Purnima Madhivanan, MBBS, PhD, MPH

For the past 20 years, Dr. Madhivanan has focused on disadvantaged populations, elucidating the dynamics of poverty, gender and the environmental determinants of health, in particular the impact on women and children living in rural communities. In 2005, she established a clinic in Mysore, India, while completing her doctoral dissertation. For over a decade, the PHRII/Prerana Women’s Health Initiative has delivered low-cost, high-quality reproductive health services to 24,000 low-income women living in Mysore District. Offering a full-service clinic, molecular laboratory and active affiliations with several major tertiary care hospitals, the site is recognized as a research and training site for global health. The Saving Children Improving Lives Program focused on increasing integrated antenatal care and HIV testing services for women in rural and tribal communities using mobile clinics with the help of women’s self-help groups to mobilize and follow up with women. This program model was then adapted to provide cervical cancer screening services, which is the only community-based cervical cancer screening program in India.

Dr. Madhivanan serves as an adviser to a number of state departments of public health, nonprofit as well as governmental research organizations. Dr. Madhivanan’s global health credentials and clinical service has brought unique opportunities for collaboration, most recently benefiting students and faculty interested in learning about global health and service in a developing world setting.