I lead the Global Health Research team at the School of Population Health, UNSW, Sydney. I trained in Medicine (CMC, Ludhiana) and Public Health (SCTIMST, Trivandrum) from India and (University of Sydney) Australia and completed a Masters in Business Administration with specialisation in social impact (UNSW).
My research program aims to strengthen health workforce and health information systems in order to deliver quality health care. As a...view more
I lead the Global Health Research team at the School of Population Health, UNSW, Sydney. I trained in Medicine (CMC, Ludhiana) and Public Health (SCTIMST, Trivandrum) from India and (University of Sydney) Australia and completed a Masters in Business Administration with specialisation in social impact (UNSW).
My research program aims to strengthen health workforce and health information systems in order to deliver quality health care. As a Senior Technical Advisor and Aus-Hub lead for the Data for Health Initiative, I have the opportunity to contribute towards strengthening data for health in the Asia Pacific region. I convene and teach the 'Global Health and Development' course and give lectures for the MGH/MPH and BIPH programs at the School of Population Health. I supervise Masters, PhD and DrPH students at UNSW.
Expertise:
- Health system assessment
- Health policy review
- Assessment and strengthening of Community health worker programs
- Mortality surveillance
- Verbal autopsy & Medical Certification of causes of death
- Implementation science research & Process evaluation
- Using human centered design to develop health interventions
Impact: My research has
- Provided evidence about the role of Community Health Workers in NCD service delivery in several countries
- Provided evidence about the factors impacting task-sharing for service delivery at the primary health care level
- Led to policy change and improvement in assessing and certifying causes of death.
- Assessed the implementation factors in scaling up interventions for chronic diseases across several countries
My Grants
- World Diabetes Foundation (WDF): Improving diabetes prevention and care in South East Asia Region: country experiences of programme development and implementation supported by WDF from 2012 to 2022. $198,815. Role PI
- CDC Foundation: For the Data for Health Initiative. $565,262.36 Role PI
- Fiji Facility (DFAT): Review and Revision of Community Health Worker Training in Fiji $ 223,970.80 Role PI
- NHMRC-GACD: Evaluating the impact, investment case and scale-up of 'Health Promoting Schools' in Fiji. AUD $1.3M Role CI.
- WHO SEARO: Analyse Workload Indicator for Staffing Needs for Eleven countries in South Asia. USD 21,000. Role PI
- NHMRC-MRFF. Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Clinical TRial to DIgitally Support Self-Management for Inhaler Device Technique and Medication Adherence among PEople with COPD and COmorbidities (the PRISIMA-PECO Trial) AUD $1,988,115 Role CI
- WHO: Systematic literature review to appraise the evidence on the appropriate skill mix and task distribution for noncommunicable disease service delivery by the health workforce. USD $52,000.00 Role: PI
- WHO SEARO: Conduct an options analysis to understand excess mortality due to COVID-19 in the Indian sub-continent. USD $30,000.00 Role: PI
- Elrha Research for Health in Humanitarian Crises (R2HC) programme. (Wellcome trust, UK AID and NHS) GBP 719,036 Caring for carers: A psychosocial supervision intervention to improve the quality and sustainability of MHPSS services in humanitarian contexts. 2021 (Investigator)
- DBT/ Wellcome Trust India Alliance 9.15 Crore ($1.6M) Scaling-up The COmpetency of Primary Care Workers to Manage Epilepsy by Task-Sharing (STOP-Epilepsy) 2021-2025 (Co-Investigator)
- Gates Foundation, 90,000 USD. Contract through the PHC Research Consortium to understand the delivery of comprehensive primary healthcare through the primary health care teams in India, Mexico and Uganda (2020-2021)
- The George Institute Seed Grant. 48,000AUD R Joshi, A Blake, A Tesema, W S, Ajisegiri. A systems approach to understanding and improving the delivery of primary healthcare through non-physician health worker teams in Sub-Saharan Africa. (2018-2019)
- Ariadne Grant 25,000 USD Development of reports on gaps in PHC research and implementation in LMICS to accelerate improvement. D Peiris, S Jan, R Joshi, D Praveen, D Nambiar, S Abimbola, A Palagyi, M Tan. (Jan –June 2018)
- Pfizer Foundation Grant USD 1,000,000 Patel A, MacMahon S, Jha V Joshi R, Praveen D, NCD control in India and Indonesia using SMARThealth tools. (Jan 2016 – June 2017)
- NHMRC-GACD 2016-2019. Patel A, et al. Joshi R (AI) A lifestyle intervention programme for the prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus among South Asian women with gestational diabetes mellitus APP 1093171 $1,256,499
- Marie Bashir Institute, University of Sydney. Joshi R, Negin J, Patel A, Jha V, Jan S, Abimbola S, Praveen D. Integrating Chronic Disease Management in rural India. AUD 20,000
- Baxter Grant Starter Kit. Jha V, John O, Joshi R, Jan S, Gallagher M, Knight J USD 150,000
- Ivers R, Norton R, Jagnoor J, Harvey L, Joshi R, Jan S, Rogers K. Barisal drowning reduction program. Royal National Lifeboat Institution, UK. 600,000 GBP
- NHMRC 2015-2018. APP 1084657 Patel A, Peiris D, Saini B, Joshi R, Usherwood T, Armour C, Webster R, Lo S. An integrated general practice and pharmacy-based intervention to promote the prescription and use of appropriate preventive medications among individuals at high cardiovascular risk. $2,296,358.
- 2014 School of Public Health, University of Sydney. Seed funding for integration of primary health services in low and middle income countries. $4000.
- NHMRC 2012-2015. APP 1040030 Thrift M, Oldenburg, Chow C, Thomas N, Thankappan K, Maulik P, Srikanth V, Mahal A, Evans R, Joshi R. Improving the control of hypertension in rural India: Overcoming the barriers to diagnosis and effective treatment. $1,033,835.
- NHMRC 2012-2015. APP 1040147 Periris D, Patel A, MacMahon S, Prabhakaran D, Clifford G, Maulik P, Joshi R, Jan S, Heritier S, Rahimi K. A smart phone based clinical decision support system for primary health care workers in rural India. $930,239
- NHMRC 2013-2016. APP1042290 Chow CK, Brieger D, Hillis G, Redfern J, Turnbull F, Thiagalingam A, Barzi F, Joshi R. TEXTMEDS – TEXT messages to improve MEDication adherence and Secondary prevention. $1,419,808.00
- International Diabetes Federation. 2009-2011. Tandon N, Prabhakaran D, Patel A, Reddy P, Joshi R, Desai A. Prevention of type 2 diabetes in women with gestational diabetes in urban India – a feasibility study. USD 64,890
- National Health and Medical Research Council: 2009-2012. Program Grant 571281 ($12,119,660) Chief Investigators: MacMahon S, Chalmers J, Neal B, Woodward M, Anderson C, Patel A, Turnbull F. Associate Investigators: Barzi F, Heeley E, Jan S, Joshi R, Hertier S. Generating the evidence for new strategies to combat cardiovascular diseases.
- Future Forum. Cardona M, Chow C, Joshi R, Neal B. Outcome evaluation of a community based initiative to improve cardiovascular disease identification and management in rural India. US$ 40,000 September 2005
My Qualifications
MBBS, Christian Medical College, Ludhiana, India
MPH, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum, India
PhD, University of Sydney, Australia
Certificate in Executive Management and Development, AGSM, UNSW
MBA, University of New South Wales
My Awards
2020 Sax Institute Research Action Award to making a significant impact on health policy, programs or service delivery.
2013 The George Institute Award for Humanitarian Commitment in Research.
2007 The John Chalmers Doctoral Award for outstanding research undertaken during doctoral studies, The George Institute for International Health, Sydney, Australia
2002 First in the University examinations for the Masters in Public Health program, Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Kerala, India
2001 Pfizer award for securing highest marks in the Final Professional Examinations, Ludhiana, Punjab, India
2000 Dr. CM Singh Memorial Gold Medal for standing First in Surgery in College and University examinations in Nov 1999
2000 Dr. Ajit Bhattacharya Memorial Silver Medal for obtaining the Second highest marks in all Professional MBBS combined together
2000 LD Thapar and Smt Gomti Thapar Silver Medal for standing First in Final Professional MBBS examination in Nov 1999
2000 Mrs and Dr. SS Satija Diamond Jubilee Silver Medal for obtaining the second highest marks in all Professional Examinations in first attempt as a regular student
2000 Dr VC Rambo Prize for standing first in Ophthalmology in college examinations
2000 Dr. ME Tucker First prize for standing first in college examinations in the final Professional year of MBBS
1999 First in the Final Year Professional Examination, Christian Medical College, Ludhiana
1999 First for obtaining the highest marks in Forensic Medicine in the Professional Examinations
1996 Distinctions in the subjects of anatomy and physiology, Christian Medical College, Ludhiana
My Research Activities
As a health systems researcher, I lead and contribute towards several studies including:
My Research Supervision
Supervision keywords
Areas of supervision
Health Systems, Health workforce, Task-sharing, Health information systems, Verbal autopsy, CRVS
Currently supervising
Primary supervisor for 2 students (2016-2019)
Joint primary supervisor for 3 (2018-2021); (2019-2022)
My Teaching
Course Co-Convenor Global health and development, UNSW
Guest Lecture: Rural and Remote International Health (PHCM9609), UNSW,
Guest Lecture: Health Information Systems MIPH, (2015-ongoing) University of Sydney; CVD epidemiology, MPH, (2015) University of Sydney,
‘Global NCD Control’ Unit Coordinator for the Masters of International Public Health degree at The University of Sydney. This role includes scheduling the time table, inviting guest speakers, organizing reading material, giving lectures, marking assignments and moderating in class and online discussions, communicating with and providing feedback to students. (2009-2017)
Scientific expert for the Verbal autopsy web-based training course funded by NHLBI United Health Global Health Centers of Excellence.
Training Physicians and Non-physicians in countries in Verbal autopsy Methods under the Data for Health Initiative
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3374-401X