Dr. Hemavathi Shanmugam is a psychiatrist and medical lecturer at the Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Malaya. She is formally certified in transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in the USA and actively participates in global neuromodulation communities through the Clinical TMS Society and its Asian Special Interest Council (CTMSS).

She provides repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) services at University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) for psychiatric disorders, in collaboration with Prof. Mazlina Mazlan, Consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine. Her research focuses on cost-of-illness analyses and the real-world outcomes and cost-effectiveness of rTMS in the Malaysian context, supported by a BKP research grant.

She is also actively involved in undergraduate and postgraduate psychiatry education and contributes to the credentialing of neuromodulation procedures at her department. Looking ahead, Dr. Hemavathi has a growing interest in personalized, circuit-based brain stimulation protocols to advance precision psychiatry in Malaysia.