Steering Committee & Core Team

Dr. Gupta is Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She is also Faculty Co-chair of the Gupta-Klinsky India Institute at Johns Hopkins University, and Professor of Infectious Diseases at the JH School of Medicine, with a joint appointment in International Health at the JH Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Sara Bennett, PhD, is an accomplished and respected figure in the field of health policy and systems research. As a Professor and Associate Chair in the International Health Department of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, she also serves as the Director of the Health Systems Program. Her areas of expertise include health workforce issues such as motivation and planning, health financing, and health markets in low- and middle-income countries. Dr. Bennett's research has had a significant impact on the development of the field, and she has made important contributions to institutional capacity development, health systems governance, and the use of evidence in policy and decision-making. Her career includes both academic and policy positions, including former Chair of Health Systems Global, editor of Health Policy and Planning, and Executive Director of the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research at the World Health Organization. Dr. Bennett's dedication to bridging the gap between academia and practice, as well as building institutional capacity for health research internationally, is evident in her strong commitment to making a real-world impact. She graduated with distinction from Oxford (MA), Cambridge (MPhil) and London School of Economics (PhD). Follow Dr. Bennett on Twitter @saracbennett for updates on her latest research and thoughts on health policy and systems.

Melody McCoy, Executive Director of the Gupta-Klinsky India Institute at Johns Hopkins University, leads the institution in its efforts to collaborate with partners in India. Based in Baltimore, she manages stakeholder engagement, strategic development and implementation, and the performance and sustainability of the institute’s projects. With more than 15 years of experience as the Vice President of Global Engagement and Communications at Jhpiego, a Johns Hopkins affiliate, McCoy has extensive knowledge in global public health. In addition, she has worked for the United States Congress and held various roles in state and local government.

Neetisha is Deputy Director for the Gupta-Klinsky India Institute at Johns Hopkins University, based out of New Delhi, India. She is responsible for developing strategy and managing operations for GKII, including external partnerships, internal liaisons, and program development. She brings her experience of working in public sector consulting and private sector operations management. As a Prime Minister’s Rural Development Fellow working for the Government of India, Neetisha has worked in various community development and citizen service delivery programs. She holds an MPA/ID degree from the Harvard Kennedy School, an MDP degree from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and a Bachelor in Technology degree from IIT Kanpur.

Dr. Agarwala studies how vulnerable populations, particularly workers, assert their rights through social movements. Her research has examined a range of working populations (including informal workers and migrant workers), workers’ identities (including class, gender, and caste), and worker industries (including construction, tobacco manufacturing, garment manufacturing, trash collection, domestic work, and agricultural labor). 

Dr. Bollinger is the Raj and Kamla Gupta Professor of Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) School of Medicine, and he holds joint appointments in International Health at the Johns Hopkins (JH) Bloomberg School of Public Health, and in Community Public Health at the JH School of Nursing. He is the Founding Director of the JH Center for Clinical Global Health Education (now CCGHE-ID), Associate Director for Medicine of the JH Center for Global Health, and serves on the Advisory Team for the Johns Hopkins Precision Medicine Center of Excellence for COVID-19. He is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in internal medicine and infectious diseases. 

Rama Chellappa, a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in electrical and computer engineering and biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University is a leading researcher in the area of artificial intelligence. His work in computer vision, pattern recognition, and machine learning have had a profound impact on areas including biometrics, smart cars, forensics, and 2D and 3D modeling of faces, objects, and terrain. His work in motion capturing and imaging shows promise for future use in health care and medicine.

Pravin Krishna is the Chung Ju Yung Distinguished Professor of International Economics and Business at Johns Hopkins University, where he is jointly appointed in the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, DC and the Department of Economics in the Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences (KSAS) in Baltimore. Professor Krishna is also Co-Chair of the Bernard L. Schwartz Globalization Initiative at Johns Hopkins SAIS and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). Professor Krishna has previously been Professor of Economics at Brown University and has also held appointments at a number of other universities, including the University of Chicago, Columbia University, Princeton University, Stanford University and INSEAD. He has served as a consultant to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Dr. Mave has more than 18 years of experience in clinical practice, education, and research in infectious diseases. Is the co-director for the Center for Infectious Diseases in India. She directs all clinical research activities for the Indo-JHU program, which conducts phase I, II, and III clinical trials of therapeutic drug interventions for HIV and co-morbid infections, including TB and hepatitis, in adults (including pregnant women) and children in Pune, India. Her research interests includes antimicrobial resistance, comorbidities (including diabetes, HIV), and the use of novel tools (Hair PK, whole genome sequencing, host biomarkers) to study TB treatment outcomes.

Dr. Prabhala's work on India focuses on banks, financial intermediaries, and corporate finance in India. His prior and ongoing research includes work on credit scoring and its adoption by Indian banks, bank runs, the use of robo-advisors for wealth management, lowering frictions in consumer credit search, retail lending under fairness criteria, the impact of regulations and government programs such as laws to strengthening creditor rights, priority sector lending programs to aid small businesses, and PMJDY, a large-scale financial inclusion program.

Dr. Parikh leads the Global Institute for Vision Equity (GIVE), an initiative that partners with high volume, social-justice driven eye care systems across India to enable equity in eye care globally through development and translation of novel solutions addressing critical needs in ophthalmology and designed for the patients, care providers, and the context of care in under-resourced settings.

Nancy Reynolds is a Professor and Associate Dean of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing; the Director of Center for Global Initiatives; Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Nursing Information, Knowledge Management; and Co-Secretary General, Global Network of the WHO Collaborating Centers of Nursing and Midwifery. She is a member of the board of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH). She is an NIH-funded researcher whose global health research in India has focused on development of interventions that use low-cost cellphone technology to bring health care services to vulnerable populations affected by HIV.

Sridevi Sarma, associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and vice dean for graduate education at the Whiting School of Engineering, develops computational, data-driven, and biological approaches to advance the knowledge and treatment of diseases of the nervous system including epilepsy, chronic pain, Parkinson’s disease, and insomnia. She also harnesses dynamical systems and control theory to understand how the brain governs complex behaviors, including motor control and decision making.

Anita Shet is a pediatrician and a public health specialist and director of the Johns Hopkins Maternal and Child Health India program that focuses on addressing health issues among women, infants and children, and strengthening public health capacity in India. Her interests span maternal and child nutrition, pediatric and adolescent HIV, dengue infections, social determinants of health, childhood immunization and vaccine-preventable diseases. Her practice areas include addressing pandemic-related disruptions of routine childhood vaccination and essential health services, and advocacy efforts to expand vaccine access in India and globally. At present, she also focuses on empowering disadvantaged children and youth to live with good health and dignity.

Dr. Solomon's work focuses on HIV, viral hepatitis and other infectious diseases across India. He currently has operations in almost 20 Indian states and partners with national and state governments as well as community-based organizations.

Dr. Wahl is an infectious disease epidemiologist with an interest in the changing epidemiology of vaccine-preventable respiratory diseases in children. He leads field studies and employs mathematical modeling to address critical questions related to vaccine program performance, optimization, and equity. He has also led several public health training and capacity development efforts with several partner organizations. He has been based in South Asia for more than a decade where he collaborates with researchers from leading institutions in the region.

Dr. David Peters, Dean of the Faculty of Health, York University, Toronto, is a founding member and former faculty co-chair of the Gupta-Klinsky India Institute at Johns Hopkins University. He studies how to strengthen health systems in low- and middle-income countries, particularly to better serve poor and vulnerable populations.

Dr. Santosham studies International Health; Epidemiologic studies of enteric infections; improved oral rehydration therapy; field testing of vaccines; h. influenzae tybe b; pneumococcal; neonatal health; Zinc supplementation; rotavirus.

Colter Billings is a Communications Specialist for Gupta-Klinsky India Institute at Johns Hopkins University and the Center for Infectious Diseases in India. He creates content and manages projects that amplify the mission and work of the GKII and CIDI. Generating and executing cross-platform communications plans, developing strategic messaging, tracking engagement and coordinating with other JHU communications teams are elements of that role.

Molly Bowen is Communications Director for Gupta-Klinsky India Institute at Johns Hopkins University, the Johns Hopkins Division of Infectious Diseases at the School of Medicine, and the Center for Infectious Diseases in India, develops communications strategy, sets goals, serves as managing editor, and oversees content development and production across platforms including website, social media, newsletter, videos, and reports. She has 20+ years of experience in infectious diseases communications.

Priyanka is a strategy consultant at the Gupta-Klinsky India Institute at Johns Hopkins University and has been directly involved with the process of designing and drafting the institute’s strategic roadmap. She also works as a Research Associate with the International Injury Research Unit at the Bloomberg School of Public Health where she is working on policy prioritization, and compliance and monitoring related research projects, primarily in the areas of injury research and rehabilitation.

As director of international programs in the Johns Hopkins University’s Office of Development and Alumni Relations, Hugh Sullivan leads the university and medical institutions’ international fundraising and external affairs. Hugh brings nearly 15 years in professional and volunteer roles related to business development and education, with over nine years at Johns Hopkins in progressive fundraising roles.