Faculty

Experience

Total Years of Experience

26 Years / 1 Months

Training Experience

A) Research and Service Activities

Job Description: 2009 - present

Professor (since 12.11.2010) - Department of Community Medicine, M S Ramaiah Medical College, Bangalore

Childhood Injuries Study

• National Project coordinator and Principal Investigator for a multi-site ICMR task force study on descriptive epidemiology of childhood injuries in India

Non-Communicable Diseases Study

• Co -investigator in an ICMR community based intervention trial focussing on non-communicable diseases in Kaiwara-the rural field practice area of the department of Community Medicine entitled “A study to evaluate the effect of an intervention module on modifiable risk factors for select non-communicable diseases in a rural community” .

School Health Services

• Part of the team which coordinates and conducts school health services for schools receiving midday meals from Sri Sai Mandali Trust, Malleswaram, through the “Anna Brahma Scheme” in coordination with Sri Sai Mandali Trust, Malleswaram. This includes conduct of a teachers orientation workshop prior to the school health services; school check up of about 5000 children in rural and urban schools of Bangalore which includes a health education component.
• Part of the team that conducts teachers orientation as well as school health check up in other schools around Bangalore.

Clinic Visits and Health Camps

• Visit the urban health centers and rural field practice area on rotation. The activities during these visits include patient examination and care, health education and training of interns, undergraduates and postgraduates.
• Was part of the team that coordinated the conduct of four specialty camps in kaiwara.
• Part of the team that conducted the health camp in Agrahar in association with a NGO.

Other Activities

• Member of the Climate Change Advisory Committee of Environmental Management and Policy Research Institute, Department of Forest, Ecology, and Development, Government of Karnataka
• Part of a team conducting workshops on various topics like research methodology, occupational health, non-communicable diseases, infant feeding, and training of school teachers
• Resource person/Assisting in the conduct of observations on various important days like Environment Day, World Health Day, and World Breastfeeding Week
• Part of the team that assisted in the conduct of the SEARO workshop on healthcare waste management by the Department of Community Medicine

Student Research

• Guide for Postgraduate research dissertation work as part of M.D. in Community Medicine training.
• Guide for undergraduate students conducting short-term research during their MBBS course.
• Resource person in research and epidemiology workshops for both undergraduates and postgraduates.
• Resource person for teaching SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) software to faculty in medical colleges and both faculty and students in nursing colleges.

Ethical Committee

• Member of the Ethics committee of the M S Ramaiah Dental College since August 2012.
• Chairperson of Ethical committee of Indian Institute of Public Health, Bangalore since April 2014.

B) Teaching

Undergraduates

• Involved in the classroom teaching of undergraduates, which includes didactic lectures, practical teaching, and interactive teaching
• Guiding students to prepare and present seminars to their peer group on allotted topics
• Taking students on field visits
• Conducting internal theory and practical examinations
• Involved in the clinical teaching of undergraduates. They are taken to the urban field practice area where patients are evaluated in their houses, anganwadi visits are made, and activities of the urban health center are observed. Discussions are held during these visits in the houses, anganwadis, or health centers
• Part of the team which accompanies students of 3rd and 4th terms to the rural field practice area during the annual Community Orientation Programme, which lasts for about 2 weeks. Training of these students includes school health check-up, conduct of health camps, community surveys and studies, health education activities, and activities to assist communities in rural and urban areas
• Being an examiner conducting examinations in Community Medicine leading to the MBBS degree.

Postgraduates

• Co-ordinator for the postgraduate teaching programmes in the Department of Community Medicine.
• Participate in the teaching of postgraduates through medico-social or clinico-social case presentation, journal review, as well as subject seminars which are held three times every week.
• Team member teaching epidemiology and research methodology to postgraduates of all the departments in the M S Ramaiah Medical College.
• Assist in the preparation of the dissertation of postgraduates.
• Guide/Co-guide for postgraduate dissertation.

3.Masters in Hospital Administration and Bachelor of Physiotherapy

• Lecture discussions on various topics in community medicine and research methodology.

Job Description: 2000 - 2009

Oman National Cancer Registry

• Involved in the Oman National Cancer Registry, which is a population-based registry.
• Supervising and guiding the two/three cancer registrars in their activities which consists of active and passive data collection, abstraction of information, liaising with hospitals including the Ministry of Health Hospitals, the Armed Forces Hospital, the Royal Oman Police Hospital, Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Tuwam Hospital, The Diwan of Royal Court, and major private hospitals.
• Analyzing the cancer data annually and printing the annual report.
• Coordinating with the Gulf Center for Cancer Registration and providing Oman’s data for inclusion in their reports.
• Coordinating with the International Agency for Research on Cancer and providing Oman’s data for inclusion in IARC publications.

National Diabetes Control Programme

• Taking part in the activities of the National Diabetes Control Programme.
• Part of the team for updating the guidelines for the management of Diabetes in Primary Care.
• Participating in the preparation and printing of appropriate English health education material annually as part of the celebrations for the World Diabetes Day, as well as any other material for health education.
• Liaising with regional diabetologists in the administrative functioning of the National Programme.
• Part of the team for the collection of data of Type 1 Diabetes in Oman.

National Cardiovascular Diseases Control Programme

• Taking part in the activities of the National Cardiovascular Diseases Control Programme.
• Part of the team to update the guidelines for the management of hypertension in primary health care.
• Liaising with the regional focal points for cardiovascular diseases in the administrative management of the programme.
• Part of a team conducting the PREMISE Study (Prevention of Recurrences of Myocardial Infarction and Stroke Study) in Oman.
• Taking part in the activities of the department with regard to cardiovascular diseases.
• Participating in the preparation and printing of English health education material produced by the department.

Five Year Planning

• Documenting the activities of the department and preparing annual reports describing the progress in the department.
• Preparing the plan of action for the forthcoming year in accordance with the five-year plan of the Ministry of Health.

Non-Communicable Diseases Risk Factor Survey

• Part of the team that conducted the Nizwa Healthy Lifestyle Project (Non- Communicable Diseases Risk Factor Survey) in liaison with the WHO. It included preparation of the protocol, and questionnaire, training of field workers, conducting the survey and writing the report.

Other Responsibilities

• Teaching of undergraduate students of the Sultan Qaboos University
• Taking part in the preparation of guidelines for management of important non-communicable diseases in primary health care
• Preparation of health education material for non-communicable diseases
• Was part of the team to determine the burden of diseases in Oman.
• Part of the team to prepare the five-year plan of the Ministry of Health for non-communicable disease control

Job Description: 1988 - 1999

A) Epidemiological Work and Scientific Research

Nutritional Program

• Conducting "growth monitoring" services in the field practice area for children below 5 years of age. Growth monitoring camps are conducted twice a week. A medicosocial worker and a field worker are part of the team to facilitate the process.

Non-Communicable Disease Control Program

• Part of a team that conducted an "Epidemiological Survey in North Kanara district to estimate the prevalence of various types of cancers and congenital anomalies". Was involved in designing the study and in preliminary discussions and analysis (funded by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Government of India).
• Part of the team that studied the prevalence of hypertension in a coastal area of Dakshina Kannada District.

Communicable Diseases Control Program

• Part of a team that conducted "Infant mortality rate in South Kanara and Chitradurga districts of Karnataka State" - a community based epidemiological study of infant mortality in two districts covering a population of approximately 600,000 over a 3year period. Involved in designing the study, training the supervisors, collection of data, conducting verbal autopsy and statistical analysis of results (funded by the International Development Research Centre, Canada).
• Conducted a study of Acute Respiratory tract infections (ARl) among children attending rural maternity and child welfare homes, Karnataka, India.

Behavioural Epidemiology

• Studied the knowledge of and attitudes to HIV / AIDS of senior secondary school pupils and trainee teachers in Udipi district, Karnataka State, India.
• Studied the knowledge, attitudes of school children and knowledge, attitudes and practice of health workers and medical students of HIV / AIDS in the field practice area of the Department of Community Medicine, KMC, Manipal.
• Conducted scientific research on the behavioural problems and intelligence quotient in orphanage children.

Health Program Management

• Participated in "Utilization of Health Services" - a project funded by the Ford Foundation, USA in Thirthalli, a hilly taluk of Karnataka State.
• Guide for interns working in the department of community medicine for epidemiological research projects which is a requirement for completing internship in community medicine. This involves preparation of interview schedules and questionnaires, data collection, analysis, discussion, and presentation in a peer group.
• Training health care workers and supervisors with emphasis on community participation.
• Field supervision during various projects taken up by the department.
• Training of school teachers to undertake health education on locally endemic diseases for school children.
• Preparation of health education booklet on infant feeding for mothers in collaboration with International Medical Service for Health, USA and Nestle, Switzerland. The booklet was developed and field-tested on the target audience, suitably modified, and published.

Maternal and Child Health Care Program

• Study of mothers attending seven rural health centres entitled "Infant feeding practices in a coastal area of Dakshina Kannada District" involving 300 mothers.
• Weight gain in pregnancy - a community-based study in the field practice area of the Department of Community Medicine, KMC, Manipal.
• Jointly in charge of seven rural maternity and child welfare centres run by the college.
• Conducting "Maternal and child health" clinics in rural centres. Emphasis in these centres is on providing outpatient care to children, growth monitoring, immunization to children and pregnant women, and health education to women. These services are backed up by referral to the tertiary care base hospital in appropriate cases.

School Health Program

• School Health programmes are conducted in 39 schools identified in the field practice area. Children are clinically examined, screened for diseases and the needy are referred to the base hospital.

B) Teaching

• Community and classroom teaching of undergraduates in the Department of Community Medicine leading to the MBBS degree. This includes teaching principles of epidemiology, descriptive analytical and experimental epidemiology, epidemiology of communicable and non-communicable diseases, other aspects of community health, screening for disease, health planning and management, and health education.
• Community and classroom teaching of postgraduates in the Department of Community Medicine leading to the Master's degree in Community Medicine. This involves training in descriptive, analytical, and experimental epidemiology, conducting research work, biostatistics, epidemiology of communicable and non-communicable diseases, other aspects of community health, relationship of health with occupation and nutrition, environment and health planning and management.
• Guide for international students working in Manipal as partial fulfillment for the awarding of Masters in Tropical Medicine degree of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK.
• Teaching involves didactic lectures, bedside teaching of common maternal and child health problems in the rural centres, guiding social and medico-social case discussions, conducting under-5 clinics, discussing cases of public health importance, guiding interns to conduct epidemiological studies, conducting seminars, and guiding postgraduate clinical research.
• Being an examiner conducting examinations leading to the MD (community medicine) degree and MBBS degree.