Dr (Prof) Ajay Shukla
Dr (Prof.) Ajay Shukla is an eminent Orthopaedic Surgeon, presently the Director & Medical Superintendent of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences & Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi. With an illustrious career of over 34 years in clinical, surgical, teaching, and research, he has published several research papers in journals of national and international ranking. Under his vision and leadership, the institute won second prize in this year’s Kayakalp Award, an all-India level award constituted by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, GOI. Dr. (Prof.) Ajay Shukla is the elected President of the Delhi Orthopaedics Association (DOA). He has won the Health Care Achievers Award 2023 for “Outstanding Health Care Professional of the Year – Orthopaedics” by Worldwide Achievers at Hotel Shangri-La Eros, New Delhi. He also won the “Legendary Medical Professional” award to recognize his significant contribution in the field of Medical Administration & Education, the Diamond Jubilee Year Award 2023 by DMA in New Delhi. Dr. (Prof.) Ajay Shukla completed his MBBS & MD (Orthopaedics) from GSVM Medical College, Kanpur in 1987 and 1991 respectively.
Dr Bhargavi Rao
Dr Bhargavi Rao works part-time at the Manson Unit, MSF UK as the strategic lead for research and a Malaria/Infectious Diseases specialist. She is also a Clinical Associate Professor in Humanitarian Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, which includes co-leading the new MSc distance learning program on Health in Humanitarian Crises. Bhargavi has worked in humanitarian responses across multiple contexts and is a public health clinician with a PhD in infectious disease epidemiology.
Dr Emilie Venables
Dr Emilie Venables is an anthropologist and qualitative researcher with 20 years of research experience in a range of contexts in Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Europe. She has worked on issues including sexual violence, Ebola, HIV/AIDS, TB, migration, and malaria. She holds a PhD and MSc in African Studies from the University of Edinburgh, an MSc in Development Studies from SOAS, University of London, and a BA in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge.
Dr Venables has worked for MSF since 2012 in various positions, including anthropologist, researcher, and qualitative research advisor. She is currently working for MSF as a Regional Health Promotion Focal Point, focusing on several countries in Asia. Emilie has also worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as a Senior Operational Researcher and Course Coordinator for the Addressing Sexual Violence courses at the Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies.
Emilie was a founding member of the ICRC’s Ethics Review Board and also established and facilitated the first qualitative research SORT-IT course. She holds an honorary appointment at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and an Honorary Fellowship at the University of Edinburgh, UK.
Dr Himanshu Mohan Kumar
Dr Himanshu M is a physician and global health professional with an interest in quantitative research and health programming. In the past seven years, Himanshu has worked in medical leadership roles in MSF missions, including those of emergencies. He comes with research experience in medical programming, health system analysis, HIV, HCV, maternal health, and child growth. Himanshu currently leads the Patna antimicrobial resistance initiative of MSF OCA.
Dr Kalyan Krishna Velivela
Dr Kalyan Krishna Velivela, MBBS DTMPH MIH, has been working with MSF since 2008. He started his career with MSF as a medical doctor and later worked as Medical Coordinator for 10 years in various missions in Africa, and South and Central Asia. He was involved in Primary and Secondary Health care, and Vertical Programs (like TB/MDR-TB, HIV, Hepatitis, and Neglected Tropical Diseases, etc.), and emergencies. With MSF, his focus was on providing medical-operational strategic guidance, planning, implementation, and monitoring of health programs, as well as being involved in different operational research topics. Currently, he works as a ‘Health Programs Manager’ with MSF OCA, overseeing Ethiopia and South Sudan (earlier, he was engaged with Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Malaysia). Before joining MSF, he was a clinician in India. He possesses an MSc. in International Health from Charité University and Karolinska Institute and was an ‘Erasmus Scholarship student’ in the past.
Dr Kavita Singh
Dr Kavita Singh is Director, South-Asia for Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, which is a drug Research & Development organization. Her career has been at the interface of clinical research, public health, and advancements of innovations for delivery. She has worked with the pharma industry, government, and non-profits. Dr. Singh served as Mission Director, National Biopharma Mission, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC). Prior to that, as a Program Director of Multi Vaccines Development Program, she led this not-for-profit scientific research society established by the Dept. of Biotechnology. Dr. Kavita Singh worked as Director, Business Development at Fortis Clinical Research Limited, as a Group Leader, Medical Affairs & Clinical Research at Ranbaxy Laboratories, and as Head, Medical Affairs at Shantha Biotechnics Private Limited, Hyderabad (now Sanofi Healthcare India Pvt. Ltd.).
She is a trained physician with an MD in Microbiology and a Postgraduate Diploma in Epidemiology. Dr Kavita Singh is a life member of the Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists and Indian Society of Clinical Research.
Dr Petros Isaakidis
Dr Petros Isaakidis, MD, PhD in epidemiology, has worked as a clinician and epidemiologist with a focus on infectious disease surveillance and outbreak investigations. He served as a biological disaster planner for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Since 1997, Petros has been involved with humanitarian organizations, primarily Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), working across multiple countries including Zimbabwe, Palestine, Kenya, Cambodia, Thailand, India, and South Africa. His roles have included coordinating medical programs, particularly large-scale HIV and TB projects, and supporting evidence generation through field-based operational research. In 2012, he became a Senior Operational Research Fellow at MSF Luxembourg’s Operational Research Unit (LuxOR), mentoring participants in Structured Operational Research Training Initiative (SORT-IT) courses across Europe, Africa, and South Asia. In 2017, he joined the MSF Southern Africa Medical Unit (SAMU) in Cape Town as Operational Research Coordinator. There, he supports a diverse research portfolio covering HIV, TB, hepatitis C, and non-communicable diseases across sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. His contributions to the field include over 150 peer-reviewed publications, which have received more than 5,300 citations.
Dr Rameez Akhtar
Dr Rameez Akhtar, an MBBS, MPH, Dip. Diabetes and trained in interventional Cardiology from KEMU. He has been affiliated with MSF since 2015 and currently working as Association’s Board Member & Member of MSF OCA MedCom.
Dr Sevantee Ghosh
Dr Sevantee Ghosh, MBBS, MPH, is the Strategic Medical Lead of the MRIS (Medical, Research, Innovation and Social Mission) Unit for MSF South Asia and the chair of the editorial committee for MSF Asia Scientific Days. Sevantee’s association with MSF started way back in 2016, and since then she has worked with MSF in various capacities in local as well as international contexts. A medical doctor by background with training in public health, Sevantee has delivered Primary and Secondary Health care projects across various Vertical Programs like MCH/SRH, SGBV, HIV-TB, and Hepatitis in stable as well as emergency contexts. Sevantee’s research experience and interests lie in areas like health equity and rights-based research, participatory research, healthcare system strengthening, patient-centered care, and issues of healthcare access in conflict settings.
Dr Sujata Elizabeth Mathews
Dr Sujata Elizabeth Mathews is an M.D. in Medicine, graduate from Lady Hardinge Medical College. She has 17 years of clinical and teaching experience in various hospitals and institutes including Maulana Azad Medical College, St. Stephen’s Hospital, and Holy Family Hospital. She completed the EULAR certified Course in Rheumatic Diseases in 2016. A Fellow of the Indian College of Physicians and member of API (Association of Physicians of India), she has chaired and spoken at several conferences.
She is presently employed as Professor of Medicine at ABVIMS Medical College and Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. Besides guiding postgraduate theses, she is involved in clinical research on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and spondyloarthritides. She is also a member of the national subcommittee for causality assessment of AEFIs following COVID-19 immunization and served as faculty for the National Emergency Life Support Course from 2017 to 2022. She has been a faculty expert for various regional workshops on AEFI Surveillance and Response Operational Guidelines organized by WHO and the Ministry of Health since 2022.
