Yusuf Hamied Fellowship Awardees 2022-2023

The fourth phase of the illustrious Yusuf Hamied Fellowship, a joint program between Columbia Global Centers | Mumbai and Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, has been awarded to six faculty members from Columbia University and Indian research institutions.  Initiated in 2018, the Fellowship is aimed towards strengthening public health research in India with a focus on Health and Environment, Access to Treatment, and Population and Family Health. The Fellowship promotes faculty exchange, and focuses  on building research collaborations and mutual learning to improve public health outcomes in India.  In its final year, the Fellowship has been awarded to projects focusing on menstrual health, environmental health, aging, mental health, and public health systems in India.

For the year 2022-2023, awardees of the Yusuf Hamied Fellowship from the Mailman School of Public Health are:

Lauren Houghton, Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology

Proposal Title: Understanding the Vitality of ‘Menstruation as a Vital Sign’ in Mumbai

Proposal Brief:  The project will focus on the feasibility of using menstruation as a clinical marker for assessing the health of adolescent girls and promoting health-seeking behavior during the adolescence period.  Through this project, Dr Houghton aims to engage with educators and pediatric practitioners to understand education programs and clinical practice around pubertal development and menstrual health. This will help determine whether menstruation as a vital sign can be pursued as a public health agenda to improve menstrual health and knowledge in India.

Kathrin Schilling, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Health Sciences

Proposal Title:  Health Risk from Metal Exposure:Building the Analytical Foundation for Prospective Cohort Studies in India

Proposal Brief:  The project will focus on building capacities of Indian analytical laboratories in using metal analysis to detect and analyze toxic metal exposures in human tissue and body fluids.  Through this project, Dr Schilling aims to support the infrastructure of these laboratories, and develop quality controls to perform metal analyses of biospecimens like tissue, blood and urine in population-based observational and interventional studies in India.

For the year 2022-2023, awardees of the Yusuf Hamied Fellowship from Indian institutions are:

Soumitra Ghosh, Associate Professor, School of Health Systems Studies, Centre of Health Policy, Planning and Management, TATA Institute of Social Sciences (TISS)

Proposal Title:  Inequities in Access to Essential Medicines: Assessing the Impacts of Pharmaceutical Policy Interventions in India

Proposal Brief:  The project will focus on examining the impacts of pharmaceutical policy measures implemented in India over the past decades to improve access to essential medicines, with special emphasis on socioeconomic inequalities in medicine use.  Using data from national health surveys, this project will study the impact of these policies on making medicines affordable and accessible for people, particularly from socioeconomically disadvantaged population groups.

Allen Ugargol, Associate Professor of Practice, Centre for Public Policy, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB)

Proposal Title:  Aging and the Lifecourse Perspective of Older Adults

Proposal Brief:  The project will focus on the life course trajectory of older adults, and will document existing disparities, challenges and gaps in geriatric care to draw insights on the various dimensions of aging in India.  The project will also provide policy recommendations to improve geriatric care arrangements and health outcomes for this population segment.

Daksha Parmar, Assistant Professor, Development Studies, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Associate Faculty, School of Health Sciences and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati

Proposal Title:  Strengthening Health Systems to Deliver Equitable Healthcare for Women and Children in Assam

Proposal Brief:  The project will focus on applying best practices and systemic approaches to improve the responsiveness, performance and resilience of the health system in Assam for equitable access to quality maternal and newborn healthcare.  Using implementation science as a field of inquiry within health systems research, Dr Parmar’s project will explore how respectful maternity care, human rights in health, and health systems accountability can be applied to strengthen the health system in Assam. 

Shankar Das, Dean and Professor, School of Health Systems Studies, TATA Institute of Social Sciences (TISS)

Proposal Title:  Access, Utilization, and Health Disparities in Mental Health

Proposal Brief:  The project will focus on evidence-informed policy, practice and global advances in the area of mental health for a deeper understanding of mental health issues within the national and global context.  The project will also examine the current mental health status in India, identify common mental health problems and risks in the community, and develop strategies to inform, educate and empower people about mental health.