[5] Sachdev's research interests center on cognitive and psychiatric disorders; examples include late-onset schizophrenia, dementia, and Alzheimer's.
[3][12] In 2006, he became the founding chair of the neuropsychiatry section at the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, a position he held for one year.
[3][17][18][19] His involvement in so many research collectives has allowed him to take a leading role in the development and improvement of training within neuropsychiatry, including the core curriculum.
[2] According to former UNSW Vice-Chancellor Ian Jacobs, who nominated Sachdev for the Ryman Award, he has also "championed the inclusion of diversity in dementia research.
"[2] Additionally, he was a medical advisor and founding executive committee member of the Tourette Syndrome Association starting in 1989; was on the Scientific Steering Committee of the Garvan Institute's Neuroscience Institute of Schizophrenia and Allied Disorders (1996-1998); sat on the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists' Committee on Psychotropic Drugs and Other Physical Treatments (1996-1998); was a founding member (1998), president (2004-2006), executive member (2011), assistant secretary, and treasurer of the International Neuropsychiatric Association;[5][8][21][3][2] and served as vice-president of the Indo-Australasian Psychiatry Association (2005-2006).
[5] He was also a founding member and past president of the International College of Geriatric Psychopharmacology and formerly chief medical advisor to Alzheimer's Australia.
[5][2][3] He served as an international advisor to the American Neurosurgical Society's Psychosurgery Review Committee, was an advisory member of the F1000 reports board, and has sat on the editorial board of a number of journals, including the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, Acta Neuropsychiatrica, and Current Opinion in Psychiatry.