Oct 15, 2021

Huck Welcomes Sindura Ganapathi as Visiting Fellow in Global Heath

Ganapathi, a Penn State alum who now works for the Indian government, will give a pair of lectures next week while he visits University Park.

The Huck Institutes is pleased to announce it will host Dr. Sindura Ganapathi during the fall semester as a Visiting Fellow in Global Heath. Dr. Ganapathi, who received his PhD in Pharmacology from the Penn State College of Medicine, is currently employed as a Fellow in the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India. 

“We at the Huck are delighted to welcome back Dr. Sindura Ganapathi to Penn State as a Senior Visiting Scholar as part of our Global Health Initiative at the Huck Institutes,” said Vivek Kapur, the Huck’s associate director for Strategic Initiatives and the Huck Distinguished Chair in Global Health. “This is an excellent opportunity for faculty, staff, and students to interact with Sindura during his visits to campus, and to learn from his impressive accomplishments and leadership experience as a global health funder with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and as a ‘One Health’ policy maker in India.” 

Huck leadership invited Ganapathi  to share his experiences with students and establish collaborations with Penn State faculty working on global health issues, particularly in the emerging domain of One Health as it relates to epidemic/pandemic preparedness, program development, systems level change and program implementation in low- and middle-income countries. 

“I am excited to be joining as a visiting faculty member at Penn State,” said Ganapathi. “It is a sort of homecoming for me. I consider my time at Penn State as a period of steepest growth in my ability to think rationally and mature in my worldview. It is special to be coming back to this formal association with the University. “  

Ganapathi will give a pair of talks during the week of Oct. 18, his time on campus. The first, on October 20, is titled “Decolonization of Global Health: my experiences as a beneficiary, funder, and policy maker.” On October 21, he will speak to the Huck’s Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, with “Building an integrated disease surveillance system for a country; an ongoing experiment from India” as his topic.

“I hope to spend my time getting to know other faculty, interacting with students, and learning about the programs,” said Ganapathi. “I love the interfaces between disciplines since that is where most innovations come, and am looking forward to getting to know programs as broadly as possible that Penn State offers. I believe this will help me crystallize how I can contribute to the University as well as add to my own growth during my tenure as a visiting faculty member.”