Alok Kumar Deb

Biography

Dr. Deb graduated from NRS Medical College & Hospital, Kolkata in 1990 and served there as a resident house physician in the departments of internal medicine and hematology. He started his research career in 1993 as a Senior Research Fellow at the National Institute of Cholera & Enteric Diseases (NICED), Kolkata, which is one of the premier institutes under Indian Council of Medical Research and is a WHO collaborative center for research and training on diarrheal diseases. In 1999, he received a fellowship from the NIH/Fogarty International Center, USA to pursue doctoral studies in Epidemiology in School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles and earned his PhD in 2006. Since 2002, he is serving NICED as a Senior Research Officer (Scientist 'C') in the Division of Epidemiology. During his research career, he worked in various capacities in a number of research projects on different aspects diarrheal diseases, including drug trials and trials of different formulations of ORS (hypoosmolar and rice-based) in children and adults. He acted as co-investigator in large community-based vaccine trials for typhoid fever and cholera, and participated in advanced vaccinology courses in Korea and France. As the principal investigator, he worked and supervised in studies related to Haemophilus influenzae type b infections in children, HIV in migrant workers and cholera vaccination in infants. He also served as technical expert in various project development meetings including WHO/TDR meetings and as a consultant of diarrheal disease program of Institute for One World Health, USA. His special interest is in identifying data gaps in important public health areas and conducting methodologically sound studies that can potentially fill-in those gaps and improve the health of the community through planning and formulation of better health actions and policies.

Research Interest

Dr. Deb's main interest is in community-based studies on diarrhea and HIV, with particular emphasis on studies that are helpful in filling-in the gaps in existing knowledge base. He also has a special interest in undertaking projects that can give newer directions in health planning and policy development.