocate in Pittsburgh and New York City. Her dissertation was about the impact of Second Wave feminist activism on understandings of rape survivors, and trauma survivors more broadly, in the 1970s. In addition to teaching undergraduates at Harvard, she is the founder and principal of Boston-based consultancy The Greater Us, LLC.

Degrees:
BA., Carnegie Mellon University
MA., University of London
Adv. Cert., New York University
PhD., History of Science, Harvard University 

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