Preeti Kumar

Biography

Dr Preeti Kumar graduated as a medical doctor with specialisation in Ophthalmology. She holds a Masters degree in Health Policy, Planning and Financing from London School of Economics (LSE) and Diploma in Health systems and Policy from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). She has also obtained post graduate certificate in Health and Family Welfare Management. She is presently working as an Associate Professor as part of the national faculty in Public Health Foundation of India. Concurrently, she is also the Project Director of a BMGF funded HIV/AIDS project, 'Partnership for Sustained Impact', which has been awarded to PHFI to provide techno-managerial and financial support to the HIV/AIDS national programme (NACP-III) for scaling up the national prevention programme across the country. Her academic responsibilities include teaching and research in health systems and health policy. Professionally, she practiced as a Senior Medical Officer between 1987 and 2000, both at the field and district level within the public health system, where she was involved with micro planning and implementation of public healthcare programmes. Thereafter, she joined the Uttar Pradesh Health Systems Development Project, a World Bank Project, as Joint Director and District Programme Manager, at both project management unit and district level respectively, where she was involved with implementation and monitoring of healthcare reforms, including health management information system and capacity building of health care workers. Based on her work she was awarded a WHO fellowship in Community Healthcare and Research in the University of Khonken, Thailand, where her coursework included Health Systems research, Social and Community Health Insurance, Implementation of HIV/AIDS programme at community level. Before joining her present post in PHFI, she worked as National Consultant - WHO, for the India-CCM Secretariat, of the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM), where she was involved with providing technical, administrative and capacity building support to the India-CCM. She successfully facilitated the preparation and submission of GFATM Round 7 grant. Her recent projects in research include a project on "Improving Governance and Accountability in Medicine Supply in India" looking at Transparency and Accountability in Drug Procurement supply system and availability of drugs to the end users in the states of Bihar and Tamil Nadu in India. Another recently concluded research was on "Interactions between Global Health Initiatives and Health Systems: Evidence from countries The Maximising Positive Synergies Academic Consortium," which explored how disease specific programmes in TB and HIV/AIDS interact with health systems.”

Research Interest

Public Health