Lead portfolio on health systems research for sexual and reproductive health and rights.

I am the senior technical lead for the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research’s portfolio on strengthening institutional capacity for the conduct and uptake of health policy and systems research.

I led research, post-graduate teaching and management to improve the performance of health systems in primarily South Africa and other low- and middle-income countries. This also entailed resource mobilisation and management of research funds and the recruitment and training of multi-disciplinary research teams. I convened and taught courses in the postgraduate health economics track of the Masters in Public Health (MPH) programme and Postgraduate Diploma in Health Economics.

I provided technical and project support on a gender and health equity project, which focused on addressing high maternal mortality and more broadly improving reproductive health and rights outcomes in one district of the state of Karnataka. My responsibilities included designing and developing evidence informed interventions, coordinating and conducting field research, resource mobilisation, budget management and monitoring and evaluation.

I was responsible for guiding the implementation of projects on priority-setting methodologies and supporting the development of international networks in neglected research areas relating to child health and nutrition, gender and mental health.