Introducing Dr. Moksha Patel
Moksha Patel, MD, MBA
Unlocking OCD's Grip: My Journey Toward Taming Anxiety
Love, Anything Guest Speaker - May 4, 2026
Elizabeth and I want to thank you for being here. We would also like to thank Dr. Rachel Davis for her unwavering support, guidance, and willingness to be a connector; opening doors so that the Love Anything Photographic Exhibition and Speaker series became a reality. We also want to thank you for honoring Ryyan and for supporting what we believe, is an important mission to educate and to draw conversations about brain disorders into the open, without shame, without judgement, without stigma, and without pain.
Today is May fourth, a day that marks the two-year anniversary of our last evening with Ryyan. And the month of May, is mental health month in the U.S. So it is fitting for us to be here to address the main driver that took Ryyan from us–Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. OCD is not a joke. It is not a quirk or an endearing oddity. OCD, we have come to learn, is a brain disorder – not a mental illness. It is rooted in physiology and presents somewhere on the anxiety spectrum. OCD can be a debilitating condition. And when OCD is mixed with depression, and when it ferments undetected, and when it is inadequately managed, it could push a bright, accomplished, young man with much awaiting him, to harm himself and opt out, while surrounded by love and unconditional support.
Our response to the catastrophe of losing Ryyan was visceral. And birthing the Ryyan Chacra Foundation proved an inevitability. And as we labored to chart a way forward, the purpose of the work became evident. The Ryyan Chacra Foundation’s overarching goal is to ensure that Ryyan’s life is, and will continue to be, consequential. And this is why we are here tonight.
It was Dr. Davis who introduced us to Dr. Moksha Patel, as a unique OCD spokesperson. Dr. Patel is a member of a small group of individuals who have undergone an advanced medical intervention to manage extreme OCD. We saw, minutes into our first meeting, a young man, close in age to Ryyan, who projected a presence that channeled Ryyan’s.
We also saw an MD who understood Ryyan’s interaction with the world. Ryyan, who worked very hard to hide the complexities of his OCD, working heroically to live a “normal” life. To us, it was clear that Dr. Patel spoke the language of OCD. An ability that Ryyan, eloquent as he was, was unable to activate. We also knew that we must ask Dr. Patel to participate in this speaker series. And we are grateful he accepted.
We wanted this series to unfold in four acts. We wanted to open with framing what OCD is, follow with what living with extreme OCD means, transition to enabling a better understanding of how to detect, and manage anxiety, perfectionism, and OCD, and conclude with forging hope out of adversity and loss.
The series’ conception is premised on the critical importance, of making it possible to talk openly, about brain disorders. And in so doing, reduce the stigma associated with all aspects of brain health, and help young people, especially men, to open up. Our intent is to make sure that this burgeoning relationship with the CU Anschutz OCD Program is sustained.
We hope, through your support, expressed tonight by your presence, that the Foundation will actualize its goals of expanding the space for constructive conversations, to increase awareness, change language, brighten outlooks, and ease access to care, qualified and informed, by research. All guided by Ryyan’s light, and in his name. Thank you again for choosing to be here this evening.
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Moksha Patel.
Elizabeth Metz and Tarek Chacra
