People

Krishna D. Rao’s research work broadly focuses on health systems in low and middle-income countries. He is interested in finding ways to improve access to health services in resource poor areas and in the application of research methods drawn from the social sciences and economics to seek solutions to these issues. Previously, Dr. Rao has worked in Afghanistan and India. He also serves as an Assistant Editor of the International Journal for Equity in Health. Within the area of health systems, his work has largely been on three areas – human resources, health services, and health financing.

kdrao@jhu.edu

Sara Bennett has a background in politics and economics, and has a broad interest in health systems having previously studied issues in health financing, the role of the private sector, health worker motivation, changing roles of government and the impact of global health initiatives on health systems. Currently her interests lie in understanding and addressing some of the institutional challenges in promoting stronger governance for health.

sbennett@jhu.edu

Akriti has a background in health policy and management and has previously worked with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. Her work is focused on understanding primary health care in the context of low and middle-income countries. Her research uses quantitative methods to measure and evaluate primary health care performance, more specifically, quality of care and equity.

Akriti holds a PhD in Health Systems from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a Master of Public Administration from New York University.

amehta41@jhu.edu

Harsha is a Public Health professional with Post-graduation in Health Policy, Economics and Finance from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She has about four years’ experience in supporting states in program implementation and undertaking evaluations at National Health Systems Resource Centre, Delhi. She has worked in Community Processes and Comprehensive Primary Health Care division at NHSRC and was involved in developing guidelines, training modules for Ayushman Bharat- Health and Wellness Centre initiative. Her key interest areas are Health Policy and Systems Research and Primary Health Care.

hjoshi2@jhu.edu

Madhavi Misra is a public health specialist with close to 15yrs of work experience in India on health systems and maternal and child health. She has rich knowledge of India’s public health system, its challenges and the road ahead. Madhavi has previously authored a book on an interest area close to her heart – ‘Innovations in maternal health: case studies from India’ published by SAGE publishers. She has worked and contributed to the growth of some of India’s premier research and policy organization such as Public Health Foundation of India, Population Foundation of India and Oxford Policy Management Ltd. Madhavi has worked in the Ministry of Health (Govt of India) on comprehensive abortion care, and with Population Council on research on women’s groups and health interventions.

Madhavi has studied at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences where she did an MA in Social Work and then at University of Warwick where she undertook another master’s degree in public health. Madhavi is a Chevening Gurukul fellow selected by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 2017 where she did her fellowship at the University of Oxford, U.K. Madhavi is currently pursuing her Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) degree at Johns Hopkins University, USA. She is leading a large project on strengthening India’s primary health care in and is working with the Johns Hopkins University’s India office.

mmisra2@jhu.edu

Shveta Budhraja is a Grants Financial Management expert with over 21 years of experience. She has handled multiple large concurrent grants from various donors and specializes in their financial management, budgeting, audits and compliances. She has worked with Public Health Foundation of India as Grants Controller and has been an advisor to National Entrepreneurship Network, Grants Consultant to Centre for Policy Research. Travelled extensively, she has received training from multiple funding agencies including LSHTM & Oxford School of Public Health. A people’s friendly face and always ready to help the researchers and project staff with their grant budgeting & fund management related issues.

At JHIPL’s IPSI office at New Delhi, Shveta is responsible for the grant financial management and administrative work.

sbudhra1@jhu.edu

Ali Mehdi is a health policy and systems researcher with 20 years of experience involving qualitative field research in 12 countries of Asia, Africa, Europe and North America and 12 states in India. He established and led ICRIER’s Health Policy Initiative during 2014-22 and founded UHC360 in 2023 to analyze and advance health equity in India. His recent books include “Health of the Nation: Perspectives for a New India” and “A shot of justice: Priority-setting for addressing child mortality” (Oxford University Press). Ali holds a PhD in health equity policy from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany, and is a Member of the Faculty of Public Health, Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom.

Shivani Kachwaha is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Health Systems Program in the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her research interests are in health systems strengthening, maternal and child nutrition, primary healthcare, and quality of care assessment. Shivani has research experience in quantitative methods, mixed-methods, and program evaluation – she has been involved in conducting impact evaluations and large community-based trials with community health workers in India. Shivani holds a PhD in Human Nutrition from the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins University and a master’s in development studies from the Graduate Institute, Geneva.

Aboli Gore is a senior Public Health professional and brings in 35 years of experience working within the health sector. After doing her MBBS she did Post Graduation in Community Medicine. She has also done Diploma in Reproductive Health from Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Diploma in Public Health Nutrition.  She has worked with FPAI, UNICEF, JICA, FHI 360 , PwC , Care India and Jhpiego where she has been instrumental in Public Health Management while balancing the technical correctness and optimal need. She has played a pivotal role in partnering with other players to strengthen public health programming. Her career span covers designing of differential strategies for different level of health programme management. She has been on the core committees for SBA, Skills lab, NQAS at the national level.   Her core expertise is in MCH, Reproductive Health and Skill development. She is a National assessor for NQAS which is a quality assurance programme of  GoI  for public health facilities.

She is also recipient of prestigious MS Signature award for the unparallel contribution and extraordinary efforts for capacity building and training of the medical and paramedical workers in EmONC services by establishing first Skills lab in Madhya Pradesh, India

Aparajita is a public health professional with an MSc in Public Health for Development from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). She has experience working with grassroots organizations to advance primary healthcare and strengthen health systems through community linkages. Additionally, she has also worked with the National Health Authority (NHA) in the Nudge and Innovation space to improve scheme delivery as well as uptake of PMJAY and ABDM.

Her areas of interest include primary health care, health system strengthening, and decentralization of public health.