Giridhara R Babu is an Epidemiologist and Professor, Head – Life Course Epidemiology at PHFI. He graduated as a medical doctor, from Kastruba medical college Manipal, He joined the Center for Community Medicine of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi as a Junior Resident.
He then went on to work with World Health Organization where he led the efforts in stopping polio transmission in the state of Karnataka. He initiated advocacy for Measles surveillance in Karnataka leading to constitution of Multi Year Plan (MYP) for Measles elimination in India. Subsequently, he worked as research associate for Multi Centre AIDS Cohort (MACS) with world-renowned epidemiologist Dr.Roger Detels. He worked as Special reader under the tutelage of Dr.Jørn Olsen, who set up the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC). He completed his MPH and PhD degrees from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) with doctoral research exploring the association of Job stress and Hypertension.
He was the lead editor in developing the guidelines for health professionals for prevention and management of Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in the primary health care settings. He was member on the committee on framing the guidelines and path for initiation of public health cadre in the state of Karnataka. He is also involved in developing the action plan for implementation of National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for the state of Karnataka.
He has received the Wellcome trust strategic award to PHFI and UK universities for setting up a birth cohort in Bengaluru for studying the effect of hyperglycemia in pregnancy on the adiposity in infants. In 2015, he was awarded the intermediate fellowship of Wellcome Trust-DBT India Alliance to extend the cohort. He is focused to continue the work on life course epidemiology by identifying the early markers, and thereby contribute in prevention and management of NCDs. His efforts are underway to collate evidence from all over the world including expanding the birth cohort to multiple centres in understanding the role played by parenteral milieu on infants and subsequent development of NCDs.
Giridhara has over 60 papers published in national and international high impact journals. He has provided consultation to State, National and WHO committees on various public health matters.
Awards and Accolades
- Certification of Excellence for teaching at University of California Los Angeles.
- Recognized by WHO-NPSP for interrupting Polio transmission in the state of Karnataka.
- Member of Chartered Class, National Board of Public Health Examiners, USA.
- Serving as member of Executive committee of Karnataka State Health System Resources Centre, Bangalore. Active involvement in Public Health Cadre, Universal Health Coverage, National Urban Health Mission and several other health reforms in India.
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