Public Health Officer at AIPH University - Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, Odisha, India
About AIPHThe Global network project, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of USA in early 2000s forged a collaborative partnership between renowned physicians and public health researchers from various academic institutions of the United States of America and their eminent counterparts in India. It allowed clinicians, basic scientists, field workers and collaborating sites to conduct large-scale surveillance of neonatal infections and engage in cutting-edge research to prevent infections, the biggest killer of neonates in India. During this period, many astute minds felt the need for a public health institution in the region for addressing the gap in the availability of appropriately trained public health professionals. Thus Asian Institute of Public Health (AIPH) came into being in 2008 expanding its contribution to a larger audience in the rest of country and in the neighboring Asian countries sharing population health problems of similar nature and magnitude.AIPH embarked on the flagship program, Master of Public Health (MPH) under an Indo-US partnership in 2010, which became self-sufficient in 2015. The graduated students have excellent placement record at the National Health Mission, United Nations organizations, and international and national NGOs and research institutes. Many of them are either pursuing or have completed PhD at renowned universities in the U.S. and Europe.Faculty members at AIPH are now engaged in basic and translational research in infectious diseases, environmental health, chronic diseases, water sanitation and hygiene, microbiome and probiotics, and region specific problems such as sickle cell disease. Results of these studies funded by DBT and ICMR – India, NIH-USA, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through Child Health Research Foundation, WHO-UNICEF, other state and central government agencies have been published in the world's best journals including Nature, Lancet, and PLoS Meicine to name a few.