I am a health economist who is passionate about studying health and food security of people living in resource constrained contexts. My research program adopts a transdisciplinary perspective in evaluating health interventions and offers actionable recommendations to enhance the efficacy of health interventions. Specifically, I explore questions related to access, affordability, availability, of community resources and the impacts of policies on these resources. I am also interested in understanding how inequality within communities impacts health and food security outcomes. My research context covers the global south with a special focus on India. 

I believe that solving complex development issues requires weaving insights across disciplines to both understand these problems as well as address them cogently. I use this approach while designing research methodologies to answer timely questions related to global food systems. I try to go the extra mile to co-create knowledge with practitioners and policy makers who are working on making real world impact in communities. I also utilize this approach in my teaching where I seek to bring a holistic and multi-disciplinary view on the debates and discussions around the opportunities, challenges, and strengths of global food systems. 

Prior to joining UVM’s Community Development and Applied Economics Department, I wore many hats. 

As an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Nevada, Reno (2020-2023), I worked on two major research areas - 1. Identifying determinants of food insecurity in global health systems and 2. Evaluating cost-effectiveness of health insurance. My experience entailed working with large health datasets and running causal estimation methods such as two-way fixed effects, differences-in-differences (DID), panel fixed effects, instrumental variables, and Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions to evaluate global health programs. My research has been published in premier academic journals such as Journal of Development Economics, World Development, Journal of Development Studies, Economics Letters, Economics and Human Biology, Food Policy, and the Journal of Business Ethics.

During my post-doc (2016-2020) at Cornell University, I worked in an inter-disciplinary team researching food security in India. I worked with nutritionists, food scientists, plant and animal scientists, in addition to sociologists and applied economists (to name a few) – on developing programs to reduce food insecurity. My book, “Transforming Food Systems for a Rising India”, explores the challenges and opportunities to develop a nutrition-secure food systems for India in the age of the Anthropocene. This book has been downloaded by more than 160,000 readers across the world. Prior to doing a PhD, I worked as a field agent In India. I traveled across villages and states within the country to better understand rural economic development issues. I worked with the local government in evaluating public policies. I also worked in a multi-disciplinary team with social entrepreneurs who were delivering internet-based health, agriculture, education services across rural India. Exposure to these multi-disciplinary views continues to influence and inform my research. My research efforts have been recognized and awarded through the Postdoc Achievement Award for Excellence in Leadership at Cornell University (2019), Taraknath Das Foundation Grant in Aid (Columbia University 2013) and the Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship Award at the University of California, Riverside (2011-2016).

At the CDAE, I am looking forward to engaging with the UVM community, working collaboratively with the extension experts, and other discipline experts in developing grants to pursue practically relevant research. I look forward to connecting with practitioners and policymakers to share insights developed from trans-disciplinary research and ensure that my research can make real world impact.