Who We Are?
Ambassadors
National Office
State Offices
New Delhi
Mr. V R Raman
National Convenor
VR Raman is one of the founders of the Public Health Resource Network and Public Health Resource Society. He is a public health expert with over twenty-five years of nationwide involvement in the development sector, with his experience spread across sectors including three flagship missions of India namely National Literacy Mission, National Health Mission, and the Swachh Bharat Mission. Started his social involvement with Kerala Shastra Sahitya Parishad during late 1980’s in Kerala, Raman shifted to north India in early 1990s to work as one of the National Coordinators of Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samithi (BGVS). With BGVS, he played important roles in its nationwide initiatives on literacy, universalisation of elementary education, women empowerment and community health. During this time, he also led a pilot study entitled “A Multi-Sectoral Approach to Health”, in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand as its Chief Functionary. He was the founding General Convener for the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan too, for its Uttar Pradesh state Chapter.
In 2002, Raman was part of co-founding the State Health Resource Centre in the state of Chhattisgarh, a unique state-civil society partnership institution, which he served as Chief Program Coordinator and later, as Director-in charge. Here, he spearheaded several pioneering and statewide health sector initiatives such as the Mitanin community health volunteer program that is the pre-cursor of the ASHA program under National Health Mission, Swasth Panchayat Program that developed health and human development index to aid health planning by local governments, EQUIP program for strengthening first referral units, Chhattisgarh Rural Medical Corps that came with a scheme to deploy a dedicated medical workforce for the hard to reach areas of the state, Jeevan Deep Program for development and accreditation of public hospitals, developing the new cadre of medical service providers in rural health facilities deploying three year medical graduates, and so on. Later, he guided the planning and operationalisation of the institutional support mechanisms for Village Health Committees and Sahiyya Community Health Volunteer initiatives in the state of Jharkhand, representing a partnership between Jharkhand Health Society, Child In Need Institute, National Health Systems Resource Centre and ICICI Centre for Child Health and Nutrition. He was also part of the National Eavluation Team for the ASHA community Health Worker initiative under the National Rural Health Mission.
In 2011, Raman served as a Technical Advisor to the High Level Expert Group (HLEG) for Universal Health Coverage set up by the Planning Commission of India, and contributed to the HLEG recommendations on community participation, human resources for health, urban health and social determinants of health. Later, he co-founded the Health Governance Hub at the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and served the PHFI as its Principal Fellow and Advisor. Since 2016, he is working with WaterAid as its Head of Policy in India, leading several important research and advocacy initiatives on water, sanitation and hygiene policies and programs.
Raman’s current/ past involvements in various boards/ committees include: Governing Body of the State Health Resource Centre Chhattisgarh; Governing board of the Jharkhand State Health Resource Centre; Core Advisory Group on Health of the National Human Rights Commission; Executive Committee of the Delhi Science Forum; Executive Committee of the Medico Friend Circle; National Coordination Committee of the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan; Working Group for the National Urban Health Mission; Special invitee to the National ASHA Mentoring Group; Technical Resource Person to the National Health Systems Resource Centre; Member of the Expert Group on Human Resources for Health at the National Institute of Health and Family Welfare; Co-convener of the thematic initiatives on systems thinking and health systems complexities as part of the Health Systems Global; and Member of the Expert Committee, National Bureau of Health Intelligence.
Raman is an alumnus of School of Public Health, University of the Western Cape, South Africa and University of Calicut, Kerala, India.
Dr. Vandana Prasad
Technical Advisor
Dr. Vandana Prasad (MBBS, MRCP-Pediatrics, MPH) is a community pediatrician and public health professional and has been engaged with the social sector for over twenty five years. Her main experience and expertise is in the area of malnutrition, health systems strengthening and child rights and she has many publications on these issues to her credit. Available at https://www.researchgate.net
She has been a Joint National Convenor of People’s Health Movement-India (Jan Swasthya Abhiyan) and an active member of the Right to Food Campaign. Dr. Prasad has also served the Government of India as Member (Child Health), National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
She is the founding Secretary, PHRS and has also contributed as its ED from time to time. She has been the National Convenor PHRN for over ten years from inception till 2020. Dr Prasad has been leading models for community-based-management of malnutrition and participatory learning and action with women’s groups in tribal/rural communities with the organisation, along with research and documentation.
Ms. Rupa Prasad
Executive Director
Rupa Prasad is a public health professional and has been working in the social sector for over 17 years. She has an expertise in system strengthening, health human resource, nursing and midwifery education and nutrition. She brings in management expertise and good at overall organization development and project management. Rupa has done M.Phil in Social Science (Public Health, 2010) from Centre for Social Medicine and Community, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and also pursuing PhD in the areas of maternal health and nursing education and training from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She has worked in development sector organizations and with consulting firms.
Dr. Aditi Hegde
Senior Program Coordinator
Dr Aditi Hegde is a public health professional with an MPH degree from the University of California, Berkeley. She has been an active member of the Public Health Resource Network since 2017. While working at PHRS, she has worked closely on various public health research projects as well as large-scale health and nutrition projects. She is proficient in data analysis and has effective writing skills. Aditi has also been involved as a resource person in intra- and inter-organizational training programs on public health, health equity, public health nutrition, and health systems. Her areas of interest include global health policy and programs; health inequities; health of marginalized and particularly vulnerable communities; health systems; social determinants of health; and public health nutrition.
Dr. Nousheen Fatima
Program Coordinator
Dr. Nousheen Fatima is a Public Health Professional and holds a master’s degree in public health from JIPMER, Puducherry. She is a healthcare enthusiast with affinity towards child health. She is highly dedicated and motivated to bring change in the healthcare delivery system through her prompt and active participation in public health programmes. She is a flexible team player and proficient in public health research (quantitative as well as qualitative) and management. She is skilled in analytical software e.g., SPSS and STATA. She has shown multi-faceted leadership and reflects competency in scientific as well as creative tasks e.g., newsletters, brochures and drafting reports.
Mr. Vivek Goel
Senior Accounts and Administrative Officer
Mr. Vivek Goel is the Accounts and Administrative Officer of PHRS since 1st December 2016. He has completed his Graduation (Commerce and computer application) from M.D university Rohtak and currently pursuing CA Final. Before joining PHRS he has worked with SPS Associates & J.K Verma & Company (C.A Firms) as Accounts and Audit Assistant. He has experience of Internal Audit as well as Statutory Audits.
Mr. Vijay Kumar Rai
Office Assistant
Odisha
Dr. Madan Mohan Pradhan
State Convenor
Dr. Madan Mohan Pradhan has done MBBS and master’s in Applied Epidemiology from Chennai. He is an Additional District Public Health Officer, NVBDCP Odisha. To carry forward the people’s health movement, to strengthen the public health system through capacity building, research, innovations and model building he has voluntarily associated himself with Public health resource network, India since last so many years.
He has led the Literacy Campaign under National Literacy Mission Authority, (NLMA) Ministry of HRD, Government of India. During his association with the literacy movement, he had joined the “Literacy-To-Health campaign” supported by NLMA as part of the post-literacy strategies focusing functional literacy. He had played a pivotal role in mainstreaming the civil society participation in the overall process of development starting from education, health, gender, livelihood, disaster management, Indian system of medicines and has taken a lead role in implementing GO-NGO partnership in the state. Recently he has been awarded by WHO for his innovative malaria-control mode “DAMaN”
Mr. Satya Narayan Patnaik
Senior Programme Coordinator, Bhubaneswar
Satya has been in the field of Health, Nutrition and Public Health Management for the last 20 years. During this period, he has been actively involved in RCH-II programs, IPDP (Integrated Population Development Program supported by UNDP & Government of Odisha), NHM, NHSRC, IFPRI, ICCHN, Save the Children, Plan India, and other civil society organizations in various capacities. Besides, he has worked extensively in the field of disaster management and post-disaster livelihood restoration projects jointly implemented by BGVS and Action Aid, India and UNDP.
Mr. Shahnawaz Khan
Senior Programme Coordinator, Rayagada
Shahhnawaz Khan has been working with PHRS since February 2009. Currently working as programme coordinator based in Rayagada, Odisha. Previously had been associated with AAM project and handled technical support to ASHA training in 12 districts of Bihar. Major area of interests are health and nutrition. He has completed his masters in business administration with specialization in human resource.
Ms. Swati Priyambada Das
Senior Programme Coordinator, Bhubaneswar
She is a public health professional with an experience of more than 12 years in this field. She holds an M. Phil. degree in Social Medicine and Community Health from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Prior to joining PHRN, she worked as Senior Research Associate at the Indian Institute of Public Health – Gandhinagar (IIPHG) and as Technical Expert, Child Health, Welfare & Development, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). Her areas of interest include child health and child rights, gender, tribal health, health of informal sector workers, health policies, and history of medicine.
Dr. Swagata Lakshmi Tarafdar
Program Coordinator
With over 5 years of involvement in the Public Health sector as an Oral healthcare professional, I have spent my work hours working hard, committed to providing the patients with a comfortable and successful experience.
Having completed my Bachelors of Dental Surgery from SOA University, I have graduated my Masters in Public Health (MPH) from the renowned Utakl University in the year 2019 for which I was the college topper.
Going over my on-field experiences, my first internship was with the IDS and SUM hospital from Dec 2014 to 2015 during which I efficiently managed the dental issues and needs of the patients with utmost respect and comfort. Afterwards, from 2016 I joined as a Dental Surgeon at Bibhuti Bhusan Memorial Dental Centre. There I not only provided patients care with their oral health problems but also organized and conducted regular dental camps. For Jan’17-jan’18 period I was appointed the Dental Surgeon at Healthcare Diagnostic and Rx Pharma Polyclinic, where I catered to various roles and responsibilities assigned.
From 2018 January onwards I started practising as an independent Dental Surgeon and with experience, I became adept in pain management. Afterwards, I served under the Swacch Bharat Summer Internship in Bhubaneswar as Public Health Intern where I organized many awareness activities, conducted door to door visits to help drive behavioural change. I also became a part of the Solid Waste Management campaign and organized many cleaning activities. From Dec 2018 till Apr 2019, I worked as a Public Health Intern at RMRC, Bhubaneswar, researching the effectiveness of food supplementation on treatment outcomes and nutritional status of adults with pulmonary tuberculosis in the state of Odisha.
Starting from April 2019 till date, I have been working as a Project Assistant at ICMR, NIRT as a key Project Assistant, where I helped identify issues and risks associated with tuberculosis and assisted in provisioning recommendations for improvement, training, and sensitization of various stakeholders, established survey sites and planned activities. I also helped to conduct census enumeration by visiting households and ensured the participation of community members.
Ms. Pramita Satapathy
Programme Coordinator, Rayagada
Pramita Satapathy has been associated with the development field since 1994 and has worked with different Government and Non-government organizations. She has good skills in capacity building and knowledge of working with the community, team, and different stakeholders. Since 2016 she has been associated with Public Health Resource Society (PHRS) and supporting programme implementation team on different activities, especially on nutrition and early childhood skill and reaching development milestones, documenting the progress of children and providing information to parents, hands-on activities to promote understanding and engagement, maintaining safety and classroom discipline with positive reinforcement.
She has completed MA in Economics from Berhampur University, Odisha with a special paper – Labour Economics, holds an MSW degree from Vinayaka Missions University, Tamilnadu, completed her post-graduation on Early Childhood Care and Education from Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science & Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore under the Ministry of Education and done post-graduation on Public Health Nutrition from PHFI. She also has done a certificate course on “Art and Science of Community Health” from Mitra Training and Resource unit-CHB, Odisha.
Mr. Manas Ranjan Padhy
District Lead Coordinator, Rayagada
Manas holds an MSW degree from Madurai Kamraju University, Tamil Nadu. He has approximately 8 years of experience and has previously worked in the Vedanta Balchetana Anganawadi Project (VBAP) and Global PVT Education Project.
Mr. Niraj Kumar Shrivastava
Accounts and Administrative Officer, Rayagada
He has completed MBA in Finance from IGNOU after completion of B. Com. from Ranchi University. He has more than 16 years of experience in Accounting and Administration.
Mr. Dilip Kumar Basantaray
District Lead Coordinator, Koraput
Dilip has obtained a Master’s in Social Science degree and has almost 19 years of experience in the social sector. He is skilled in livelihood promotion, disaster preparedness, and nutrition management and has expertise in the Participatory Learning and Action approach. He is also a Trainer on SHG management, entrepreneurship development, disaster risk management, PLA, CBOs management, and nutrition and creche management.
Mr. Mukesh Kumar Behera
District Lead Coordinator, Kalahandi
Mr. Mukesh Kumar Behera has been associated with PHRS since July 2019 and as such working as District Project officer for Kalahandi district of Odisha in “Mainstreaming Creches to reduce Malnutrition in Odisha” project. He has completed his MA in Rural development from IGNOU and holds the degree of LLB & PGDCA from Sambalpur university. He has been working for last 16 years in the development sector and been associated with various NGOs, CBOs in sector of Health & Nutrition, Water sanitation, Mother & child health, RCH, HIV/AIDS, Health, Education, Tribal empowerment & livelihood. As well as acted as Resource person in various capacity building programme at grassroot level and middle level staff regarding various government schemes, community development, women empowerment, gender issues, ECCE as well as various health related topics.
Mr. Shankar Samal
Office Assistant, Rayagada
Mr. Saroj Bhoi
Office Assistant, Bhubaneswar
Jharkhand
Mr. Haldar Mahto
State Convenor
Mr. Haldar Mahato has done MSc in Social Policy from London School of Economics and Political Science and Master’s in Public Health (MPH) from University of Western Cape as well as an MSc in Chemistry from Ranchi University and an MBA in Rural Management from XISS, Ranchi.
His experiences over 25 years in rural development sector with various not for profit organizations of which major with Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN) as executive and Public Health Resource Network (PHRN) as founder member, coordinator, manager and board member. The major areas of works were in the capacities of as learner, implementer, manager, training and capacity building, coach, strategy planner in the areas of livelihoods generation, women empowerment, public health and public health research.
Beside these, major role played on policy advocacy have been starting of MDM scheme in Jharkhand, Eggs in both AWCs and MDMs and in improving the implementation of MGNREGA in the state.
With the Government closely worked as Ombudsman (Lokpal) MGNREGA and as member, State Vigilance and Monitoring Committee deployed by GOI for Jharkhand State.
Presently working as Member, State Food Commission Government of Jharkhand, to ensure implementation of National Food Security Act, 2013 in the state.
Ms. Shampa Roy
Senior Programme Coordinator
Ms. Shampa Roy is engaged as Programme Coordinator in PHRN since 2008. She has experience in working both with Government Societies and Non-Government organizations in the State of Jharkhand. She works mostly with the issues related to livelihoods, womens’ empowerment, health and nutrition of women and children. She has done her Post Graduation Diploma in Rural Development from Xavier Institute of Social Service.
Mr. Rajesh Sriwastwa
Senior Programme Coordinator
He has been associated with PHRS since 2011. He has done Post Graduation Diploma in Rural Development from XISS, Ranchi in 1998. He has worked as a rural development professional for 16 years in the areas of malnutrition, watershed development, strengthening of village based institutions, women empowerment, agriculture, fishery, livelihood, child labour, capacity building, etc.
Mr. Sunil Kumar Thakur
Programme Coordinator
He is pursuing Ph.D. in Sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and has completed M.Phil. in Development Studies from Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi.
Chhattisgarh
Ms. Sulakshana Nandi
State Convenor
Ms. Sulakshana Nandi has been involved with the Public Health Resource Network (PHRN) since its conception. She is the State Convenor for PHRN Chhattisgarh, where she has been working for the last six and a half years. She has been actively associated with several leading campaigns in the state like Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (as State Convenor), Right to Food Campaign etc. especially in facilitation, training and technical (including legal) support to tribal organizations on issues of the right to health and food. She holds a Master of Arts in Social Work from Jamia Millia Islamia. She has extensively worked in Rajasthan and MP in areas of women’s rights and SHG based women’s organizations etc. Some of her publications include Mitanin’s struggles to reform PDS and to fight state sponsored ‘Deforestation’ and Addressing Women’s Concerns in NRHM. etc.
Bihar
Mr. Rafay Eajaz Hussain
State Convenor