A Scholarly Visit to Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health: Reflections by Dr. Imnameren Longkumer
Dr. Imnameren Longkumer, a Narotam Sekhsaria Fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health India Research Center, recently completed a three-week scholarly visit to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. His visit was part of the two-year Narotam Sekhsaria Fellowship’s academic exchange and mentorship component, designed to support early-stage investigators in public health in India. Dr. Imnameren is mentored by Professor S.V. Subramanian, Professor of Population Health and Geography at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Dr. Imnameren on his scholarly visit
The scholarly visit substantially contributed to the development of my ongoing research, with a major highlight being the opportunity to work closely with my mentor, Professor Subramanian. It helped strengthen ongoing research collaborations, refine analytical approaches for large-scale population health data, and deepen my training in multilevel statistical analysis and social epidemiology.
A special focus of these discussions was the application of multilevel modelling to complex survey data. These exchanges helped me understand how such methods can be used to account for clustering, improve the interpretation of population health analyses, and address complex public health questions. The collaborative engagement with Professor Subramanian significantly improved the scientific rigor of the study.
Particularly valuable was the opportunity to attend Professor Subramanian’s course, Multilevel Statistical Methods: Concepts and Applications. The course complemented my research discussions and strengthened my understanding of how multilevel statistical methods can be applied in epidemiological and population health research.
Throughout my stay, I had the opportunity to engage closely with faculty, researchers, and students working across population health, epidemiology, demography, health inequalities, social epidemiology, and quantitative health research. I also participated in scholarly discussions hosted by the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies and attended sessions at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University. These interactions provided valuable insights into research across disciplines and fostered meaningful academic exchange. They also enhanced my understanding of contemporary methodological and conceptual developments in population sciences.
The visit was academically enriching and professionally valuable. It strengthened my research and analytical capabilities, broadened my exposure to interdisciplinary approaches in public health, and will directly benefit my future research involving hierarchical and geographically structured data. The experience also helped build long-term research capacity for future collaborative public health research.
I am deeply grateful to the Narotam Sekhsaria Fellowship for this exceptional opportunity. My sincere thanks to the teams at the Harvard Chan India Research Center and Harvard Global for making this visit possible, as well as to the teams at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston and the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies for their generous support throughout my stay. I am especially grateful to Professor Subramanian for his invaluable mentorship.
Read more about the Narotam Sekhsaria Fellowship at Harvard Chan India Research Center
Read more about Dr. Imnameren’s work