Principal Investigators for the Project
Dr. Anita Patil-Deshmukh, Principal Investigator
Dr. Anita Patil-Deshmukh brings a wide variety of talents and expertise to PUKAR. A physician by profession, Anita received her Masters in Public Health from Harvard University and worked as a faculty Neonatologist at a teaching institution in Chicago for 20 years. During her tenure she was also the Director of the Pediatric Residency program and Director of Continuous Medical Education for the Department of Pediatrics. She played a major leadership role within India Development Service (IDS) a pioneering organization in United States which supported multiple, small-scale, socioeconomic development projects across India.
Anita’s main research interest in has been to explore the relationship between poverty, social equity, and health. Since joining PUKAR, Anita has launched three new projects: The Youth Fellowship Project (funded by Sir Ratan Tata Trust, India), Mythologies of Mumbai (funded by the Ford Foundation), and PUKAR’s public health initiative (funded by the Rockefeller Foundation). She is also the Senior Consultant for the India China Institute (The New School, NY).
Professor David Bloom, Principal Investigator
Professor Bloom is Clarence J. Gamble Professor of Economics and Demography, and Chair of HSPH’s Department of Global Health and Population. Bloom’s leadership in the related fields of economics, demography, and public health, along with the participation of his colleagues and students at HSPH, provide a unique analytic asset for the project.
For a longer biography (very helpful), check out: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/faculty/david-bloom/
Professor Arjun Appadurai, Principal Investigator
Dr. Appadurai, NYU Professor of Anthropology and Founder of PUKAR, will provide the larger framework and context for understanding the role of the community in the research process. His guidance and experience will help to craft research questions and research teams that both address community concerns and engage community members in the research process.
Core Project Personnel at PUKAR
Dr. Ramnath Subbaraman, PUKAR Senior Research Fellow and NIH Fogarty International Clinical Research Fellow for 2011-12
Ramnath is a graduate of the Yale University School of Medicine, and he completed residency in internal medicine at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). He completed his undergraduate training at the University of Chicago, where he majored in cultural anthropology. Ramnath has long had an interest in the intersection of clinical medicine, public health, social change, and human rights.
He previously spent a year performing HIV and tuberculosis related clinical research at the YRG Center for AIDS Research and Education (YRG CARE) in Chennai in 2005-06 as a National Institute of Health (NIH) Fogarty International Clinical Research Scholar. He has several peer-reviewed articles in journals, conference proceedings, and textbooks in the fields of HIV and tuberculosis. He has also spent time working with the Society for Promotion of Area Research Centers (SPARC), a slum development organization, in Mumbai. He has engaged in short-term clinical work in South Africa and Uganda. Ramnath joined PUKAR in September 2010. In 2012, he will join a fellowship at the Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s Hospital program for clinical specialization in infectious diseases.
Ramnath’s work on PUKAR’s mental health project is being supported by a 2011-12 NIH Fogarty International Clinical Research Fellowship. For more information, please see the following website: https://fogartyscholars.org/.
Kiran Sawant, Research Coordinator
Kiran grew up in Mumbai’s western suburb of Andheri. He completed a BA in Marathi literature from Ruparel College. He is currently pursuing law from the University of Mumbai and is now in his third year. Kiran joined PUKAR as a Youth Fellow in 2006. In his first year of the Youth Fellowship Program, he conducted research on the issue of youth’s perception of caste. He subsequently became a youth catalyst in the second year, heading a research project on HIV/AIDS. Mid-way through that research, he joined the Youth and Governance project, a precursor to the Mythologies of Mumbai project. He studied and documented the Chinchpokli and Kalachowkie neighborhoods of Girangaon. He is now one of the three coordinators of the Healthy Cities, Wealthy Cities project. Kiran has expertise in photography and has played a major role in the photo-documentation of the Kaula Bandar community. He also helped develop the team of barefoot researchers in Kaula Bandar, and he has facilitated research projects by several students from the Harvard School of Public Health. With every year spent at PUKAR, Kiran has built knowledge and skills and created for himself a vast storehouse of information.
Shrutika Shitole, Research Coordinator
Shrutika studied in Dadar’s King George School and went on to graduate in Marathi literature from Ruparel College. She continued studying the subject for her Masters in Marathi Literature at Mumbai University, where she was University Gold Medalist. Simultaneously she also completed a diploma in Marathi journalism at St. Xavier’s College. She subsequently joined PUKAR through the Youth Fellowship Program, where she engaged in research projects on the impact of caste on behavior and on students who simultaneously earn and learn. She moved on to the Youth and Governance project at PUKAR before finally taking on the Mythologies of Mumbai project as a Research Associate. For the Mythologies of Mumbai project she documented the Lalbaug and Curry Road area of Girangaon.
For the last three years, Shrutika has been working on Healthy Cities, Wealthy Cities, PUKAR’s public health research initiative. In that time, she has trained a team of 20 barefoot researchers, some of whom are from Kaula Bandar. Along with other team members, she implemented a 950 household survey funded by the Ford Foundation and coded every household in Kaula Bandar.
Tejal Shitole, Research Coordinator
Tejal has Bachelor’s of Science in Botany from Mumbai University. She also has a degree in software engineering and briefly worked for Indian Oil in software management. Tejal joined PUKAR in 2006 as a Youth Fellow, where she researched decision-making power among girls. She shifted to the Mythologies of Mumbai project, which focuses on documenting cultural heritage and taking local art forms to the international stage. In that project, she was involved in the documentation of the Byculla neighborhood of Girangaon. She is now a research coordinator with the Healthy Cities, Wealthy Cities project. In that capacity, she has helped develop the team of barefoot researchers who engage in data collection in Kaula Bandar. She has also facilitated research projects by students from the Harvard School of Public Health. Tejal has recently been developing expertise in Global Information Systems (GIS) mapping. In the future, she aspires to be a public health professional with specific expertise in women’s and children’s health.
Mahesh Nanarkar, Administrative Assistant and Data Manager
Mahesh has extensive prior experience in data management working for the Lal Bahadur Shashtri CAMSAR Merchant Navy Institute for the last four years. In addition, he also managed data at Marine Engineering and Research Institute for the last six years. Both of these institutes are part of the Indian Maritime University. Lal Bahadur Shashtri Marine Institute in Mumbai is Asia’s top university for the training of ship captains and engineers. He was a barefoot researcher through the Youth Fellowship program, where he researched the decision-making power of girls. He joined Healthy Cities, Wealthy Cities, PUKAR’s public health project, in May 2010. He has been responsible for managing and organizing the large volume of biometric data produced through this project. He also facilitates data collection in the field and along with the research coordinators.
Prashant Kashid, Field Assistant
Prashant is originally from Mumbai, and he joined the PUKAR research team in June 2011. Prashant previously worked as a barefoot researcher in Kaula Bandar since January 2010. He completed high school at Dnyaneshwar Vidyalaya. He then completed a Bachelor of Computer Application (BCA) at Indira Gandhi National University in Mumbai, and he is currently enrolled in a post-graduate course in Software Testing. He has previously worked in the back office of a computer operations company. He enjoys playing cricket, computer gaming, and local travel. Prashant will help the team with coordinating field operations in Kaula Bandar, especially with the study evaluating diarrheal illness in the community.
Core Project Personnel at HSPH
Jennifer O’Brien, Research Consultant
Jennifer holds an MPhil in Public Health from the University of Cambridge, and an AB in Neuroscience and Certificate in Health Policy from Harvard College. She has worked on this study since its inception, having assisted with the development of the original proposal. Jennifer oversees student recruitment and study design; compliance with IRB ethics standards; and travels to PUKAR to lead in training exercises.
Marija Ozolins, Research Associate
Marija has a bachelor’s degree in International Affairs, and has worked on this study since fall 2008. Together with Jennifer, she recruits and assists HSPH students in their fieldwork, communicates with the Harvard IRB, and assists with desk-based research and project deliverables. Marjia was a key member of the research team until fall 2011, when she joined law school.
