Qualifications: MD (Ped). DCH, MNAMS (Ped)

•Fellowships: FIAP, FAMS

•Former Professor of Pediatrics & Chief of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition at Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi (India)

•Former Research Professor in International Health at Boston University School of Public Health (USA).

•Also served the World Health Organization in the Philippines and India, and the International Clinical Epidemiology Network, Philadelphia, USA.

Contributions

•Established the first Diarrhea Treatment and Training Centre in India at Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital, New Delhi.

•Course Director for several WHO-supported National and Inter-country training courses on Diarrhea Case Management for faculty members from medical colleges.

•WHO Consultant on Diarrheal Diseases and Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illness (IMNCI) to Nigeria, Maldives, Bhutan, Indonesia, and Bangladesh.

•Authored a book titled ‘Frontiers in Social Pediatrics’, for undergraduate and postgraduate students in Pediatrics and Community Medicine.

•Published more than 120 research papers on IMNCI, diarrheal diseases, breastfeeding, nutrition, and malaria in international and national journals.

•Authored more than 25 chapters in textbooks and reference books in Pediatrics and Community Medicine.

Dr. Anup Karan is currently working as an independent researcher and consultant to different national and international institutions including International Labour Organization, The World Bank, World Health Organization. He has earlier worked as Associate and Additional Professor (Health Economics) at the Public Health Foundation of India during 2010-2023 and served as faculty in other institutions in the past. Dr. Karan has Master’s degree in Economics (Ranchi University, India) and D.Phil. in Public Health (Health Economics) from the University of Oxford. He was a Takemi Fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health during 2007-08. Dr. Karan has an experience of teaching and research of more than 30 years at different institutions in India. His core area of research includes health economics, healthcare financing, financial risk protection and equity in financial burden of healthcare. In the past, he has served as Member, Expert Committee on National Minimum Wage, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India; Member Sub-Committee on Out of Pocket Expenditure in India, National Health Account 2014, National Health System Resource Centre; Member, State Health Account Technical Group, Government of Rajasthan. Dr. Karan has published three books and more than 75 research papers in different national and international journals.

Chairman, Technical Committee, Grading of Hospitals, QCI, 2023

Chairperson, HSSC, Karnataka, 2016,Founder-President (2017-23) & Patron,

AHPI, Founder-President (2012-17) & Patron,

CAHO, Founder-President (2010-21) & Patron,

ANBAI, Founder Member, VAYAH VIKAS,2021

Dr. Alexander Thomas is a distinguished healthcare leader, academic, and reformer with over four decades of dedicated service to India’s healthcare sector. He is the Founding Member and Patron of the Association of Healthcare Providers India (AHPI), the Association of National Board Accredited Institutions (ANBAI), and the Consortium of Accredited Healthcare Organizations (CAHO). He is also the Founder and Governing Board Member of Vayah Vikas and serves as Professor Emeritus at the Indian Medical Association (IMA).
Dr. Thomas has been instrumental in several landmark national reforms, including integrating healthcare communication into medical curricula, making assaults on doctors a non-bailable offence, and advocating for mandatory hospital accreditation by IRDAI. He led the expert group on medical education for India’s National Education Policy (2019) and currently chairs the Health Environment Leadership Platform (HELP).
He serves on multiple high-level committees of the Government of India, IRDAI, NHA, and QCI, and has authored several influential books on healthcare quality, lifestyle medicine, ethics, communication, climate change, and healthy ageing.

​Dr. Gayatri Menon is a sociologist who has been working on informality and migration for over three decades. Her interests lie in understanding the drivers of health outcomes across the lifecycle in Indian cities in the context of widespread informality and the rise in extreme weather conditions. She is also invested in exploring community-based, participatory health and wellbeing practices that serve marginalised populations.She received her PhD in Development Sociology from Cornell University, and has taught both in the US as well as in India. Dr. Gayatri also has extensive experience with NGOs who work on urban housing, disaster management and ecological security​​

Dr Lalit Kant, a Global Health Consultant, is an infectious disease epidemiologist. He brings more than 40 years of rich experience of applied and implementation research. He has led teams at the Indian Council of Medical Research’s headquarters office, New Delhi (1985-2011); Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, New Delhi (2011-15); Public Health Foundation of India (2015-18); Resolve to Save Lives (2018-19); and the India Tuberculosis Research Consortium (2019).
An alumnus of Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi University where he got his medical degrees (MBBS, and MD) he earned Master’s in Communicable Disease Epidemiology from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Lalit’s professional background is in public health and infectious diseases. He is passionate about infectious diseases control, and has been instrumental inter alia in setting up surveillance programmes (e.g. HIV/AIDS, influenza surveillance), strengthening of routine immunization services, introduction of new vaccines (for example Hib, rotavirus, pneumococcal, inactivated polio), coordinating integrated disease vector control; advancing research in new and emerging infectious diseases, and neglected tropical diseases.
Dr Kant serves on the Board of several Foundations/ Trusts in India. He has been part of several expert committees - both national and international, and has published extensively in peer reviewed journals.
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Dr. Manohar Agnani is a Public Health professional and retired IAS officer (Additional Secretary, MoHFW, GoI), with over 25 years of expertise in the field of Health Systems strengthening, Public Health Policy & Planning, Human Resources for Health and RMNCAH+N.

He is MBBS, from SMS Medical College, Jaipur, India (1987), and Master of International Health, from University of Copenhagen, Denmark (2004). He also has PG Diploma in Public Health Nutrition, PHFI, India (2012) & PG Diploma in Health Promotion, PHFI, India (2014).

Dr. Manohar Agnani was Nodal Officer for India’s National Covid-19 Vaccination Program for which, the Team, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India received Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration, 2022.

He has also received Distinguished Alumni Award 2023 for exceptional achievements and significant contributions, from S.M.S Medical College, (Jaipur, India).

He was Awarded for commendable achievements of Madhya Pradesh NRHM by Government of India in capacity of Mission Director, NRHM, MP.

Dr. Manohar Agnani has also served as Chairperson of the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions.

He has worked & written extensively on public health, nutrition and gender issues and has contributed to several publications and newspapers. He has authored four books, including one called Missing Girls which is about sex selective elimination of female fetuses.

Dr. Neena Valecha, clinical pharmacologist and malariologist from India is a globally recognized researcher. Dr Valecha has spent over 30 years in malaria research and clinical pharmacology. She worked as Regional Adviser, Malaria at the World Health Organization South East Asia Region (WHO SEARO) for three and a half years and in that position, she provided technical and operational support to national health authorities of countries in the Region for malaria control
Prior to that, Dr Valecha led the ICMR-National Institute of Malaria Research, as Director. She provided scientific and technical guidance in the planning, design and implementation, management of research projects to scientists. She also provided strategic guidance to the National Vector Borne Diseases Control Programme of India on various aspects of malaria control policies.
Having started her career as a scientist in the premier research organisation in India, that is ICMR, her scientific research focused on malaria treatment, antimalarial drug resistance, quality assurance of diagnostics and clinical trials including academic and regulatory trials. She has contributed to development of ethical guidelines of ICMR and also presently chairing many institutional ethics committees.
Dr Valecha played a key role in introducing artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) for treatment for malaria caused by the Plasmodium falciparum in India. She has published over 200 papers in international peer-reviewed journals (H-index:46)
She is Fellow of two science academies in India and has received several prestigious awards.
She remains committed to contribute to capacity building of both institutions and individuals, in malaria, clinical research and bioethics with focus on bringing science and evidence into health.

Dr. Nitin Nathuji Ambadekar is a senior technocrat and public health professional with over three decades of distinguished service in India’s public health system. Currently serving as Director of Health Services–I, Mumbai, Government of Maharashtra, he brings deep expertise in public health policy, health systems management, programme implementation, hospital administration, and health research. His career spans district, divisional, and state level leadership roles, providing him with a comprehensive understanding of public health governance across rural and urban contexts.
Dr. Ambadekar has played a pivotal role in planning, implementation, and supervision of major national health programmes under the National Health Mission, including maternal and child health, non-communicable diseases, disease surveillance, and procurement systems. He has overseen large-scale public health budgets and complex public–private partnership projects, while leading hospital management and supply chain systems across the state. His contributions were particularly significant during the COVID-19 pandemic, where he was actively involved in policy formulation and emergency response. An accomplished academician, Dr. Ambadekar has taught Preventive and Social Medicine in medical colleges and worked as a Surveillance Medical Officer with the World Health Organization in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. He holds a PhD in Public Health and has authored several peer-reviewed publications, analytical reports, and operational guidelines. His professional interests include health policy, leadership development, capacity building, surveillance, and implementation research. He is fluent in Marathi, Hindi, and English.
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Education

M.Sc. (Statistics) from Kanpur University;

Two-year Course in Population studies from International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai (1979-81)

Ph.D. from IIT, Mumbai (1986)

Post doc in Biostatistics and Epidemiology from Univ. of North Carolina, USA (1995-96).

Work experience

30 + years of teaching and research experience

1984-88:  DMRC-ICMR, Jodhpur

1988-92:  National Institute of Immunology (NII), Delhi

1992-2021: Dept of Biostatistics , A.I.I.M.S., Delhi.

2022 to till date: ICMR HQ, Delhi

Publications

650+ Research Publications in peer reviewed journals

Awards

Fellow of Indian Society of Medical Statistics (ISMS);

Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, UK (FRSS); 

Fellow of National Academy of Medical Sciences (FAMS)

Dr Rajgopal is a Global Health Care Leader who has led multicultural teams in improving health and wellbeing across various geographies of the world.
He is a Post Graduate in Preventive Medicine (MD), Public Health (DPH), Occupational Health (DIH) and Health & Hospital Administration (DNB)., Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Ireland (FRCP-I)., Fellow of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, United Kingdom (FFOM)., Fellow of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, Ireland (FFOM- I) a Fellow of the Indian Association of Occupational Health (FIAOH), and Indian Public Health Association (FIPHA). He has been trained through executive education courses on health management from Harvard School of Public Health.
As Vice President, Global Medical and Occupational Health of Unilever Plc, (Retired effective 1st January 2021), he was responsible for providing strategic inputs and leadership in comprehensive health care covering 150,000 employees across 100 countries globally.
He is a Certified Independent Director (from Ministry of Company Affairs), a Fellow of the Institute of Directors (India), and is currently on the Board of “HDFC Ergo General Insurance Company Limited” as well as “Zywie Ventures Private Ltd” (a subsidiary of Hindustan Unilever Limited). He also serves on the Governing Board of the National Safety Council .
Currently he is an Adjunct Faculty with the Public Health Foundation of India and is a member of the Advisory Committee for the Centre for Environmental Health at PHF.
He is the recipient of the Dr B C Roy National Award (2016) in Medicine, conferred by the Medical Council of India and bestowed by the President of India at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. He has received multiple awards from the Indian Medical Association and the Indian Association of Occupational Health.
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​Dr Rajagopal Devara is a serving IAS officer from Maharashtra Cadre & currently appointed as Principal Secretary - Reforms - Dept of Finance Govt of Maharashtra. He has firsthand experience of Rural Banking, Rural Credit, Financial Inclusion, Credit Cooperatives, Sugar, Urban Infrastructure and PPP during his 25 years stint with Government of Maharashtra.He has completed his post-graduation from JNU in International Studies and graduation in economics.He has extensive administrative experience and has also served as board member of prestigious institution like NCDC. He has also chaired NABARD technical committee for restructuring loans of sugar units following the crisis in sugar industry in 2007-08.He has driven transformation project of Cooperative Department, GoM where he implemented innovative solution based on concept of Crowd-Sourcing over Web & Mobile platform in 2012-14 which won variousnational and state level awards including prestigious Web Ratna Award. ​

Dr. Rajna Mishra is an Assistant Director, Health Systems at the Public Health Foundation of India. She holds a PhD in Population Health Sciences (1999), was the first recipient of the prestigious Dr. C. Chandrasekharan Award (1999) and Severo Ochoa Fellow - IS Global, Barcelona (2022-2023). With over 25 years of diverse experience in public health, she has worked with numerous international and national organizations, including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, USAID, DFID, and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Her expertise includes Health Systems Strengthening, Family Planning, RMNCH+A, TB, HIV, COVID-19 response, Policy Development and Advocacy, Monitoring & Evaluation of government programs (such as JSY, JSSK, PMJAY, PMMVY, ESI, AH etc.), Strategic Health Action Planning, Quality Assurance, Capacity Building and Public Health Research.
She played a key role in drafting the Health and Population Policies for the states of Uttarakhand (2002 and 2012), Jharkhand (2002), and the State Health Policy for Uttar Pradesh (2018). In 2002, she also led the health facility assessment projects in the newly formed states of Jharkhand and Uttarakhand. An accomplished researcher, she has published numerous articles in leading international and national journals and has presented her work at various professional forums. Currently, she serves as the Co-Principal Investigator and Health Systems Expert with the World Bank supported Independent Verification Agency (IVA) Project of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on India’s Enhanced Health Service Delivery Program (EHSDP) and the Transforming India’s Public Health Systems for Pandemic Preparedness Program (PHSPP) under PM-ABHIM.

​Dr. Sheetal Gandotra is interested in studying host-pathogen interaction with a focus on the crosstalk between the host and mycobacterial metabolism, especially lipid metabolism. Her major interests are Macrophage triglyceride metabolism induced by M. tuberculosis which is crucial for the innate immune response in TB. Through her study she aims to provide a link between the infection induced pathology which leads to lipid droplet accumulation and the function of lipid droplet localized proteins in enabling the pathogenic immune response.​

Sanjay Gandhi is qualified Physician and Public Health Specialist. He is Founder & Director of “4E Healthcare Solutions” focusing on improving Access to Healthcare. During his professional career span of over 33 years he was associated with Academic Institute, WHO-NPSP, PATH & GSK. His core experience is on Disease Epidemiology; Surveillance; Late-stage clinical development; New Vaccine Introductions and Designing & Implementing structured training programs. His key strengths are Scientific Engagements; Evidenced based policy making; Strategic Advocacy and Project & Program Management. He worked in multiple states of India and various countries across Asia Pacific, CIS, East and Southern Africa.

He is visiting faculty to couple of Institutes in India and have couple of publications in National and International Journals.

Dr. Sunanda is a Developmental Paediatrician in New Delhi with a special interest in Early Intervention for children with Neurodevelopmental problems.
Dr. Sunanda has been an Honorary consultant to organizations in Delhi working in the areas of Developmental Paediatrics & Child Neurology, and NGOs working with vulnerable groups, including disability in the context of Development (CBR) and Community health.

She is actively involved in research, health promotion, care provider training and community-based initiatives promoting abilities of children, through the various programmes of Centre for Applied Research and Education on Neurodevelopmental Impairments and Disability-related Health Initiatives (CARENIDHI) Delhi, which she heads.

Dr. Swati Subodh is a scientist, healthcare professional, entrepreneur, and writer with over 20 years of experience across molecular research, deep science innovation, and public health. Her work spans from bench to field—translating cutting-edge science into scalable healthcare solutions. She has contributed to peer-reviewed research, patents, and nationally significant projects supported by both government and industry.

A founder of two international organizations, Dr. Subodh also serves as Adjunct Faculty at a public health institute and holds advisory roles on national level ethics and innovation boards. A recognized science communicator, she has authored widely read articles and spoken twice at TEDx, at the United Nations, and other global platforms.

She plays a pivotal role in designing innovation-led initiatives in collaboration with government and international partners, advancing equitable, last-mile health solutions.

Dr. Vivek T. Natarajan is a Chief Scientist at the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB), New Delhi, and a Professor at the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR). He earned his Ph.D. in Signal Transduction from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in 2006. Since 2009, his laboratory at CSIR-IGIB has focused on skin biology and pigmentation, particularly on understanding cell fate decisions in the pigment cell lineage and the molecular mechanisms underlying depigmenting disorders such as vitiligo. His research integrates cell biology, genomics, and genome engineering approaches using human cell systems and zebrafish models.
Dr. Natarajan has published over 30 peer-reviewed papers in high-impact journals including PNAS, Nucleic Acids Research, Nature Chemical Biology, PLoS Biology, and EMBO Reports. He also holds four patents related to pigmentation and vitiligo therapeutics. In addition to leading several major national and collaborative research programs, he has contributed significantly to advancing molecular understanding of pigmentation, skin regeneration, and disease mechanisms. His work continues to bridge basic and translational research, offering new insights into how cell fate decisions in cells impact human health and disease
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Dr. Vinita Sharan is an accomplished medical doctor, radiologist, and public health consultant with over 20 years of international experience in breast imaging, ultrasound, CT-MRI, and public health.
She holds a Master’s in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, and board certification in Radiology from the Philippine College of Radiology. She has a strong track record in clinical radiology, academic teaching, mentoring research, digital health innovation, health program implementation, and public health consultancy. As a consultant for the World Health Organization (Southeast Asia Region Office), she worked on a regional strategic guidance document for the prevention, screening, and early detection of breast cancer. She was Associate Professor at San Beda College of Medicine, Manila. She has extensive experience in teleradiology, where she also worked on digital health platforms creating content for radiology decision support systems.
Dr. Sharan has authored the book chapter “Ethical Considerations in Public Health Research” in the Introduction to Public Health ad Research – Essential Concepts publication (Springer).
She is a recognized speaker, moderator, and Continuing Medical Education Advisor with several national and international guest faculty contributions, supporting professional capacity building and global medical collaboration.

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Associate Professor

Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh