Host City USA: New Delhi

Ray Wipfli

Ray Wipfli holds a BS in molecular biophysics and biochemistry with a concentration in medicine from Yale University. In addition to his primary undergraduate degree, he received a certificate in global health studies through the selective Yale Jackson Institute’s Global Health Scholars Program. He already has over a decade of experience working in global health through his nonprofit organization, Energy in Action, which specializes in youth-targeted interventions in Uganda. Through this organization, of which he is both the founder and the chief executive officer, he has led countless public health interventions concerning sanitation and hygiene, sexual and reproductive health, and prevention of drowning. Furthermore, he has facilitated and published multiple research studies examining health knowledge and behaviors in Ugandan youth. Ray is interested in forging strong international connections to further the mission of health across the world, with a specific focus on youth and non-communicable diseases.

Ray’s Fulbright-Nehru project is to conduct an evaluation of the updated Kids and Diabetes in School (KiDS) campaign in New Delhi, India. The campaign targets the rapidly rising health and economic burden of diabetes in India, home to the world’s second highest number of diabetic patients. The research seeks to inform future health policy related to adolescents.

Rushil Vashee

Rushil Vashee earned a BS summa cum laude in international political economy from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service in 2025. He was awarded the Dean’s Medal for earning the highest cumulative GPA in the school. Rushil’s senior thesis, awarded departmental honors, leveraged an original database on international lending to explore why some countries rejected international assistance during COVID-19.

During his time at Georgetown, Rushil interned at the White House Council of Economic Advisers, the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and the Edunomics Lab. He was also an intern with the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center at Howard University. While studying abroad at Ecuador’s Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Rushil was a research assistant in the Laboratory of Computational and Experimental Economics. Rushil’s time in Ecuador, shaped by everyday conversations with his host family, classmates, and taxi drivers, deepened his curiosity about how social dynamics shape access to opportunity in urban economies.

Beyond academic and policy work, Rushil is an experienced journalist. He has published over 100 articles about the National Football League for USA TODAY Sports. A holder of a journalism minor from Georgetown University, Rushil, for his capstone project, interviewed NFL players and agents to examine the post-career narratives of professional athletes. He has also served as a senior coordinator of Georgetown Rangila, the largest charity dance showcase in the United States with over 400 participants every year. Besides, he helped raise a record sum of $81,000 for a Nepali nonprofit to sponsor 300 years of girls’ education and to renovate a science lab and a school library. For his leadership skills, Rushil received the Martha Swanson Outstanding Senior Leader Award at Georgetown University.

Rushil’s Fulbright-Nehru research project is focusing on understanding the differences in economic access in Gujarat, one of the fastest growing states in India. The project is investigating the behavioral and institutional factors that shape economic inclusion across both urban and rural Gujarat. Through fieldwork in Delhi and Gujarat, Rushil aims to produce actionable insights that set the stage for the next leap in global financial access.

Shrea Tyagi

Shrea Tyagi received her BS from Yale University, where she majored in neuroscience with a strong focus on interdisciplinary, patient-centered research. Her academic journey bridges basic science, global health, and the arts, with a particular interest in gastrointestinal illnesses and the cultural factors that shape access to care. At Yale, she contributed to multiple research labs. In the Turner Lab, she designed an algorithm using BioPython to identify viral “cheats” in bacteriophage populations and later conducted her own experiment studying their interactive life cycles. In the Anirvan Nandy Lab, she developed a novel video-based diffusion model capable of predicting the quantifiability of each pixel in a frame. She used this model to analyze how
visual predictability correlates with gaze movement and neuronal spiking across different neural populations in marmosets.

She also contributed to medical innovation in East Africa as part of Road2IR, a capacity-building program for interventional radiology, where she led survey-based research to identify
post-training barriers and also designed new hospital documentation systems to support clinical standardization. Her commitment to health equity and stigma reduction is deeply informed by her lived experience with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In this regard, in collaboration with IBD India, Shrea is leading a project to use Bharatanatyam, a classical Indian dance form, as a tool for healing and empowerment among IBD patients.

Outside of research, Shrea was the captain of Yale Kalaa, the university’s premier Indian classical dance team, and a member of both Dhvani, Yale’s Indian classical music group, and Whim ’n Rhythm, one of Yale’s senior a cappella groups. She is also the founder of the AutoKind Collective, a nonprofit focused on storytelling and culturally tailored chronic illness support.

Shrea’s Fulbright-Nehru research is examining how cultural stigma affects access to care for IBD patients in India. The study’s focus is on marginalized groups, including women of reproductive age, individuals with low socioeconomic status, and the elderly. The project aims to identify barriers to care and seeks to support culturally informed interventions in order to improve health equity for IBD patients across diverse Indian communities.

Pirawat Punyagupta

Putt Punyagupta graduated from Yale University with a BA in history and South Asian studies. A two-time U.S. State Department critical language scholar, he is proficient in Chinese, Hindi, Lao, Persian, Prakrit, Sanskrit, Tamil, Thai, and Urdu, and is presently learning Bengali and Russian. He has worked for Yale’s Program in Iranian Studies as well as the Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning. He has also conducted research for the Stimson Center, a U.S. nonprofit that aims to enhance international peace and security through analysis and outreach. Besides, he has taken part in symposia at the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies. Putt has also supported heritage conservation activities. Prior to Fulbright, he was an open-source analyst in Washington, D.C.

Putt’s Fulbright-Nehru project is studying the history of delimitation in India. It is investigating the process’ original design elements while examining the intentions of past delimitation commissions and their attempts to ensure neutrality. It is also studying the responses of political parties and rationales behind the federal- and state-level freezes that took place in 1971 and 2002. The project is primarily relying on archival materials housed in Delhi, but is also consulting collections in relevant regional centers such as Chennai and Mumbai. Overall, the project aims to shed light on the underlying architecture that sustains India’s vibrant democracy.

Sarah Khan

Sarah Khan graduated from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where she majored in culture and politics with a concentration in race, caste, gender, and postcolonial development. Through her coursework, she deepened her understanding of the relationships among labor, capital, and the state with gender, desirability, and social mobility. Her senior thesis explored the construction of Muslim masculinities and femininities through techno-sex economies, wherein she analyzed the racialized nature of libidinal economies and offered a critique of Western liberal feminism. In addition to her academic work, Sarah is deeply passionate about teaching. She has served as an instructor for the Yale Young Global Scholars Program, a volunteer teacher for low-income youth in Washington, DC, through Georgetown University’s Center for Social Justice, and as an ESL instructor for newly resettled refugees in Atlanta through the International Rescue Committee.

As a recipient of the U.S. State Department’s critical language scholarship, Sarah studied the politics and poetics of her ancestral language, Urdu, in Lucknow during the summer of 2024. Most recently, she served as a fellow with the American India Foundation’s Banyan Impact Fellowship, working with the Hyderabad-based NGO Kriti Social Initiatives on the strategic implementation of economic empowerment initiatives for marginalized women.

Sarah’s Fulbright-Nehru project is using caste as an analytical framework to understand the lineage- and labor-based system of social stratification among Indian Muslims. To contextualize, conceptualize, and dismantle Ashraf (upper-caste) supremacy, her work is investigating how hyper endogamy functions as a mechanism through which caste rigidity is articulated, legitimized, and perpetuated. Through ethnographic research in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, Sarah is exploring how caste operates in and through class, educational background, and spatiality (urban/rural); she is also particularly focusing on the gendered dynamics of marriage and social mobility.

Neena Kapoor

Neena Kapoor is a third-year doctoral student in population health sciences (specializing in health systems) at Harvard University’s Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. As a member of the Quality Evidence for Health System Transformation (QuEST) research group, she collaborates with a global network of researchers to develop tools for measuring and improving health system quality. Neena has played a key role in managing and analyzing data from the People’s Voice Survey across more than 15 countries, capturing population perspectives on health systems worldwide. She has also contributed to research assessing the impact of COVID-19 containment policies on essential health service delivery across high-, middle-, and low-income countries.

Her work has appeared in multiple peer-reviewed publications like The Lancet Global Health, where she has examined user-reported confidence in health systems and quality of care globally. Neena holds a Master of Science in Global Health and Population from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a Bachelor of Science in Medicine, Health, & Society and Child Development from Vanderbilt University.

Through the Fulbright-Nehru research award, Neena is investigating the quality of care and care pathways for pregnant women with chronic conditions in India. For her research, she is building on emerging longitudinal data from Jodhpur and Sonipat with qualitative interviews of women with chronic condition, seeking to learn about their experiences while receiving antenatal care. The project is also collecting qualitative insights to provide actionable recommendations. The study aims to highlight health system gaps and user preferences in order to guide resource allocation that can improve maternal health outcomes in India.

Sienna Fisher

Sienna Fisher graduated from Trinity University with a degree in international studies, concentrating in global health, and with a minor in women and gender studies. Throughout her undergraduate career, she engaged with interdisciplinary coursework which deepened her interest in the sociocultural determinants of health and healthcare accessibility. This academic foundation enabled her to pursue research across a range of topics, including narrative medicine, digital health communications, and women’s health.

Sienna first came to India in the fall of 2023 with the School for International Training to study public health, gender, and sexuality. During her semester abroad, she completed an internship with Aarohi, a nongovernmental organization in rural Uttarakhand. She collaborated with Aarohi’s Medical Mobile Unit and home health team during health camps and visits, and also conducted independent research on the evolution of women’s health in the Kumaon region of the Himalaya.

Since graduation, Sienna has worked as a medical assistant in interventional pain management and dermatology clinics. She hopes to integrate her passion for medicine, gender studies, and the humanities to improve healthcare accessibility and address health disparities within her community and beyond.

Sienna’s Fulbright-Nehru research project is focusing on the health experiences and perceptions of women aged 40 and above within marginalized communities in the rural regions of India. The study is exploring their overall health and health-seeking behaviors, with a focus on menopause, as well as reproductive and sexual health. She is also investigating the role of traditional health practices in addressing health needs when formal treatment is unavailable or inaccessible.

Riaan Dhankhar

Riaan Dhankhar studies international relations, focusing on South Asia and European affairs. He graduated with a BA in international relations from Pomona College in 2025. As an undergraduate, he interned at the Wilson Center, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Congress. During his time at the State Department, Riaan served as a liaison officer at the 75th Anniversary NATO Summit which helped him develop a keen interest in studying how states, especially in the Indo-Pacific, can develop closer ties through strategic security-driven multilateral cooperation.

He was born in Mumbai and grew up in New Jersey.

Riaan’s Fulbright-Nehru project, “India’s Centrality to a Resurgent QUAD”, is investigating Indo-U.S. military engagement within the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) forum. Conducted in affiliation with Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, his research is analyzing historical dynamics, contemporary policies, and future strategic scenarios shaping QUAD relations.

Miriam Anderson

Miriam Anderson is a multimedia artist and graduate of The University of Alabama, where she majored in creative media with a minor in The Blount Scholars Program. Her work bridges the worlds of Bharatanatyam dance and film, reflecting her commitment to both performance and storytelling across disciplines.

After training for five years under Sheila Rubin at Natyananda Dance Company in Birmingham, Alabama, Miriam made her Bharatanatyam arangetram (debut) in June 2024. She has performed in diverse settings, including opening for spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar at the BJCC and participating in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s cultural program. She has also represented Natyananda at the Freeform program with The Dance Foundation. Miriam completed the Warrier Foundation Residency from Coimbatore, India, where she immersed herself in the practice and philosophy of Bharatanatyam. In the spring of 2024, she served as lighting designer and stage manager for the U.S. tour of the renowned Bharatanatyam artist Rama Vaidyanathan, where she was part of productions such as New Dimensions and Ratna Garbha.

Miriam’s interdisciplinary practice allows her to merge cultural research, choreographic exploration, and visual media. Whether behind the camera or on stage, she is drawn to projects that invite reflection, preserve tradition, and build new paths for creative engagement. Her work exemplifies a commitment to honoring classical forms while reimagining how they can speak to contemporary audiences.

For her Fulbright-Nehru project, Miriam is studying Bharatanatyam in Delhi. Her project is exploring the expressive and technical depth of Bharatanatyam, with a focus on breath, alignment, and the creation of original choreography. Drawing from her training and experiences as a non-Indian dancer, she is also involved in producing a series of video essays documenting her artistic process and transformation. These essays attempt to offer a behind-the-scenes look at artistic development, cultural immersion, and the disciplined practice of Bharatanatyam as a living, evolving art form rooted in tradition and personal devotion.

John C. Lore III

Professor John Lore is the director of Trial Advocacy at Rutgers Law School. He trains law students and attorneys throughout the U.S. and internationally. He has also trained judges, lawyers, social service agency workers, law enforcement personnel, and students in countries such as Kenya, India, Ireland, Nigeria, Tanzania, Japan, Singapore, and China. In May 2019, Professor Lore was a visiting faculty at Jilin University in Changchun, China. He also provides training to advocacy instructors and consults with law schools, universities, and government agencies, to create effective teaching programs.

Professor Lore is the co-author (with Steven Lubet) of Modern Trial Advocacy: Analysis and Practice(published by NITA and Wolters Kluwer), which is one of the leading trial advocacy books used by lawyers and students throughout the world; it is taught in over 90 U.S. law schools and has also been translated or adapted for use in Japan, Canada, Israel, Taiwan, China, and Chile.

In 2011, Professor Lore established and now directs the Center for Public Interest Training at Law School which provides free training for public interest lawyers. His commitment to teaching has been recognized by Rutgers where he has received a major teaching award each year since 2012.

Before pursuing a teaching career, Professor Lore was an assistant public defender at the Defender Association of Philadelphia and at the Cook County Public Defender’s Office in Chicago. Over the course of his career, he has litigated hundreds of trials and motions before a wide variety of courts and administrative agencies.

Professor Lore serves on several committees and boards, including the New Jersey Supreme Court Civil Practice Committee. Apart from trial advocacy, he is an expert on children’s rights and juvenile law. He has been a frequent contributor to various U.S. media outlets.