Renu Khanna brings over four decades of experience in gender equality and human rights related to health. Her multifaceted journey includes roles as a practitioner, researcher, and mentor, engaging with marginalized communities at the grassroots level, civil society organizations, and national policymakers. In 1984, she co-founded SAHAJ (Society for Health Alternatives), which initially worked with urban poor waste-picking women. Over time, SAHAJ expanded its focus to address civil and political rights issues of the urban poor, including sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Currently, SAHAJ collaborates on an intersectional SRHR program involving marginalized communities such as Dalit, Adivasi, trans women, and girls with disabilities.

Renu worked for over 18 years in a tribal district with poor development indicators. During this time, she collaborated with the Public Health Department of the Bombay Municipal Corporation. As a Co-Principal Investigator, she contributed to collaborative projects with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) and the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) Amsterdam. Currently, she serves as the Vice Chair of the Advisory Group of the ARISE Consortium led by LSTM.

Additionally, Renu taught a course on Gender, Health, and Rights at Azim Premji University (for MA Development Studies students in 2021 and 2022) and guides research for students and community-based organizations. Her active involvement in feminist and SRHR movements and coalitions within India, regionally, and globally allows her to translate grassroots lessons into potential policy measures. Over the years, she has made significant contributions to several UN organizations. Currently, she serves as a Lancet Commissioner for Gender and Global Health, a member of the Gender Advisory Panel of WHO, and a Distinguished Fellow at the George Institute, Australia.

Prabodh Nanda pursued his Master’s in Social Work (MSW) from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. He has 20 years of experience in the field of academia and community development. For the last 13 years, he has been involved in public health, particularly in Community Processes activities. He is a certified National Trainer under the National Health Mission for Community Processes activities. He has several research publications on the work of Mitanin-Community Health Workers to his credit. He is a good mentor and an excellent team leader.

Raj Kumar is a postgraduate in Rural Management with over two decades of experience working on health and nutrition issues through community empowerment. Currently, he serves as the Team Lead at Ekjut, a DASRA-Harvard Social Impact Leadership Fellow, and a member of the State Resource Group in Jharkhand under the National Health Mission. Additionally, he is a Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) Fellow. Raj Kumar has been actively involved in designing and implementing community-based and community-led programs centered around women’s groups to address health and nutritional issues. He has also co-authored several papers on the Participatory Learning and Action approach in health and nutrition. Furthermore, he contributes to capacity building for Officer Trainees at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, using various participatory tools.

Shibanand Rath has been working in the social development sector for the last 24 years, with 19 of those years spent at Ekjut. His work involves designing manuals, providing training, implementing and evaluating community mobilization initiatives through women’s groups. These initiatives, known as Participatory Learning and Action (PLA), have been pioneered by Ekjut. Their goal is to improve maternal and child health and nutrition, address gender-based violence, and enhance the overall health, nutrition, and well-being of adolescents.

Shibanand is also involved in managing creches, focusing on nutrition and early childhood stimulation. He works on scaling up creche programs through the government system in various districts in Odisha, as well as through philanthropic efforts.In addition, Shibanand has led several evaluation studies in Odisha and Jharkhand to assess the impact of Participatory Learning and Action across various themes related to maternal and child health and nutrition. His research findings have been published in high-impact, peer-reviewed journals such as The Lancet, Lancet Global Health, and BMC Public Health. Furthermore, he contributes to capacity building for Officer Trainees (IAS, IPS, IRS) at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, using various participatory tools. Shibanand holds a Master’s degree in Sociology from Central University, Hyderabad, and has a degree in International Health and Policy Evaluation from Erasmus University, The Netherlands

Shraddha Mishra (MPH, BHSc) is a researcher at the George Institute for Global Health with seven years of experience in health advocacy. She uses an intersectional lens to collaborate at the interface of health promotion, scholarship, and community action for health and social justice. Within SPHERE’s secretariat, Shraddha plays a leading role in research-advocacy activities distilling lessons from participatory efforts, and provides technical support to collaborators in Argentina, Kenya, Tunisia and Vietnam. Among Shraddha’s favourite activities are (un)learning and imagining liberated futures for all, both of which will continue to guide her praxis as an incoming MD/PhD student and future physician-scientist.

Neymat is a Research Fellow at the George Institute of Global Health, focusing on community action for health and social participation, health equity, primary health care, and women’s health. She also supports the Secretariat of Social Participation for Health, Engagement, Research and Empowerment (SPHERE), with a particular focus on projects in Kenya, Vietnam, Argentina, and Tunisia. Trained as a sociologist with a specialization in medical sociology, Neymat is currently pursuing her PhD in social anthropology at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi. Her research involves an ethnographic study of early-age hysterectomies in India. Prior to joining GIGH, Neymat has worked as an independent consultant for several organizations, including Evidence Action and SPRF India. She has also served as a teaching assistant at IIT, Delhi.

Devaki Nambiar is Program Director at the George Institute for Global Health India with appointments at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India, the University of New South Wales, Australia and the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, USA.  For two decades, she has led mixed methods research, technical assistance, training and capacity-strengthening related to health policy and systems, with an emphasis on health equity and the social determinants of health.  She has a passion for and commitment to social participation for health and is part of the Secretariat of the Social Participation for Health: Engagement Research and Empowerment (SPHERE) Consortium (www.spheretogether.org). She completed her doctorate from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2009

Alice Witt is a Research & Policy Fellow at The George Institute for Global Health, based in the UK office. Alice joined in early 2023 to work on the MESSAGE (Medical Science Sex and Gender Equity) project, an initiative to develop a UK-based policy for integrating sex and gender considerations into biomedical research.

A social scientist by background, Alice’s research interests sit at the intersection between gender and health. Prior to joining The George Institute, she worked at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where her research focused on the influence of social norms on family planning programmes and prevention of gender-based violence. She is particularly interested in how institutional norms and policies can shape women’s health and healthcare, and is passionate about translating research in this area into real-world impact.
 

Mushimiyimana Gaudence is Co-Founder Executive Director of Rwandan Organization of Women with Disabilities. She is also the Founding Managing Director of DisAlink Social Entreprise & was awarded woman of Courage/US Ambassador to Rwanda for promoting Inclusion of PWDs.

Dr Nathalie Sawadogo is a teacher-researcher and assistant professor of demography at the Institut Supérieur des Sciences de la Population (ISSP) at the Joseph Ki-Zerbo University (Burkina Faso). She is a member of the Laboratoire de Recherche Interdisciplinaire en Sciences Sociales et Santé (LARISS) at Joseph Ki-Zerbo University.

Her research interests include social inequalities in health and education, gender norms and relations. In terms of methodology, she uses both quantitative and qualitative approaches in her research, both in basic research and in the evaluation of projects and programs.

She is involved in designing and carrying out many studies on education and reproductive health in sub-Saharan Africa, and in Burkina Faso in particular. She is a member of various national and international scientific networks, including the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population and the Union on African Population Studies.

She is currently leading a mixed operational research on empowerment strategies for adolescent mothers in Burkina Faso in coordination with APHRC and the University of Malawi, as well as a qualitative research on the role of Misoprostol in improving maternal health in Burkina Faso in collaboration with Brandeis University and Cheick Anta Diop University. She is the coordinator, author, and co-author of various scientific publications on social inequalities in health and education.

Tinah P'Ochan has worked in the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights sector and mental health for over 15 years. A social worker by profession, Her strengths include advocacy, organization development and leading learning processes. A poet and ardent African feminist, Tinah believes in no9n discrimination and induction of all in social and health services to end othering. 

She lives in rural Gulu with her partner and plants. 

Dr Deepika Saluja is the Program Manager for the Ubuntu Initiative at The George Institute for Global Health.

Deepika holds a PhD in Public Health Policy from the IIM Ahmedabad, India. With an interdisciplinary background in science, management, and policy degrees, her interests span across different areas of public health including healthcare for the frontline workforce, SRH, mental health, and legislations for strengthening accountability. Deepika holds widespread experience in consulting with various national and international development sector organisations and writes extensively on her experiences. Dr Saluja is an Emerging Voice for Global Health (EV4GH 2016), co-founder and current chair of the Women in Global Health India Chapter, and a strong advocate of bringing diversity, equity and inclusion in all spaces.

Kenneth Yakubu is a Research Fellow with the Guunu-maana (Heal) Aboriginal & Torres Strait Research Program and co-Lead of The George Institute's Ubuntu Initiative (previously known as 'Initiative for Partnerships in Africa'). Through the Ubuntu Initiative, The George Institute seeks to expand the scope of its research engagement with researchers and institutions in Africa in a sustainable and people-centred way. Yakubu is passionate about research partnerships that are authentic and equity-focused. He trained as a family physician in Nigeria and practiced for four years before migrating to Australia in 2019.