Manisha Nair
India
DPhil Public Health, 2013
Green Templeton College
Funding: Louis Dreyfus
Manisha holds an MSc in Global Health Science from Oxford (2009) and a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from Assam Medical College and Hospital in India (2001). In 2013, Manisha completed her DPhil in Public Health from Oxford.
Manisha is an Associate Professor, Senior Epidemiologist and Medical Research Council (MRC) Career Development Fellow based at the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford. She established and leads the Maternal and perinatal Health Research collaboration, India (MaatHRI [weblink:https://www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/maathri]). MaatHRI is a collaboration between 15 hospitals across five states in India and Oxford to generate new scientific evidence to reduce death and improve the health of mothers and babies. MaatHRI was highly commended in the 2020 University of Oxford’s Vice Chancellor’s Innovation Award. Manisha also leads a research project in Uganda that aims to reduce death and improve the health of preterm babies.
Previously (2004-06), Manisha was a Surveillance Medical Officer in the National Polio Surveillance Project (NPSP, WHO) where she worked towards the eradication of poliomyelitis in India, surveyed polio cases and monitored immunisation campaigns. She was State Routine Immunisation Officer for Rajasthan from 2006-08, providing technical assistance to the Rajasthan Government’s Health Officers in formulating policy guidelines for maternal and child healthcare. Furthermore, she was a Fogarty International Clinical Research Scholar (National Institutes of Health, US) in 2009-10 where she designed a multi-centre surveillance study on cardio metabolic diseases for South Asia.
She has written extensively on improving healthcare policies for maternal and child health. She was the winner of the ‘Science’ category of the Asian Women of Achievements Awards, 2019 and was recognised as a ‘Thought Leader’ and featured in the 100 most influential in UK-India Relations, 2019. Manisha is also the first Weidenfeld alumnus to become a member of the University of Oxford congregation.
In January 2023, she received the India-UK Achievers Honours - 75 at 75: Recognising Outstanding Contribution by National Indian Students and Alumni Union UK (NISAU) & British Council.
