Panel of Experts

Amir Ullah Khan is Research Director at the Centre for Development Policy and Practice. He is the adjunct faculty at the MCRHRDI of the Government of Telangana, Indian School of Business, Indian School of Public Policy and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. He is a Health Policy columnist for LiveMint. In the past, Dr Khan has worked for the Government of India, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the India Development Foundation.

Santosh Mehrotra, a human development economist (with research in Health, Nutrition, Sanitation, & Education), is Visiting Professor, Centre for Development Studies, University of Bath, and Adjunct Faculty at the Public Health Foundation of India. After an MA in Economics from New School for Social Research, New York, and Phd (Economics), Cambridge University (1985), Santosh spent 15 years with the UN (1991-2006) in research positions, heading UNICEF’s global research programme on social policy for developing countries at the Innocenti Research Centre, Florence, and as chief economist of the global Human Development Report New York. He returned to India to head the Rural Development Division and Development Policy Division of Planning Commission (2006-09), and was lead author of several chapters of the 11th & 12th Five Year Plans of India. He was also the Director General (2009-14) of the National Institute of Labour Economics Research, Planning Commission, in the rank of Secretary to the Government of India. He advises the current NITI, the Ministry of Labour, and the Ministry of Skill Development. His work has been translated into Hindi, Spanish, French, Russian, German and Portuguese. He has published 13 books (including 3 with Cambridge University Press, 4 with Oxford University Press).

Prof. Nirmal Kumar Ganguly, M.D. is the former Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and was also a Distinguished Biotechnology Research Professor, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. In February 2019, Prof. Ganguly was appointed Commissioner of the Lancet Commission for integrated and synergistic program that will accelerate implementation of a global strategy for intervention of Aedes-transmitted viral diseases. Additionally, he has also been invited as a Member of the Advisory Board of Post-Polio World which is supported by Sanofi-Pasteur.

He has held several positions such as President of the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), President of the Asian Institute of Public Health, Bhubaneswar, Odisha and New Delhi; Director, PGIMER, Chandigarh, and Director, National Institute of Biologicals, Noida. He has been General President, Indian Science Congress Association, (2004-05) and President, National Academy of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.

With over 40 years of research and training experience Prof. Ganguly has served in numerous policy and research committees and has published more than 775 research papers and has supervised 130 Ph.D theses as supervisor/so-supervisor. In 2008, he was honored with the prestigious Padma Bhushan Award by the President of India in the field of “Medicine” besides several other prestigious awards, nationally and internationally.

Dr. Urvashi Prasad brings 15 years of expertise as a public health professional, grant maker, and policymaker, with extensive experience in health, nutrition, drinking water, sanitation, gender issues, and public policy. She served as a Director in the Office of the Vice Chairman at NITI Aayog, India’s leading policy think tank, and is notable for being the only lateral entrant to have worked with all three Vice-Chairpersons. Dr. Prasad played a crucial role in the core team of the Government of India’s Empowered Group 1, which managed the COVID-19 pandemic response. She co-authored India’s inaugural Voluntary National Review presented at the United Nations’ High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in 2017 and has published over 100 works. Currently, she holds the position of UK Alumni Ambassador for SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) at the British Council.

In addition to her professional accomplishments, Dr. Prasad is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network and was honored as one of 75 Indian achievers at the UK Parliament during the 75th anniversary of India’s independence. She has been recognized as one of the 25 most influential women in healthcare for 2023 and 2024, as well as one of the 100 most influential women in India in 2023. Furthermore, she was featured in Businessworld magazine’s 40 under 40 list in healthcare for both 2023 and 2024. Dr. Prasad completed her education in Life Sciences and Public Health at the Universities of Birmingham and Cambridge, along with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Professor Virander Chauhan is a visionary scientist and a Rhodes Scholar. He obtained a Ph.D. degree from Delhi University and a D.Phil from Oxford University. He is widely recognized for his research contributions in the field of malaria vaccine development and biological application of synthetic peptides. Dr. Chauhan is an elective member of the three national prominent academies of science in India as well as of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). He is also deeply involved in scholarships and schemes like the Rhodes, Inlaks, and Felix scholarships for Indian students. He was the former chairman of the University Grants Commission (2017) and is currently the chairman of the EC of NAAC. For his scientific and human resource development work he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2012. The former director of International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB ) (1998-2014), he is currently an emeritus professor at the institute where he continues his scientific research.

Insia is an award-winning international filmmaker/child rights activist, TEDx speaker, and a Creative Campaign Strategist who effectively uses her 15 years of expertise as a visual storyteller to highlight social evils through the medium of visual arts and cinema. Her continuous creative efforts on these issues resulted in getting the Union Cabinet Minister, Maneka Gandhi to sanction her first ever study on Male Child Sexual Abuse in India, and investigate co-relations between unresolved abuse in boys, and the growing rape/violence culture. Insia has been instrumental in amending the compensation scheme for boys under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in 2018.

Insia actively engages on child rights issues and successfully runs two non-profits aligned with her area of interest.

She has till date written and directed 10 documentary films, two award winning short fictions and recently debuted with her documentary feature on domestic violence called ‘Till Death Do Us Apart’. The film is creating ripples in the festive circuit and recently got shortlisted for the Globe and Audience Choice awards at ARFF, Amsterdam. In 2019, Insia led a creative campaign for an international organization – Hollywood Health and Society, LA – where she successfully executed a nationwide campaign on creating cancer awareness in India through a film called ‘Say No To Pain’. The film aired in 108 theatres, on social media and national television across India and was viewed by 1 billion people in just 6 months. She was also roped in as a creative campaign consultant for Global Health Strategies, a New York based organisation, who ran a creative campaign on safe abortion – My Body, My Choice.

Her humanitarian awards include the Shoorveer Award, the prestigious ‘Women have Wings’ courage award, U.S.A, and the ‘’We the Women ‘H.E.R’ award, in India, partnered by U.N Women. On Women’s day in 2018, she featured as one of the 100 most inspiring women of India, in a book called ‘The Phenomenal She’, and has been featured by BBC World on their series My Indian Life’ – with Bollywood actress Kalki Koechlin.

Dr. Nozer Sheriar is an obstetrician and gynecologist practicing at the Breach Candy, PD Hinduja Khar and Holy Family hospitals in Mumbai. He is the co-chair of the Medical Advisory Panel, Family Planning Association of India and has served as the Scientific Chair of the XXII FIGO World Congress organised in Rio de Janeiro in 2018. He serves as a member of the Technical Advisory Group on MCH and the Technical Sub Committee for SRH of the South East Asia Region of the WHO; and is a member of the Governing Boards of IPAS and the Guttmacher Institute, a leading research organisation on reproductive health and rights.

In the past he has served as the Secretary General of the Federation of Obstetric and Gynecological Societies of India (FOGSI) and was the President of Mumbai Obstetric & Gynecological Society (MOGS). As Past Chairperson of the MTP Committee, FOGSI and member of the Technical Advisory Panel, MOHFW, GOI, he participated in the amendment of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act and the development of the national comprehensive abortion care guidelines, propagated the cause of safe abortions by conducting over 60 workshops, created training videos and conducted multicentric research. Dr. Sheriar has served as a member of the Regional Council and of the Governing Council of International Planned Parenthood Federation, South Asia Region.

Dr Sekhar Bonu is a Senior Fellow at the NITI Aayog.

He worked as the Director General, Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO), NITI Aayog from April 2019 to June 2022.
Before joining NITI Aayog, Dr Bonu worked at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Manila, Philippines from 2004 to 2019. At ADB, he worked on health, urban infrastructure development and regional cooperation, mainly in the South Asia region.

Dr Bonu worked in the Indian Administrative Services and served as a civil servant in Rajasthan between 1987-2003, among others, as district magistrate, director of primary and secondary education, and chief executive officer of state-owned enterprises.

Dr Bonu has a PhD from Johns Hopkins University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst charter holder. He has a research interest in state capacity building, service delivery, outcomes measurements, etc. and has published in peer-review journals.

Sita Shankar Wunnava is currently a freelance consultant in public health. She has over thirty-five years of experience with international health programs, including community-based HIV/AIDS prevention programs, gender programming and adolescent reproductive health projects in India. She has worked with the UN, International and National Organizations, in a multi-cultural environment. Her core competencies include designing, developing and managing large public health and development programs; institutional capacity building, mentoring and team building; proposal development; developing training curricula and modules and action research; and monitoring and evaluation.

Sita’s past roles include Deputy Country Director at EngenderHealth, Director Programs at the Antara Foundation; Director, Maternal, Child Health and Nutrition, PATH India; Deputy Country Representative, Pathfinder International, India Country Office; Social Counselor, UNHCR as well as consultancies with organisations such as Project Concern International and UNDP.

Sita holds a Masters in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and is a Bachelor of Arts from the Madras University, Chennai, India. She is a Population Leadership Fellow from the University of Washington, Seattle, USA. She was a member of ICMR’s Expert Consultative Group on HIV/AIDS, and is a member of the White Ribbon Alliance. Sita has presented widely at international conferences, on subjects related to HIV/AIDs, maternal and child health, safe abortion, adolescent health and gender, and youth fertility and family planning. She has authored a chapter on ‘Innovative Simple Technology for Safe Motherhood’ in the book Safe Motherhood Initiative – the silent revolution published by PATH and FOGSI.

Anubha Rastogi is a Mumbai based lawyer practising law for the past 18 years. Her areas of interest include women’s rights with a special focus on sexual and reproductive justice. She is an Advisory Group Member for the Pratigya Campaign for Safe Abortion and has authored 2 reports on the role of the judiciary in accessing abortion in India. She is also a Special Prosecutor for SEBI.

Educated at India’s Mayo College in Rajasthan, and St. Stephen’s College in the University of Delhi, Mr. Thapan has had a diverse and distinguished career in public service. He spent his first 18 years in the Auditor General’s Department in India before moving to the Asian Development Bank in Manila. His stint in India included secondments to the External Finance Division of the Government of India’s Department of Economic Affairs, and the Ministry of Steel and Mines as Director (Finance).

He has worked on Water and Development for more than 3 decades and is a universally recognized thought leader on the subject. He authored the Water Policy of the Asian Development Bank, led its Water Community of Practice, was Director General of its Southeast Asia Department, and finished his two decades at the Bank as the President’s Special Senior Adviser for Infrastructure and Water.

Arjun also chaired the World Economic Forum’s Global Council on Water Security (2007-2010) and was instrumental in the formulation of the Davos Initiative that was premised on the concept of the food-water-energy nexus. Later, he served on the advisory boards of Suez Environnement in Europe, and Xylem Inc. in the United States, both global giants in water and energy services, and water technology.

He is currently a Senior Advisor for Asian Development Finance at the World Food Programme. He lives in Manila and helps manage WaterLinks, an NGO established in 2012 to promote higher efficiencies in water and sanitation utilities in the Asia-Pacific region.