Faculty & Staff

Dr. Pratibha Dwarkanath is a senior public health nutrition researcher with over 25 years of experience in advancing research on maternal, fetal, and child nutrition in low- and middle-income country settings. Her work spans the full continuum from basic nutritional epidemiology to large-scale randomized controlled trials, with a strong emphasis on generating high-quality evidence that informs clinical practice and public health policy. She has extensive expertise in designing and implementing randomized controlled trials, prospective cohort studies, pooled analyses, and secondary data analyses, complemented by the application of stable isotope techniques and placental biology to understand maternal–fetal nutrient transfer and early-life programming.

Her research primarily focuses on micronutrient deficiencies, including vitamin D, calcium, vitamin B12, and iron, and their implications for preterm birth, preeclampsia, fetal growth restriction, and neonatal outcomes. A defining feature of her work is the integration of mechanistic insights with population-level outcomes, enabling translation of findings into scalable interventions and national guidelines. Dr. Dwarkanath has led and co-led several nationally and internationally funded multicentric studies, collaborating with institutions such as Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Department of biotechnology (DBT), Medical Research Council (MRC) UK, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Grand Challenges Canada (GCC), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USA. In addition to her research contributions, she is actively involved in doctoral mentorship, policy advisory roles, and editorial responsibilities, contributing to the broader goal of strengthening maternal and child nutrition research and implementation in India and globally.