Dr. Persis Naumann is a global health ethicist, educator, and social entrepreneur committed to advancing stigma-free healthcare through ethics, education, and community engagement. Originally from Chennai, India, and now based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she serves as adjunct professor in the Center for Global Health Ethics at Duquesne University. Her interdisciplinary work bridges bioethics, medical sociology, and public engagement to address health inequities, particularly those affecting women and marginalized communities. Her research focuses on infertility stigma, reproductive health, and culturally responsive healthcare, with an emphasis on ensuring that lived experiences inform policy, education, and practice.
Beyond academia, Dr. Naumann is the founder of Kelir Global and Kelir Books, literary initiatives dedicated to ethical storytelling, heritage language preservation, and community belonging. She also serves on the board of directors of the Fulbright Association India Interest Group as vice president and the Greater Pittsburgh Chapter as advocacy chair. Through her scholarship and leadership, she builds bridges across cultures while promoting concepts such as equity, dignity, and inclusion.
As a former Fulbright-Nehru Student Research Fellow, Dr. Naumann conducted empirical bioethics research in Chennai, examining the sociocultural dimensions of involuntary childlessness and infertility stigma. During that tenure, she once had the opportunity to address an audience of over 2,000 students at a women’s health conference in Chennai. After her presentation, some of the students approached her with a simple question: “Will you come to our classrooms and teach us more?” That moment inspired her current Fulbright project.
As a 2026–2027 Fulbright U.S. Scholar, Dr. Naumann is collaborating with the Department of Sociology at the University of Madras on “Advancing Medical Sociology through Ethics Education for Stigma-Free Healthcare in Tamil Nadu.” The project is integrating medical ethics into sociology education through experiential learning, interdisciplinary collaboration, and community engagement. By partnering with students, faculty, healthcare professionals, NGOs, and policymakers, she seeks to strengthen the role of sociologists in healthcare, promote culturally grounded approaches to reproductive health, and foster lasting partnerships between India and the United States. Through the project, Dr. Naumann aims to help build more compassionate, equitable, and stigma-free healthcare systems guided by her belief that “education is not just about knowledge, it is about meaningful connections, creating pathways for real-life contributions, and shaping the future workforce with dignity and hope.”