About me
I am a final year Ph.D. candidate in Health Policy with an emphasis in Population Health Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley.
My dissertation is focused on understanding the pathways between gender norms, women’s empowerment, and their impact on women’s health and well-being in South Asia.
My research interests lie in investigating the social, cultural, and economic factors that underpin gender inequality such as inequitable gender norms and violence against women, girls, and children, and understanding the pathways through which gender inequities and low empowerment of women manifest in adverse physical and mental health outcomes among women and adolescents in South Asia. I also aim to conduct experimental research that tests gender-transformative, rights-based, community-level socio-behavioral intervention involving community members, recently married women, their husbands, and mothers-in-law to improve health outcomes for young women through their life course. I also plan to use implementation science tools to scale up interventions that work and engage policymakers to advocate for evidence-based policy.
I have 14 years of relevant work experience in public health and social determinants of health including education, gender, and nutrition in nonprofit and private sector organizations with funding agencies including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (formerly DFID), UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank, and private sector foundations. I also hold a Master of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a Fulbright Scholarship and a Master of Science in Information Systems from the London School of Economics.