People

K. “Vish” Viswanath, PhD, is director of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health India Research Center. He is also the Lee Kum Kee Professor of Health Communication at Harvard Chan School. He holds a joint appointment at the MacGraw-Patterson Center for Population Sciences at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and is director of the Center for Translational Health Communication Science at Harvard Chan School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Professor Viswanath has an extensive track record of research in the U.S. and globally on the role of health communication in health and well-being, with a particular interest in the issues of inequalities and poverty. His research portfolio, funded by U.S. federal agencies as well as various national and international foundations, includes studies on the use of new information and communication technologies in health promotion; the role of communication in public health emergencies; vaccination; tobacco control; and cancer prevention. He has been recognized by numerous organizations for his research contributions to public health policy and practice.

He is a co-chair of the India Learning Network on Tobacco Control (iLEARNT), a network formed to accelerate tobacco-control efforts through collaboration and sharing of lessons learned among government, civil, and corporate sectors in India.

Khushboo has joined the India Research Center as a project coordinator in March 2022. She comes with experience running large-scale digital education programs at Pratham, an education non-profit, and working at Samhita Social Ventures, a CSR consultancy. Khushboo has studied accounting and finance at the University of Mumbai; gender studies and human rights at the University of Oxford and the Young India Fellowship, and a diploma in Liberal studies from Ashoka University. She is passionate about the development space, always doing a little bit of a lot of stuff, and enjoys learning new things.

A trained doctor by profession (B.H.M.S.), Safdar joined the India Research Center as administrative assistant to support the Center’s financial processes like processing invoices, assisting in accounts of IRC-related invoices, and vendor management. He also provides administrative support like organizing and coordinating meetings, events, training and capacity building initiatives.

Bhandari is the principal founder and a leading shareholder of London-based Monument Bank, which is a digital-first platform focused on providing financial services (with a Bank of England full-banking license) providing digital access to high-value services and technology solutions in various geographies around the world. Prior to founding Monument, Bhandari was senior partner of Apollo Global Management and senior partner and managing director of Apollo’s India vehicles: AGM India Advisors and AION Capital Partners.

He began his investing career at the Harvard Management Company (which manages the endowment of Harvard University) and was later a member of a Harvard-affiliated team providing advice on privatization, enterprise restructuring and the sourcing of foreign direct investment in Russia and other emerging markets.
Mr. Bhandari is also currently active in various charitable and social impact initiatives including as strategic advisor to Kailash Satyarthi, chairman of the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation, and co-founder of the Freedom Fellows Scholarship Program.

Bhandari is a graduate with distinction of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Mech Eng, S.B. ’87) and the Harvard Business School (MBA ’92). He has published numerous articles and speaks frequently regarding banking, fintech, macro-economic, finance and investment topics. He lives in London, England with his wife and two daughters.

Dr. Rati Godrej graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine in 1988. She completed her training in Internal Medicine from Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. She has been living in Mumbai, India since 1991. Her professional experience in India has included being a clinical consultant for the U.S. Consulate Medical Unit in Mumbai India from 1994 till 2014 and a deputy medical director for the Asian Heart Hospital from 2009 to 2011. She has served on the Ethics Committee of the Tata Memorial Hospital and served as a board member for IKP Centre for Technologies in Public Health (ICTPH), a public health organization committed to creating innovations to improve the access and quality of health care in rural India. She is a trustee for the Foundation for Research in Community Health. She is also on the board of trustees for the Framjee Cawasjee Institute in Mumbai, an institute founded in 1862 which provides financial assistance to low-income students in local schools and colleges, to support them in achieving their educational and professional goals.

Dr. Swati Piramal, Vice Chairperson, Piramal Group, is amongst India’s leading scientists and industrialists whose contributions to innovations, new medicines and public health services have touched many lives. As the Director of Piramal Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Piramal Group, Dr. Piramal is deeply involved in creating innovative solutions and establishing avenues that promote primary health care in rural India through Health Management and Research Institute (HMRI) – a mobile health service, women’s empowerment projects and enabling transformation of India’s education system across public schools to unlock the potential of the young leaders of tomorrow through the Piramal Gandhi Fellowship Programme.

Dr. Piramal founded the Gopikrishna Piramal Memorial Hospital in Mumbai and was instrumental in launching several pan-India public health campaigns against chronic diseases, osteoporosis, malaria, TB, epilepsy and polio. She has served as the first woman president of India’s Apex Chamber of Commerce (ASSOCHAM), and has served on the Scientific Advisory Council and the Council of Trade of the Prime Minister of India. Dr. Piramal is the Dean’s Advisor to Harvard Business School and Public Health and she holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health from Harvard han School and a Medical Degree (M.B.B.S) from Mumbai University.

Anupa Sahney is the founder of Origami Consultants, a small specialized consulting company focusing on change management and strategic advisory work. She started her consulting career with McKinsey & Co in 1993 and then moved on to do advisory and entry strategy work for international companies such as AIG and Capital One. In 2001, she saw a clear need for more implementation-based consulting services and started Origami Consultants to serve clients in a more longer-term and impactful way.
Anupa serves on a number of Company Boards and is also a member of the advisory board for the Harvard South Asia Institute and the BALCO Medical Centre.
Anupa is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW), has a strong academic interest in Indian art history and is a keen tennis player.

Sheila Sarma is president of the SRS Family Foundation which focuses on improving the lives of disadvantaged youth by supporting a broad range of programs on health, education, spirituality, and the arts. She previously worked as a researcher at Gynuity Health Projects, an organization dedicated to ensuring individuals have access to safe and effective reproductive and maternal health care. Sheila graduated from Wellesley College and earned her master’s degree from Harvard Chan School.

Padmini Sekhsaria is a principal at the Narotam Sekhsaria Family Office where she leads several investment and philanthropic activities. She oversees businesses in technology, education, FMCG, agriculture, construction materials, commodities and financial services, that directly employ over 3600 employees. Her development experience in youth education, health and vocational skilling spans over 20 years.
Padmini heads the Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation, a family philanthropy that is engaged in health, education and livelihood programmes, with interventions in rural and urban areas focused on community health, preventive and promotive health care, capacity building, policy advocacy and systemic change. In 2002, she started the Salaam Bombay Foundation, today one of the largest school-based preventive health programs in India. She serves on various boards of other non-profit organizations, including Ambuja Cement Foundation, Vassar College, and the India Youth Fund in New York. Padmini is an alumna of the London School of Economics and has an MSc. in Financial Economics.

Ranjit Shahani has served as the Managing Director and Vice Chairman at Novartis India from 2001 to 2018. He is a mechanical engineer who graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and holds an MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai. He started his career with Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) in India in their fibers and specialty chemicals businesses. Later, he rose to the position of general manager with ICI, Zeneca in the U.K., overseeing their Asia Pacific and Latin American operations for their petrochemicals and plastics division. This was followed by a period as CEO at Roche Products Limited after which he moved to Novartis India in 1997. Shahani is president emeritus of the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India and president of the Swiss Indian Chamber of Commerce India. He is on the advisory council of the India Research Centre and serves as chairman of JB Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, and director on the Boards of Hikal and Ambuja Cements.