Board Members
Director
Dr. Chaya Degaonkar - Director
Dr. Chaya has profound experience for four decades plus in teaching, research & consultancy. Her research covers a vast canvas of areas related to macroeconomics, human development, Sustainable Development Goals, decentralised planning and development disparities, gender, social groups, public policy, Monitoring & Evaluation & Action Research.
Director
Dr. Nirmala Murthy - Director
Dr. Nirmala Murthy has been PAF’s Director since its inception in 2003. She has over 3 decades of rich experience in health management information and evaluation systems, nutrition, reproductive health, maternal and child health, and population projects. Her professional experience includes being a consultant to various large scale projects of State and Central Governments in India, the World Bank, DFID, UNICEF, Ford Foundation, and others, in India, Asia, and Africa. She is the Founder and President of the Foundation for Research in Health Systems (FRHS). She has a number of papers and publications related to health policies, programmes and research to her credit. She holds a Master’s degree in Statistics from the Bombay University, and a doctorate from the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA.
Director
Dr. Thelma Narayan - Director
Dr. Thelma Narayan is an epidemiologist, health policy analyst and activist who coordinates CPHE and is director of SOCHARA School of Public Health Equity and Action (SOPHEA). She is actively involved in many initiatives to include being an advisor the National Rural Health Mission and the National Health Systems Resource Centre. She has written extensively on health and has to her credit a large number of reports, publications and papers. She has a Degree in Medicine from St John’s Medical College, Bengaluru, a Master’s Degree in Epidemiology and a Doctorate in Public Health Policy, both from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
Team Members
Executive Director
Dr. Syed Ajmal Pasha - Executive Director
Dr. Syed Ajmal Pasha has a strong academic background in social science research. He is also a good trainer in the field of capacity building of stakeholders in developmental programmes of the Government and NGOs / CBOs He obtained his Ph D in Economics from Bangalore University, Bangalore. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia, Canada. He has two books and around 35 research articles / papers published and presented in conferences both nationally and internationally.
Dr. Syed Ajmal Pasha retired from ISEC (Institute for Social and Economic Change), Bengaluru as a Senior Faculty. While at ISEC, he has worked in the field of Ecological / Environmental Economics, in particular on forestry, CPRs, water sector, climate change etc.
He was on deputation as Senior Faculty (Development Economics and Planning) at the Administrative Training Institute (ATI), Mysore for about 5 years. While at ATI, Mysore he initiated Action Research, developed modules on Public Private Partnership, Public Health Care Management and Project Management. He was a Resource Person and Coordinator to several training programmes on PPP, Public Health Care Management, Project Management and other programmes.
He was also consultant to World Bank and DFID.
Dr Syed Ajmal Pasha, after retirement from ISEC, was a Senior Research Fellow of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi.
Head – Executive Officer
Ashwini Venkatram - Executive Officer
Her interest areas include financial reporting and management.