Field of Study USA: Public Health

Siddhi Deshpande

Ms. Siddhi Deshpande is a graduate of The Pennsylvania State University Schreyer Honors College, where she majored in Neurobiology with minors in Global Health and World Literature. In her time at Penn State, she pursued a variety of interests in public health and medicine. She completed an honors thesis in the Water, Health, and Nutrition lab, titled “Examining Water Insecurity as a Driver of Nutrition Transition Among Tsimane’ Adults in Lowland Bolivia”. Through this thesis, she found that water insecurity was associated with increased consumption of sugary beverages among Tsimane’ in Amazonion Bolivia. Furthermore, the level of market integration also played a role in probability of sugary beverage consumption. Her research in water insecurity, nutrition, and health in a global health setting sparked her interest in conducting similar research in India, which is the reason she applied to the Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship! Besides her research, Ms. Deshpande also took a broader interest in environmental health. She co-founded and co-led an organization called Sunrise Movement State College, where she worked with her community to organize local climate demonstrations, advocated for climate justice measures, and campaigned for divestment from the fossil fuel industry. She believes that community-wide advocacy and the will to confront the reality of climate change will help achieve climate justice in our communities.

After completion of the Fulbright-Nehru project, Ms. Deshpande plans to attend medical school and attain a dual MD/MPH degree. In university, Ms. Deshpande worked as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), where she treated 100+ patients on a 911 ambulance service. Enjoying the work of treating patients but also hoping to serve her community on a larger scale, Ms. Deshpande hopes to combine an education in medicine and public health to serve as a physician who advocates for her community and works towards climate justice. She envisions herself conducting environmental health research and influencing policy alongside her responsibilities in clinical medicine.

In India, growing rates of obesity, insulin resistance and cardiometabolic disease are present alongside malnutrition and hunger across India. Climate change has been understudied in connection to this nutrition transition, despite increased drought across India and a rapid demographic change as a result. Food insecurity is an important mechanism of the consequent public health impacts; Ms. Deshpande plans to investigate how declining agricultural productivity, driven by climate change, causes nutrition transition from undernutrition to obesity among the rural poor. Ms. Deshpande is studying under Dr. Angeline Jeyakumar at Savitraibai Phule Pune University, where she is conducting research in Pune and Latur.

Anna Correa

Ms. Anna Correa is a recent graduate of the University of Iowa College of Public Health where she received a Masters of Public Health in Community and Behavioral Health. She previously completed bachelor’s degrees in public health and international relations (transnational issues emphasis) at the University of Iowa. Ms. Correa’s educational background includes work in migration, qualitative research methods, and community-engaged public health. During her time in college, Ms. Correa worked for the University of Iowa Prevention Research Center for Rural Health where she assisted in the implementation of a community-based physical activity program. She is the Principal Investigator for a research study examining the impact of COVID-19 on student resident assistants in university dorms.

Outside of academics, Ms. Correa was deeply involved in her community, serving as the President for Iowa Agni South Asian A Cappella group, Co-Chair of the University Lecture Committee, and member of many additional groups. In 2021, Ms. Correa began studying Hindi through the Critical Language Scholarship and will continue her studies in 2022 with the Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship.

Ms. Correa loves people, and she tries to get to know everyone she can. She looks forward to her time in Bangalore and hopes to meet many new friends in her time there.

As Bangalore continues to grow, the migrant population increases but the support for migrant laborer well-being has not kept pace. Ms. Correa, as part of her Fulbright-Nehru project, aims to conduct qualitative research with three unique migrant groups: i) construction workers, ii) artisans, and iii) information technology employees. In doing so, Ms. Correa hopes to better understand the needs of migrant laborers in the city and build relationships between researchers at St. John’s and members of the migrant worker community.

Mondira Ray

Dr. Mondira Ray is a pediatrician and aspiring health informatician. After studying economics and religion at Swarthmore College, her fascination with human behavior and societal structures culminated in a career path to medicine. She completed the pre-medical requirements at Bryn Mawr College’s Postbaccalaureate Pre-Medical Program, received her Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree from the University of Pittsburgh, and recently graduated from pediatric residency at the University of Washington in 2022. Through several prestigious research training awards, she has developed expertise in computational biology and data science, and is passionate about improving the accessibility and usability of health data to improve the health of children, particularly in marginalized communities. After her Fulbright-Nehru project, she plans to attend a fellowship in Clinical Informatics.

Although India has made progress in improving its staggering rates of maternal and child mortality and morbidity, wide regional variation remains. Key to addressing these disparities is the digitalization of health records. At this time, only a fraction of primary care centers in India uses an electronic health record (EHR). The primary aims of Dr. Ray’s Fulbright-Nehru project are to support the continued evolution of EHR and to develop a resource to help community health organizations adopt their own EHR platform.

Joshua Rosenthal

Dr. Joshua Rosenthal is a senior scientist at the Fogarty International Center of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). He is an ecologist with a long-standing interest in the integration of public health, environment, and international development. Dr. Rosenthal completed his PhD and postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley. He completed an AAAS Science and Diplomacy Fellowship at the NIH, was a Senior Fulbright Fellow at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and has been awarded three NIH Director’s Awards for work across the agency in support of public health and environment. Dr. Rosenthal has developed and led numerous programs at the NIH in environment and health research, as well as in capacity building in low- and middle-income countries, including the International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups; the International Training and Research in Environmental and Occupational Health; Ecology of Infectious Diseases; Global Environmental and Occupational Health Research Hubs; the Household Air Pollution Intervention Network; and the Clean Cooking Implementation Science Network. Presently, Dr. Rosenthal co-chairs the NIH Working Group on Climate Change and Health. His current work is substantially focused on climate change and health, and on interventions to reduce exposure to household air pollution. Dr. Rosenthal’s research- and policy-related publications can be found at: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=BztHZSIAAAAJ

While the health consequences of climate change are becoming apparent around the world, the relevant agencies are woefully underprepared to address them. From trauma, injury, and deaths resulting from extreme weather events, to increased rates of infectious diseases, chronic respiratory and mental health conditions, the world is facing profound threats to the gains in public health that have been made over the past decades. For his Fulbright-Kalam fellowship, Dr. Rosenthal is working with Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research (SRIHER) in Chennai and other Indian institutions to develop a new master’s in public health (MPH) curriculum in the field of climate change and health.

Karl Krup

Dr. Karl Krupp, MSc, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Public Health Practice, Policy, and Translational Research in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona, Phoenix. He has been involved in implementation of public health interventions and research among at-risk disadvantaged communities in the U.S. and India since 2002. His earliest work focused on childhood asthma among African Americans living in public housing in Bayview– Hunters Point, San Francisco, and farmworkers in Central Valley, California. For the last 18 years, he has been working in India on the social determinants of health among rural and slum-dwelling populations. His research on HIV prevention, maternal health, primary and secondary prevention of cervical cancer, mental health, vaccine hesitancy, cardiovascular disease, and aging has been documented in more than 84 peer-reviewed publications like MMWR, AIDS, BMJ, Vaccine, International Journal of Cardiology, and Journal of Medical Microbiology.

Dr. Krupp holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Minnesota, a master’s degree in public health from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine at London University, and a PhD in public health from Florida International University in Miami. His dissertation research was titled “Prevalence and Correlates of Coronary Heart Disease in Slum-Dwelling South Indian Women”. The research was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the Fogarty International Center through a Global Health Equity Scholar Fellowship. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020, Dr. Krupp has been working on the psychological antecedents of COVID-19 vaccine intentions among adults in Arizona, the validation of microRNA panels for detection of breast cancer and cervical cancer in blood, and on the interventions to reduce symptoms of dementia in mildly cognitively impaired older adults.

By 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population will reside in cities where more than one in 10 residents are elderly. The WHO has called for age-friendly cities where older people can “age actively” with security, good health, and full social participation. Dr. Krupp’s Fulbright study is using mixed methods for a policy analysis to examine aging programs, built environment, and policies in Mysuru, India, and Stockholm, Sweden. The research is gathering data from key stakeholders, including city planners, service providers, and civil society leaders.

Abhiyudh Rajput

Abhiyudh Rajput (they/them/theirs) holds a BS in environmental health and a BA in cultural anthropology from the University of Rochester. Professionally, they are experienced in clinical, qualitative, and wet-lab research, with a paper published on a potential therapy for diabetes. Studying a medical treatment led Abhiyudh toward the path of preventive health as they felt they could have a greater impact on creating conditions that prevent diseases. This realization, combined with their fields of discipline, led Abhiyudh to study urban planning as they began to realize how much of one’s health is determined by the design and layout of their city; for example, street design dictating whether one walks or drives, thus impacting exercise levels, mental health, and likelihood of injury.

Abhiyudh’s interest in India stems from their heritage as well as their exploration of cultural phenomena such as nation-building, caste, and personhood through their anthropology degree. This degree coursework culminated in a senior project that explored how Indian films create a collective narrative around the communal unrest caused by the Partition. They hope to apply this appreciation for human subjectivity and cultural forces in their personal and professional life. Beyond critically exploring their culture, Abhiyudh has engaged with India through their involvement with the community-based health organization SOVA in Odisha. During their four years as an undergraduate, they developed a strong relationship with the SOVA community and assisted with fund-raising for programs such as adolescent reproductive health education and computer literacy.

Aside from academics, Abhiyudh is interested in music, films, and photography. In their free time, they enjoy being creative, making mashups of songs, taking photographs of streetscapes and friends, and concocting recipes that blend cultures. They enjoy exploring cities, both familiar and unfamiliar, eating their way through New York City’s Chinatown or taking a solo trip to Mexico City to practice Spanish.

Abhiyudh’s Fulbright-Nehru project is studying the impact of increasingly automobile-centric built environments in Delhi on the safety of pedestrians and the subjective impacts on their mobility. In this context, 50 pairs of roadways are being analyzed via a matched case-control study design, measuring quantitative and qualitative data related to pedestrian safety and comparing it to the actual historical safety of these roadways. Overall, this project seeks to understand what can make Delhi’s roadways safer for its most vulnerable users and how can future pedestrian deaths and injuries be prevented.

Clara Navarro

Originally from Austin, Texas, Clara Navarro is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy. At the academy, Clara majored in Chinese and researched in the anthropology department where she published on the subject of gender relations in the military.

Upon graduation, Clara served in the United States Navy aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln where she was the deputy public affairs officer and principal assistant of the Media Department. Along with the crew, she completed a record-breaking around-the-world deployment from Norfolk, Virginia, to San Diego, California. Returning to land, she worked for two years as the media officer for the Europe, Africa, Central Navy Region headquarters in Naples, Italy. In this role, she coordinated communication between eight naval bases and seven host-nation embassies.

Honorably discharged from the Navy in 2022, Clara then earned a post-baccalaureate, pre-medical certificate at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., fulfilling the course requirements to apply to medical school. She is currently applying to medical schools across America.

Working with India’s National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Clara’s Fulbright-Nehru project is researching integrative mental healthcare services in the South Indian state of Karnataka. In a three-phase approach, her project is being executed first through archival research and clinical observation, then via interviews with practitioners and patients, and lastly, by reflection and synthesis. She is also assessing the hybrid practice of Ayurveda and allopathic mental healthcare that is growing in prevalence in India by focusing on both its successes and limitations, as well as on its impact on the community.

Ribhav Gupta

Ribhav Gupta is a medical student (MD) at the University of Minnesota and is currently on leave from his final year due to research affiliations with Stanford, UCSF, and Yale. He received both his bachelor’s degree (with honors) in biomechanical engineering and master’s degree in infectious disease epidemiology from Stanford University. Ribhav’s areas of research bridges machine learning, public policy, and public health to model global health policy decisions for equitable infectious disease care.

His work has been funded by the Gates Foundation and the WHO. Notably, his work on modeling optimal pediatric typhoid vaccination guidelines informed new global standards and his early work characterizing Covid-19 epidemiology garnered national attention and has been cited hundreds of times. His research has yielded textbook chapters and over a dozen peer-reviewed articles published across highly regarded journals, including The Lancet.

Presently, Ribhav is focused on studying Covid-19 and other infectious diseases transmitting amongst detained migrant populations. He is also part of multiple national research teams that advises on hepatitis A vaccination guidelines. With a passion for health policy, he is in multiple state advisory bodies, including those for firearm safety and suicide prevention and for obstetrics and family planning for arriving refugees.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Ribhav served as an epidemiologist at the UN and across multiple municipal government agencies. Additionally, he advised the development of a Covid-19 model for the incarcerated populations adopted by 49 states amidst the pandemic. Beyond research, being a former Biodesign NEXT Fellow, he has an interest in med-tech innovation.

When outside the hospital, Ribhav can be found exploring outdoor trails on runs; rock climbing; venturing to new cafes; and experiencing what cities have to offer.

Ribhav’s ultimate aspiration is to pursue a career in academic medicine and global health diplomacy to promote equity and quality of care for marginalized populations.

In 2021 alone, nearly 11 million people were diagnosed with TB, with one in four of them living in India. Despite progress, difficulties in detecting drug resistance have limited the impact of interventions, with one in five of them now resistant to first-line antibiotics. As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar, Ribhav is computationally modeling cost-effective health policies to reduce TB transmission and resultant mortality using a novel, point-of-care multi-drug-resistance diagnostic platform developed at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. His work has direct tuberculosis policy applications within India and can inform global changes.

Baldeep Dhaliwal

Baldeep Dhaliwal is currently pursuing her PhD in international health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH). She received her MSPH in health policy and management from JHSPH and her BS in cognitive science-neuroscience from the University of California, San Diego.

After receiving her MSPH, Baldeep pursued a career in healthcare consulting in Washington, D.C. As a healthcare consultant, she focused on the implementation of the Affordable Care Act at the state health exchange level. Baldeep then went on to pursue a research career at the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) where she focused on utilizing qualitative research skills and community-based participatory research methods to better understand vaccine acceptance, and lead vaccine advocacy efforts at the community, institution, and policy levels. Her work also dealt with understanding multi-level perceptions that impact vaccine-seeking behavior while simultaneously supporting policy change to improve vaccine coverage.

Baldeep has nine peer-reviewed articles to her credit and has written several academic commentaries and op-eds for journals and health blogs. As a doctoral researcher, she is focusing extensively on vaccine advocacy; she is also interested in understanding health delivery in marginalized urban populations – how urban populations access care and the role that frontline health workers in low- and middle-income countries play or do not play in delivering primary care.

The Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) program was established in India in 2005 to connect rural populations to health services. To further strengthen health delivery, the ASHA program was implemented in urban communities in 2014. The urban ASHA program’s impacts on communities are unclear, as there is a significant literature gap. Baldeep’s Fulbright-Nehru project is using qualitative research methods to facilitate a rich understanding of urban ASHA workers. She feels that as India is presently strengthening its health delivery in urban areas, particularly through the development of comprehensive urban primary health centers, it is essential to have a better grasp on the urban ASHA program.

Lainie Beauchemin

Lainie Beauchemin earned a BS in biological engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where she researched the molecular underpinnings of schizophrenia and other neurological diseases through the Broad Institute. During her time at MIT, Lainie was co-president of a math mentorship program for underserved middle school girls in the Cambridge/Boston area, and worked in various roles for The Educational Justice Institute, including teaching Python to incarcerated women. She was also chair of the MIT Shakespeare ensemble as well as an actress, producer, and designer for multiple productions. Since her graduation, Lainie has been researching chronic lung diseases. She plans to pursue a PhD in biomedical engineering and hopes to work on expanding healthcare access globally.

Lainie’s Fulbright-Nehru project is focusing on broadening neurological diagnostic care in rural India, in conjunction with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and Project Prakash. She is assessing the need and feasibility of a system of mental and neurological health clinics in rural India in order to pave the way for more accessible healthcare in these specialties. She is also working with her collaborators to enable the establishment of clinics which are local and accessible to villagers in the state of Uttar Pradesh. At these clinics, patients would receive screening for neurological illnesses, their data could be sent to providers in New Delhi, and prescription medicine could be sent back to the clinics, all at no cost to the villagers. Before such a system can be devised, there is a wealth of preliminary feasibility research to be conducted concerning the areas of need, the obstacles facing the villagers, the regulatory logistics of dispensing prescription medication and treatment, and the sourcing of medical equipment and personnel.