Host City USA: Kochi

Pranav Shibu

Pranav Shibu graduated from Johns Hopkins University in May 2025 with a BS in molecular and cellular biology and public health studies. His coursework spanned molecular biology, biochemistry, cognitive neuroscience, developmental genetics, epidemiology, and qualitative research methods, thus building an interdisciplinary foundation for work at the intersection of laboratory science and community health. Currently, Pranav serves as a mid-level research technician in the Shakkottai Lab at UT Southwestern Medical Center, where he investigates KCNH3 ion channel dysfunction in spinocerebellar ataxia using patch-clamp electrophysiology, stereological analysis, and rotarod behavioral assays in mouse models. His research trajectory has spanned three additional academic laboratories: the Lloyd Lab at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine; the Berth/Lloyd Lab at Baylor College of Medicine, where he studied dynactin-related neuromuscular degeneration in drosophila; and the Farah Lab at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

His clinical experience includes four years as a medical assistant at America First Urgent Care in Coppell, Texas, and ongoing work at the Union Gospel Mission Calvert Clinic in Dallas, where he serves an underserved homeless population.

Outside of medicine and research, Pranav competed on the Johns Hopkins NCAA men’s varsity fencing team and coaches young athletes at Go Fence Academy.

Pranav’s Fulbright-Nehru research is examining informal diabetes caregiving in rural Kerala, where India’s second-highest diabetes prevalence places disproportionate burden on family caregivers in resource-poor households. Although 80 percent of this chronic disease care occurs at home, the labor remains largely undocumented in formal healthcare planning. Based at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences in Kochi and working under Dr. Renjith Bhadran, Pranav is conducting trauma-informed, semi-structured interviews with family caregivers, community health workers, and primary care providers across Ernakulam, Palakkad, and Wayanad districts. Drawing on Johns Hopkins public health training and native Malayalam-language fluency, the project will make visible the essential caregiving labor sustaining chronic disease management in resource-constrained settings.

Mahala Peter-Frank

Mahala Peter-Frank earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she majored in marine biology; microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics; and European languages and transcultural studies, with a concentration in French and Francophone studies. At UCLA, she began her research career as a research assistant characterizing microbial communities associated with floating algal rafts in the South Pacific. She later conducted independent research investigating the effects of dredging on seagrass-associated microbial communities in the Port of Los Angeles. Mahala has also contributed to research projects at the following institutions: the University of Southern California, where she investigated a novel coral bleaching methodology; at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where she optimized picocyanobacterial collection and DNA extraction protocols; and at the University of Texas at El Paso, where she examined how parasite load influences sunfish coloration. Her long-term goal is to lead international, interdisciplinary research teams focused on marine microbiology and its applications to sustainability initiatives and marine natural product discovery.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Scholar, Mahala is conducting research on the secondary metabolites of polar marine actinomycetes. These microbes are being isolated from Arctic fjord sediment samples and cultivated, then used to produce crude extracts which are being screened for therapeutic potential. Any compounds with anticancer or antimicrobial properties will thus be identified.

Janaki Menon

Janaki Menon is an undergraduate student at the University of South Florida (USF) pursuing a BS in public health with a minor in biology. Her academic and professional interests center on infectious disease, maternal and child health, and global health equity, with a specific focus on developing culturally grounded, community-based interventions. At the USF Morsani College of Medicine, Janaki has worked as an undergraduate research assistant in both the Ho Lab and the Mindsets in Motion Lab, where she has contributed to research at the intersection of health behavior, clinical outcomes, and patient-centered care. In a microbiology laboratory setting, she has conducted independent work identifying bacterial species, including Staphylococcus epidermidis, thereby strengthening her laboratory and analytical skills.

In addition to her research experience, Janaki has served as a certified medical assistant, gaining hands-on clinical experience and exposure to patient care. She has also interned at Meliora Health, where she worked closely with children with autism and ADHD, further deepening her understanding of developmental and behavioral health. These experiences have shaped her commitment to improving healthcare accessibility for vulnerable populations, particularly children.

Janaki’s Fulbright-Nehru research project is evaluating the cultural responsiveness and effectiveness of the Kochi Intervention for Tobacco Smoke-Free Homes (KIFT) initiative in Kerala, India. Using qualitative and community-based methods, her project is examining how cultural norms, household dynamics, and gender roles influence the adoption and sustainability of smoke-free home interventions. The study aims to identify barriers and facilitators to behavioral change and generate insights to improve culturally tailored public health strategies. Ultimately, the project seeks to strengthen the intervention’s design and contribute to reducing secondhand smoke exposure in vulnerable populations.

Ashley Walsdorf

Dr. Ashley Walsdorf is an assistant professor of couple and family therapy at Alliant International University. She received her PhD in human development, family science, marriage, and family therapy from the University of Georgia in 2019, with a specialization in immigration policy and working with multicultural communities. In addition to her work at Alliant, Dr. Walsdorf is a licensed, bilingual marriage and family therapist and an AAMFT-approved supervisor in the state of Texas, the director of family programming at a residential treatment center, and a research affiliate of the Latino Research Institute at the University of Texas at Austin. Clinically, she has been practicing therapy in English and Spanish with individuals, couples, and families for nearly 15 years, specializing in work with immigrant families, multicultural communities, and addiction and recovery. Her research has examined ethnic-racial socialization, the effects of U.S. socio-political climate on mental health among Latino communities, affirmative clinical work with LGBTQ communities, and critical race theories. She has authored over 25 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and presented her work at more than 50 national and international conferences. Dr. Walsdorf’s connection to India and international work is both professional and personal: her husband and stepdaughter are from Kerala, and her blended, cross-cultural family informs her commitment to systemic and culturally responsive family therapy. She loves traveling and cooking with her family and eating her mother-in-law’s seriously spicy food.

Dr. Walsdorf’s Fulbright-Nehru project is examining the relevance of systemic family therapy in the South Indian context. Based at Rajagiri College of Social Sciences in Kochi, Kerala, she is collaborating with graduate students and faculty in psychology and social work through coursework and participatory research that assess Western family therapy theories and models for “cultural fit”, while developing adaptations for local family and community contexts. Her project aims to create culturally responsive frameworks that strengthen the relational elements of mental health education while honoring South Indian social and familial dynamics, in addition to fostering India–U.S. academic partnerships.

Ram Mohan

Professor Ram Mohan earned his BSc in chemistry from Hansraj College in Delhi, India, an MSc in organic chemistry from the University of Delhi, India, and a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Maryland, Baltimore (under Professor Dale Whalen), USA. He did his postdoctoral work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (in Professor Robert Coates’s lab) and started his independent academic career at Illinois Wesleyan University (IWU). He is currently the Wendell and Loretta Hess Professor of Chemistry at IWU.

Professor Mohan’s research, carried out exclusively by undergraduate students, focuses on environmentally friendly organic synthesis using bismuth compounds. To date, he has supervised over 140 IWU undergraduates and published 68 manuscripts co-authored by them. He is especially committed to raising awareness about green chemistry in rural India and often travels to remote parts of India.

He is also the recipient of several awards, such as: the University of Maryland, Baltimore County 2002 Distinguished Alumni Award; the Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award; the Pfizer Pharmaceuticals (St. Louis Green Chemistry Team) Green Chemistry Award; Chemist of the Year 2011 (Illinois Heartland Section of the American Chemical Society); the American Chemical Society’s Committee on Environmental Improvement Award for incorporating sustainability into chemistry education; the 2023 Kemp Award for Teaching Excellence (from IWU); and the Fulbright Teacher Scholar Award in 2012, 2019, and 2023.

Feler Bose

Dr. Feler Bose is an economics and finance professor at Indiana University East. His undergraduate studies culminated in degrees in engineering physics and chemistry from Hope College, Michigan. He then completed his MS in mechanical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia. He worked for a few years in the paper industry before realizing his interests were not in engineering. He returned to school and received his PhD in economics from George Mason University, Virginia.

Dr. Bose’s research is multifaceted, encompassing applied microeconomics, political economy, law and economics, and the economics of religion. His current investigations delve into the impact of legislative structures on power dynamics, the significance of culture in societal development, and the opportunity cost associated with sexual freedom. His scholarly contributions extend beyond the academia. He has numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals and has authored book chapters, law briefs, a book, and regulatory analyses. He has also presented his research at several national and international outlets, addressing a diverse audience of both professionals and lay people. He is a member of various professional organizations, and his outstanding contributions to teaching and research have earned him multiple awards at his university.

Aditya Santoki

Mr. Aditya Santoki graduated from Duke University in 2021 cum laude as a Chemistry major. While at Duke, Mr. Santoki was a neurobiology researcher in Dr. Cagla Eroglu’s lab and investigated the rate of neuronal cell death in Huntington’s Disease. Having self-studied computer science in college, Mr. Santoki designed a program that would characterize the rate of neuronal cell delineated by brain region, eventually seeing his work published as a second-author in Cell Reports. Additionally, while at Duke, Mr. Santoki was also deeply involved in health policy research. After having taken an Introduction to the U.S. Healthcare System class with Dr. Nathan Boucher, Mr. Santoki designed an independent project to assess the determinants of vaccine hesitancy in Durham County. As a part of his project, Mr. Santoki interviewed physicians and patients to find that even brief physician-led conversations on the safety and efficacy of vaccines could drastically reduce vaccine-hesitancy. Most importantly, Mr. Santoki learned how effective physician-led conversations on treatment could drastically affect patient care. This sparked Mr. Santoki’s interest in understanding how cost of care conversations on a national scale could reduce financial toxicity for patients. Since then, Mr. Santoki has published his work on vaccine hesitancy as a first-author in the North Carolina Medical Journal (NCMJ).

After graduating from Duke University, Mr. Santoki has been working as a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). At the NIH, Mr. Santoki routinely shadows neurooncologists having cost of care discussions with terminal cancer patients. Through these conversations Mr. Santoki has seen how patients can make much more informed decisions about their care and plan personalized and affordable courses of treatment. Moreover, Mr. Santoki has also been exposed to the potential of personalized medicine while working in Dr. Claire Le Pichon’s lab. While in the Le Pichon lab, Mr. Santoki has been assisting a project characterizing a novel mouse model of a rare form of ALS. Mr. Santoki has also been working part-time at a biopharma venture capital firm investigating drug pricing for rare disease therapeutics. Both these experiences have sparked Mr. Santoki’s interest in translating personalized therapeutics and ensuring they are affordable for patients. In his free time Mr. Santoki enjoys reading, weightlifting, and running.

For his Fulbright-Nehru project, Mr. Santoki is travelling to medical centers throughout Kerala to survey oncologists treating cancer patients. He is assessing physician awareness of treatment costs and low-cost alternatives. If time permits, Mr. Santoki aims to assess patients’ willingness to pay for genomic assays to define need for adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer. He is also estimating the proportion of patients who get colitis after starting immunotherapy. These analyses will help physicians determine whether cost conversations on preventative treatments can prevent future expenses.