TEAM MEMBERS

Dr M Bhaskara Rao is an eminent cardiologist and the President of HRIDAY. He is a Founding Board Member of HRIDAY and has been associated with the organization since its inception.
Dr Rao is a Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at OMNI Hospital, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. He has a special interest in preventive cardiology and chronic disease prevention and control and has served as the site Principal Investigator of several Phase 2, 3, and 4 international clinical trials. Dr Rao has a keen interest in youth-centric initiatives to promote cardiovascular health.

Prof. Monika Arora is a public health scientist working in the area of preventing and managing NCDs through health promotion and health advocacy. She is the Vice President (Research and Health Promotion) at the Public Health Foundation of India.
She is the Executive Director of HRIDAY (Health Related Information Dissemination Amongst Youth) an NGO working on NCD prevention and control, youth and patient engagement, and hosts the secretariat for Healthy India Alliance (India NCD Alliance). She is the President of NCD Alliance (2023-25), and Chairperson of South East Asia NCD Alliance (2020-23).

Ms. Radhika Shrivastav is the Senior Director at HRIDAY working on addressing NCDs from a health and development perspective, particularly in the context of Goal 3.4 under the SDGs.
She leads the Secretariat of the Healthy India Alliance – HIA (India NCD Alliance) that fosters engagement of multi-sectoral CSOs to address NCDs through meaningful engagement of CSOs, People Living With NCDs (PLWNCDs), and young people.
She holds two Master’s degrees in Nutrition and Public Health.

Ms. Tina Rawal is a trained nutritionist and has a special interest in lifestyle-related Non-Communicable disease (NCD) and its associated risk factors research.
Her particular research interest lies in the field of diet and physical activity which are vital for the prevention and control of obesity and NCDs. An experience of more than 12 years in the field of nutrition and public health includes association with various research and programs focused on the prevention and management of NCDs and their associated behavioral risk factors related to diet, physical activity, tobacco, and alcohol. She has been associated with HRIDAY since 2008 and is involved in the designing and implementation of research studies focused on NCDs prevention and management, engaged in programs promoting health awareness and informed health activism among the youth at the National and international levels. She contributed as a member of the National Technical Working Group on developing the School Health Curriculum under the Ayushman Bharat, formed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and the Ministry of HRD, Government of India. Tina also served as a member of the Children Nutrition and Diabetes Working Group, under the Kids and Diabetes in School (KiDS) project, the International Diabetes Federation, and member of the Youth Advisory Group for the UN Asia-Pacific Report on Youth.

Ms. Shalini Bassi is a trained nutritionist and experienced public health researcher, involved in designing, implementing, management, and evaluation of setting-based, multi-component behavior change interventions for schools, colleges, marginalized communities, and workplaces on various health issues, primarily on prevention and control of Non-Communicable Disease (NCDs) risk factors.
She contributed to research studies and programmes focusing on adolescent health, tobacco control and cessation, promotion of healthy diet and physical activity, diabetes and CVD prevention and management, and obesity, among youth as well as adults. She serves on various Technical Working/Expert groups (formulated by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and National Institute of Health and Family Welfare), and advisory groups (by World Heart Federation). She also serves as a Master Trainer for the National and State Resource Group on School Health Program under Ayushman Bharat organized by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of HRD, Government of India.

Dr. Mansi Chopra is an experienced Public Health professional with a demonstrated history of working on non-communicable diseases and associated risk factors including diet, physical activity, lifestyle factors, tobacco, and alcohol; energy metabolism; RMNCH and health system strengthening.
She is skilled in quantitative and qualitative research methods, data management, monitoring and evaluation, project management, scientific writing, proposal development, fundraising, networking, and communication. She completed her doctoral studies (PhD) from All India Institute of Medical Sciences and Lady Irwin College, New Delhi, India.

Ms. Ritu has been working with HRIDAY since June 2022 and is responsible for looking after Finance and Accounts in HRIDAY. Prior to joining HRIDAY,
She worked with the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and The International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ICADR). She has 25 years of experience in financial management, grants management, and statutory compliance. She holds ICWAI- Inter and has pursued her bachelor’s in commerce from Vivekanand College, Delhi University.

Niharika Rao is a Public Health Professional and has around 3 years of experience. As a social science researcher, her core area of interest is Child Health & Nutrition, Migration, NCDs, Adolescent health, RMNCH, and other Women's issues. Niharika Rao has completed her M.Phil. and M.A. in population sciences from International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) and currently pursuing her Ph.D. from the same institute. Prior to joining HRIDAY, Ms. Niharika Rao worked as a Project officer on the Project titled “Protection of Children affected by Seasonal Migration: A study in Jalna district, Maharashtra, funded by UNICEF at International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), she also worked at Tata Institute (TISS) as Research Assistant.

Dr. Mansi Gupta is an experienced Health care professional with a demonstrated history of working on Neurological Disorders involving brain , spinal cord, and nervous system in pediatrics and adults performing various roles in the field such as training, assessment, treatment, rehabilitation, designing tools, making clients independent in self care skills, cognitive retraining, ergonomic consultations and providing therapy.
She is working in research areas of public health, she is skilled in capacity building, scientific writings, proposal development, qualitative research methods, networking and communication. She completed her masters of occupational Therapy(Neurology) from Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, New Delhi, India.

Dr. Barsa Priyadarshini Rout has 1.5 years of experience across various domains such as Non-Communicable Diseases, Maternal and Child Health, and AIDS control and prevention. She holds a bachelor’s degree in dental surgery and a Master's in Public Health degree.
Her expertise lies in research methodologies, health system strengthening, and programme management. She is currently employed as Project Officer and works on various projects on awareness and prevention of NCDs and their risk factors. She is also involved in projects and activities of the Healthy India Alliance (HIA). She represented HRIDAY/HIA in many important International and national stakeholder workshops/conferences/webinars/meetings.

Ms. Vaishali Chopra, development communication professional, working as a Project Officer – Partnerships at HRIDAY.
Additionally, she is also responsible for spearheading health communication, internal and external knowledge products, media engagement, websites, etc. She has experience working in different domains such as health, gender, education, poverty, WASH and is passionate about achieving SDGs agenda 2030. She holds a master's in Development Communication and Extension from Lady Irwin College, University of Delhi. Her specialization lies in social and behaviour change communication, participatory research, strategic planning, effective implementation, and MEL. At present, she strategically coordinates the youth engagement, partnerships, and communications vertical at HRIDAY.

Mr. Anil Kumar is a professional with more than 15 years of experience in accountancy, finance management, taxation, and finance budgeting for large projects.
He has expertise working with diverse industries like NGOs and private organizations. Anil has strong knowledge of finance, accounting, and taxation. He is flexible, adaptable, and a quick learner. He holds a bachelor’s in commerce from the University of Delhi.

Mr. Shabbir Khan has more than 18 years of experience at HRIDAY. He assists in the preparation of logistics, organizing meetings, workshops, conferences, etc.
He also manages general administrative needs under the project activities and maintain other office work in a systematic manner. He has a experience of survey administration in varied settings, expertise in data collection, data entry, data cleaning, and coding. He maintains excellent relation with schools, colleges, local people, community leaders, slum communities (JJ cluster and Resettlement) and local NGO’s.