Salman Akhtar is a psychoanalyst who also holds a professorship at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.

He was educated at Colvin Taluqdars' College

Colvin Taluqdars' College

Colvin Taluqdars' College in Lucknow is one of the oldest public schools in India.-History:Sir Auckland Colvin, Lieutenant Governor of the North West Provinces, while functioning as Lieutenant Governor of Avadh and Agra in 1889, conceived the idea of a school with the object of imparting education...

 in Lucknow

Lucknow

Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....

 and Aligarh Muslim University

Aligarh Muslim University

Aligarh Muslim University ,is a residential academic university, established in 1875 by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan as Mohammedan Angelo-Oriental College and later granted the status of Central University by an Act of the Indian Parliament in 1920...

 before moving to Chandigarh

Chandigarh

Chandigarh is a union territory of India that serves as the capital of two states, Haryana and Punjab. The name Chandigarh translates as "The Fort of Chandi". The name is from an ancient temple called Chandi Mandir, devoted to the Hindu goddess Chandi, in the city...

 where he completed his training in psychiatry

Psychiatry

Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...

. In 1973, he left for the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and trained in psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...

.

Akhtar is also a poet and published author; he has published six volumes of poetry in English and Urdu and authored or edited more than 30 books on diverse topics in psychology, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis. As a public speaker he has addressed audiences at Harvard, Yale, Brown, Emory, and other universities as well as the United Nations.

He is the son of the renowned Urdu

Urdu

Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

 poet Jan Nisar Akhtar

Jan Nisar Akhtar

Jan Nisar Akhtar was an important 20th century Indian poet of Urdu ghazals and nazms, and a part of the Progressive Writers' Movement, who was also a lyricist for Bollywood....

, brother of lyricist Javed Akhtar

Javed Akhtar

Javed Akhtar is a poet, lyricist and scriptwriter from India. Some of his most successful work was done in the late 1970s and 1980s with Salim Khan as half of the script-writing duo credited as Salim-Javed...

, uncle of Bollywood directors Zoya Akhtar

Zoya Akhtar

Zoya Akhtar is a contemporary Indian film director. She made her debut as director with critically acclaimed Luck By Chance.-Personal life:Zoya Akhtar was born on January 9, 1974 in Bombay...

 and Farhan Akhtar

Farhan Akhtar

Farhan Akhtar is an Indian filmmaker, script writer, actor, playback singer, lyricist, film producer in Hindi cinema and a television host.His directorial debut Dil Chahta Hai won a National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi...

, and father of Kabir and Nishat Akhtar.