Institute for Families in Society

I started my career in 2003, working as a physician at Hope Children’s Hospital, Hyderabad, India, where I treated pediatric patients with minor illnesses, acute and chronic health problems, and growth and development concerns. From 2004 until 2008, in the role of a primary care physician in various rural hospitals in India, I was responsible for managing various government initiatives like the Revised National Tuberculosis Program (RNTCP) and the Pulse Polio Program in those hospitals. My experience working at these rural hospitals afforded me an opportunity to be involved in investigating health trends and analyzing public health information, which made me realize the lack of health education, stringent health policies and public health preparedness in rural India.

To develop my expertise in a population-based approach to preventing and controlling diseases and to better understand the fundamental tools of public health policy and intervention, I came to the US to pursue an MPH degree. My work experiences during my MPH designing pathways for health ‘promotoras’ for ‘Proyekto Salud,’ a health education program for impoverished Latin mothers, and volunteering at the VIM clinic, helped me focus my career interests on health issues concerning women, children, and families. For the last 8 years, I had the opportunity to work as a Health Management Consultant with United Concordia Dental and as an MCH Epidemiologist with SCDHEC.

I am currently a Research Associate/Health Policy Analyst at IFS involved in the analysis of secondary birth outcomes data, health claims data, process and outcome evaluation of disease management programs and I work towards improving the maternal health delivery systems in SC through advocacy and research.