Ahmedabad University Launches School of Public Health to Foster Better Health Through Education, Research, and Action

Ahmedabad University announced the launch of its School of Public Health with a mission to improve health and the environment locally, nationally, and globally. The goals of the School are to train leaders who can develop wholistic solutions to interdisciplinary problems pertinent to the 21st century, and to educate and inspire individuals, communities, and organisations. Kaumudi Joshipura, Doctor of Science in Epidemiology from Harvard University, USA, has been named the Dean of the School. She also holds the Susmita and Subroto Bagchi Professorship in Public Health endowed by Susmita Bagchi, Odia writer and Chairperson, MoSchool, and Subroto Bagchi, Co-founder of Mindtree, and Chairman, Odisha Skill Development Authority.

School of Public Health at Ahmedabad University

The long-term goals are to develop a comprehensive globally impactful School of Public Health. The initial education focus is planned in Environmental Health and Analytical Sciences including Data Science, Biostatistics and Epidemiology, and executive education. The School will offer an unprecedented opportunity for strong interdisciplinary collaborative education, research, and implementation, with a driving goal of addressing complex, at-scale societal challenges.

Pankaj Chandra, Vice Chancellor, Ahmedabad University, said, “The School of Public Health will foster better health through education and research. The Susmita and Subroto Bagchi Chair Professorship supports our interdisciplinary perspective around problem-solving and is a significant step towards attracting the best minds of the world to our School of Public Health. Through the School, we will seed teaching and research in one of the most critical areas of our times. We will establish a research programme around data and evidence in public health. Professor Joshipura has a vision and a strategic plan to build the School of Public Health at Ahmedabad University.”

Sharing her vision for the School, Professor Kaumudi Joshipura, Dean, School of Public Health, said, “Public Health faces multiple pressing challenges globally, with low public awareness and low prioritisation of resources. India has made great strides in recent decades, but still needs more well-trained professionals who can conduct high-quality research and solve complex problems. The School of Public Health will build on Ahmedabad University’s overall vision and interdisciplinary programmes, and focus on improving human and planetary health through multiple creative initiatives integrating research, education, and health promotion.”

Mr Subroto Bagchi, Co-founder of Mindtree, and Chairman, Odisha Skill Development Authority, said, “Institution building is not an easy thing. Ahmedabad University has the spirit of a startup, and it is a most unusual spirit to have. The University has taken on a complex issue with the School of Public Health, but it will go a long way. The difficulties that came up in COVID 19 gave us an opportunity to understand that studies at Ahmedabad University will provide us with multidisciplinary solutions to these challenges.”

Mr Sanjay Lalbhai, Chancellor, Ahmedabad University, said, “When you compare the 1.2 billion people that India has and the outlay we are spending on health, you realise how insufficient it is. The Government is doing a lot but pushing all the problems there will not help. Private institutions need to come in to make a huge difference. We are aware that the challenges are immense. How do you deliver healthcare effectively to a large population using newer technologies With the School of Public Health, we are going to create solutions.”

About Professor Kaumudi Joshipura

Professor Kaumudi Joshipura has over 30 years experience and has been continuously funded. Her work spans Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Nutrition, Health Promotion, and more recently, Disaster Preparedness and Climate Change. She is an Adjunct Professor at Harvard University. She has received several awards and has over 100 publications in international peer-reviewed journals. Her work has featured in global media, including Newsweek, Forbes, and CNN. Professor Joshipura has served as the NIH Endowed Chair and Director of the Center for Clinical Research and Health Promotion at the University of Puerto Rico. She was a consultant/advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO), Unilever, Medtronics, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and is currently on the Advisory Board of the American Public Health Association’s (APHA) Center for Climate, Health and Equity.

Professor Joshipura’s research interests include global health, modifiable lifestyle factors, cardiometabolic disease prevention, and climate change. She focuses on identifying and promoting preventive measures that are free, low-cost, or cost-saving, and that can be adopted widely and globally. To this end, she founded a global public movement, VMove, to help individuals and organisations incorporate physical activity throughout the day.

About Ahmedabad University

Ahmedabad University is a leading private, non-profit research university offering students a liberal education focused on interdisciplinary learning, practice orientation, and research thinking.

• Recognised by the Government of Gujarat as a Centre of Excellence.

• Accredited with A grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).

• Received a 5-star rating, the highest awarded in the Gujarat State Institutional Rating Framework (GSIRF) for 2021-22 by the Knowledge Consortium of Gujarat (KCG), Department of Education, Government of Gujarat.

• Recognised by the UGC under section 12(B) of the UGC Act, becoming one of the very few private research universities to have been awarded this recognition for select research universities.

The University, established in 2009, is rooted in the vision of one of India’s finest educational foundations, the Ahmedabad Education Society, which was founded in 1935 by nationalist leaders. Programmes at the University range from bachelors to doctoral levels in humanities and social sciences, natural sciences, engineering, and management through its 10 Schools and Centres:

Amrut Mody School of Management | School of Arts and Sciences | School of Engineering and Applied Science | School of Public Health | Centre for Heritage Management | International Centre for Space and Cosmology | VentureStudio | Centre for Learning Futures | Global Centre for Environment and Energy | Centre for Inter-Asian Research | Ahmedabad Design Lab.

An urban university, Ahmedabad promotes independent-mindedness and diversity across all dimensions of its activity and helps students mature into critical thinkers who are analytically equipped, practically oriented, and contextually aware global citizens. The University provides a contemporary educational framework that brings liberal arts, sciences, and the professions to engage together in creating new knowledge for addressing complex challenges of the society and in offering majors that merge the boundaries of disciplines to prepare students for the new economy.