Host City USA: Gurugram

Deodutta Roy

Prof. Deodutta Roy is a professor emeritus at the Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work at Florida International University (FIU), Miami. He joined FIU as a professor in 2004 and served as the founding chairman of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health from 2005 to 2011. Prior to FIU, he was a tenured professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (1998–2004). His leadership in building the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at FIU established him as a key figure in public health academia.

Nationally and internationally recognized for advancing translational exposomics –bridging genome, exposome, and environmental public health – Prof. Roy has received several prestigious awards, including the Junior Faculty Development Award from the American Cancer Society, the Scholar Award in Cancer Research from the American Association for Cancer Research, and the Fulbright Senior Scholar Award. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and monographs, and holds two patents. He has trained 15 doctoral students and numerous postdoctoral fellows. His work has garnered over 6,000 citations on ResearchGate, underscoring the breadth of his scholarly influence.

Prof. Roy has been at the forefront of exposomics research, exploring how environmental DNA and RNA can serve as records of the human exposome, and can help in understanding the environmental causes of chronic diseases. His work integrates machine learning and bioinformatics to analyze complex, multi-omics datasets, and advancing computational approaches to environmental health sciences, brain health, and cancer research.

Dr. Roy’s Fulbright-Nehru project is integrating teaching, curriculum development, and collaborative research to advance environmental public health education and exposomics research at Amity University, Haryana. Focusing on the air quality in the Delhi National Capital Region, it is exploring links between environmental DNA and early brain health. The curriculum incorporates exposomic methods and analytical tools, alongside holding of workshops and boot camps. By addressing the challenges of air pollution and neurodevelopmental risks in children, the project aims to build institutional exposomics capacity and fulfill the Fulbright mission by fostering academic collaborations between the United States and India.

Megha Vemuri

Megha Vemuri received her BS in computation and cognition and in linguistics and philosophy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in May 2025. Her academic and research interests center on the neurobiology of language and its developmental foundations. She worked as an undergraduate research assistant in various neuroscience labs throughout her time in the university. Her early research spanned both assistive technology and interspecies communication. At the Senseable Intelligence Lab, she worked on Mumble Melody, a mobile application serving as a free, accessible alternative to assistive technology for people who stutter. Building on this interest in social connection, she co-led a novel study in interspecies communication, designing and analyzing a video-calling system for socially isolated parrots. The work received press coverage and an honorable mention at the 2023 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. In 2024, she conducted infant neuroimaging research in South Africa with the Neurodevelopment Group at the University of Cape Town, using EEG and portable MRI to identify early brain development biomarkers in low-resource settings. For the last two years, she has been working in the EvLab at MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research, on fMRI projects focused on multilingualism, heritage speakers, and language processing, many of which serve to diversify neurolinguistics data.

In her Fulbright-Nehru project, Megha is examining the neural signatures of individuals who acquired three or more languages at a young age. The fMRI study is being conducted at the National Brain Research Centre in Gurugram under Dr. Arpan Banerjee. Using fMRI methods adapted from the EvLab, the study is addressing a critical gap in neurolinguistics by examining an understudied population between bilinguals and polyglots. By collecting and analyzing brain imaging data from 80–90 participants, the project seeks to diversify language research by studying underrepresented profiles. The findings and materials will contribute to global cognitive science and support future language-related studies in South Asia, particularly in developmental contexts.

Ethan Harned

Ethan Harned is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame. He is a pre-medical student with a background in psychology and compassionate medical care. At Notre Dame, he was awarded the prestigious Hesburgh-Yusko merit scholarship which is given to students who demonstrate scholarship, leadership, and commitment to social justice.

In his career, Ethan is pursuing a combined medical and public health degree to support pediatric patients who live in life-limiting conditions and to improve systems by working closely with them. Ethan exemplifies a steadfast commitment to global health and aims to make a meaningful impact on the lives of pediatric palliative care patients and their families worldwide.

Ethan’s Fulbright-Nehru project is studying how palliative care programs are designed for adolescents in India. The project is located in the states of Haryana and Kerala which represent contrasting environments for access to palliative care – while palliative care is an emerging specialty in Haryana, it is well developed in Kerala. He is conducting interviews and focus group discussions with stakeholders such as policymakers, healthcare providers, caregivers, and adults in the 18–24 age group. These interactions are examining how palliative care programs in India meet the needs of their adolescent patients and the status of response to such programs. The aim of the research is to provide a framework to improve access to palliative care for adolescents across India and share lessons between the U.S. and India on caring for this population.