Dr. Gigi Gronvall the Awardee of GKII Climate & Health Breakthrough Grant

The Gupta-Klinsky India Institute is excited to announce that Dr. Gigi Gronvall, Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has been selected as the awardee of the Summer 2023 GKII Breakthrough Research Grants Program!

The Breakthrough Research Grants Program supports JHU faculty pilot projects involving interdisciplinary collaborations with India-based research institutes. This research grant will help enable an understanding of the intricacies of the Climate & Health nexus. This grant challenge awards $45,000 for 18 months.

Dr. Gronvall’s Project: Policy Actions for India-US Collaborations on Climate and Health

This project will identify areas and propose initiatives where India and the US may collaborate to advance health, mitigate, and address infectious disease risks brought on by climate change, and strengthen national ties. In this project, a research team led by Dr. Gronvall will conduct interviews of Indian and US scientists, policy experts, and government officials to identify areas of collaboration, potential areas where collaboration is already underway and could use additional support and provide an assessment of which areas may be more fruitful in the near-term. The intent of the project will be to identify policy actions that will deepen US and Indian ties to collaboratively address some of the most serious issues facing both nations.

“I am very excited to begin this GKII-sponsored project, which aims to find new opportunities for the US and India to work together to confront and mitigate infectious disease risks caused by climate change. Our team will work to identify projects already underway which could use more support, or areas where the US and India are working separately but would benefit from a joint approach,” Dr. Gronvall said. “I already direct a “track 1.5” dialogue between experts and government officials in the US and India focused on health security priorities, so this project already has a ready conduit to launch activities that not only address the technical challenges at hand but strengthen the US/India relationship so that we may work together to address future threats.”