The center in Mumbai enables the Harvard Chan School to strengthen its longstanding ties in India and accelerate its collaborations with Indian partners to address critical public health challenges.
Advancing Public Health Research, Practice, and Policy
Harvard Chan School has been actively engaged in research, collaboration, and capacity building among public health leaders in India since the 1960s. The country’s rapid development has created numerous challenges and opportunities, and so in 2013, the School created a formal initiative—the HSPH–India Health Partnership (IHP)—to further advance their joint research, teaching, and policy work. The India Research Center in Mumbai provides Harvard Chan School with an important operational base to conduct these activities throughout India.
The center was made possible by a gift from Dr. Swati Piramal, MPH ’92, and Ajay Piramal, MBA '92. Kasisomayajula "Vish" Viswanath, the Lee Kum Kee Professor of Public Health Communications, serves as the center’s founding director. With staff in Mumbai to support Harvard Chan School's physical presence, he guides the following activities:
- Public health research
- Translation and communication of knowledge to promote evidence-based policies and programs
- Training the next generation of public health scholars and practitioners for leadership roles in advocacy and public service through field visits and placements, workshops, and various academic programming
Harvard Global Services in Mumbai
This project operates under our nonprofit local entity, Harvard Global Research Support Centre India, which enables us to support a variety of activities and services across India.
For Harvard Chan School, we provide our standard suite of services for office administration, employment, and gift administration, as well as undertake work unique to this project, including securing tax-exempt status and obtaining a registration that complies with the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) in order to receive funds from sources outside of India.
