I work with a specialized team of interdisciplinary scientists as an Occupational Hygienist and Climate Change Scientist to discover the links between “Heat, workload, and dehydration” and Renal Health. With national and international agencies, I completed six large-scale epidemiological projects on “Occupational Heat Stress and Health” (SIDA, DST, La Isla Network, Swedish Research Council, DHR and American Redcross). Currently serving as country director for NIHR-SRIHER Global Healthcare Research Centre for Non-communicable Disease and Environmental Change which is a multi-institutional collaborative project across the globe and co-lead for “Effects of extreme heat on maternal, placental and foetal physiology, lactation and newborn health in India (HiP-India) funded by wellcome trust. Our findings with formal and informal work sectors in the Indian and Indonesian working populations show that workplace exposures, including heat, play a significant role in determining the health of the large working population in the Asian subcontinent, which is largely overlooked because “Heat is considered as a natural phenomenon.” As a certified Industrial Hygienist (British Occupational Health Society) and a key member of the HOTHAPS research group principally focused on Heat stress and Occupational Health, I have key collaborators in Europe, China, Indonesia, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka. As a Consultant Occupational Hygienist, I’ve worked with 108 different industries and have successfully implemented positive interventional changes in several of them to reduce occupational exposures through engineering, administrative, and personal protection. 350 enterprises in India, as well as several in the Middle East, have used the “Heat Stress Prevention Guide”, prepared by the team for workers’ protection from heat. In the domain of Heat and Health, I have supervised 10 -Ph.D. students as a guide in India and 4-international students as a co-supervisor. Our findings were presented at more than 40 international conferences, and I was invited to talk at the International Congress on Occupational Health as a plenary speaker (ICOH, 2018). As main author on the Working Group report on Heat Stress, Dehydration, and Kidney Disease for CENCAM, I was also invited to the 51st Meeting of the CIS Network by the International Labour Organization in Turin. I contributed to the WHO-WMO State-of-the-Art report on Occupational Heat Stress’s Health Effects. Current research interests are heat intervention in industries, informal work settings and vulnerable population including migrant workers and pregnant women.
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Educational Qualification
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INSTITUTION AND LOCATION | DEGREE | YEAR(s) | FIELD OF STUDY |
| Central Queensland University, Australia | Post-doctoral training | 1999-2000 | Environmental Chemistry, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Ecology | |
| University of Madras, Chennai, India | Ph.D. | 1998 | Environmental Chemistry | |
| University of Madras, Chennai, India | M.Sc. | 1988-1990 | Environmental Chemistry |
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Professional Qualification
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British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS), UK. |
Industrial Hygiene Certifications* | 2011-2014 | Certified Industrial Hygienist |
| University of Heidelberg, Germany | Certificate | 2012 | Climate Change and Health – Impact and Adaptation Strategies | |
| Umea University, Sweden | Certificate | 2011 | Climate Change and Health – Research Methods | |
| Conestoga College, Canada | Certificate | 2007-2008 | Project Management |
| Effects of extreme heat on maternal placental and foetal physiology lactation and newborn health in India (HiP-India).
Funding agency: Wellcome Trust |
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| NIHR-SRIHER CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE AND NCDs – Heat Exposure & Adaptation Tools – PRotecting Occupational groups via intervention Techniques to Combat hot Temperatures (HEAT-PROTECT).
Funding agency: Department of Health and Social Care, National Institute for Health and Care Research, UK |
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| India-Factors of CKDu in Uddanam study (India-FOCUS).
Funding agency: National Institute of Health (NIH), USA |
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| Protection Resilience Efficiency and Prevention for workers in industrial agriculture in a changing climate (PREP).
Funding agency: Belmont Forum grant, USA |
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| Silica Nephropathy and Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology.
Funding agency: National Institute of Health (NIH), USA |
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| Geographical Information Systems for Epidemiological Research-Case Studies with Focus on Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology.
Funding agency: Swedish Research Link-Gothenburg University, Sweden |
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| Heat risk perception of outdoor workers in and outer areas of Chennai in India.
Funding agency: American Red Cross, USA |
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| Nexus of Covid-19 and extreme heat for poor urban populations in the Global South (Covid-19/Heat Nexus).
Funding agency: The University of Edinburgh, UK |
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| Protocol of Heat stress and heat strain assessment in Uddanam Community.
Funding agency: George Institute for Global Health-DHR India |
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| Chronic kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology in Central America and Asia – is it the same disease?.
Funding agency: Swedish Research Council Sweden |
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| Feasibility Study to Explore Links Between Occupational Heat Stress and Renal Health in Industries in Indonesia.
Funding agency: La Isla Network, USA |
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| Heat Stress Index for India: Projections for Near Future HIIPROF .
Funding agency: Department of Science and Technology, GOI |
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| Occupational Heat Stress Implications on Renal Health in the Context of Climate Change.
Funding agency: Department of Science and Technology, GOI |
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| Air Pollution Health and Climate in India: Building Capacities for Health Research and Program Evaluation.
Funding agency: Indo-US Knowledge Initiative (USIEF) |
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| Hot Occupational Temperatures and Productivity Suppression.
Funding agency: HOTHAPS group of Investigators |
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| Vulnerability Assessment to Heat stress and its impacts on Health and Productivity for select Occupational sectors in the context of Climate Change.
Funding agency: Department of Science and Technology, GOI |
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| Sweden-India cooperation on protection of working people from health and productivity risks due to workplace heat exposure and the links to climate change.
Funding agency: SIDA Sweden |
| 24 travel awards and 8 keynote speaker invitation for various national and international organizations | |||
| Invited special speaker and travel award for International Conference on Occupational Heat stress, International Labour Organization (ILO), Qatar, May 09 -10th 2023. | |||
| Best paper in oral presentation “Examining the linkage heat exposure and chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu) in Uddanam Andhra Pradesh” 52nd Annual National conference conducted by Indian Society of Nephrology on December 1st – 4th 2022 | |||
| Plenary speaker – 32nd Triennial Congress of the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) on “Heat stress and Climate Change –A Global perspective” at the, Dublin, Ireland, 29th April – 4th May 2018. | |||
| NIEHS Fellowship by “National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences” for Attending CENCAM Third international Workshop on “Chronic Kidney Diseases of Uncertain/non-traditional Etiology in Mesoamerican and other regions”, 20th-22nd March. | |||
| WHO Special Invitee with full grant for the “First Global Forum for Heat and Health” at Hong Kong on 17th-20th December 2018. | |||
| Nominated as Research Ambassador at Sri Ramachandra University, in February 2017. | |||
| Visiting Professor grants UNA, COSTARICA in November 2017. | |||
| Special Invitation for Deliberate a brief talk on “Climate Change, Health Adaptation and Mitigation in Southern Region of India” by NCDC, Govt. of India, 2nd March 2017. | |||
| Special Invitee in “Expert Consultation on Implementation and follow up of WHO Global Plan of Action on Workers Health in South Asia”, Delhi, 5th-7th December 2017. | |||
| Diversity Award by International Society of Exposure Science (ISES), 18th -22nd October 2015. | |||
| Special Dinner Invitation with Ambassador and Minister of Environment, Sweden, by Sweden Government, in 24th February 2014 and 3rd February 2015. | |||
| India Representative for Training in Occupational Health & Safety, International Labor Organization (ILO) Turin, Italy, in 11th-12th November 2013. | |||
| Several Encore Awards Presented by Johnson & Johnson Group of Companies, 2007-2008 | |||
| Special invitation from Madame Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, for Bilateral Scientific Research discussion, in July 2012. | |||
| British Cheverning Scholarship for Young Indian Environmental Managers awarded by British Council, United Kingdom in 2000 | |||
| CSIR – Senior Research Fellowship awarded by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Govt. of India in 1994 | |||
| Best Paper award for Presentation in Environmental Ecology and Coastal System Management, Andaman, India in 1994 | |||
| Gold medal for University First Rank in Master of Science (Environmental Chemistry) in 1990 |