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.