2023 Leadership Journey Project: Empowering Rural Women to Take Charge of their Healthcare Seeking Behaviours for Preventive Health Services: Using the health systems lens to lay a foundation for a rural women’s health centre
Kusum realized spending time with communities and looking at the bigger picture of life, gave her intense satisfaction. She chose the medical profession and specialized with an MD in Community Medicine (discipline closely linked to Public Health) from Christian Medical College, Vellore. After completing her MD, she has worked and been trained formally in Implementation Research, Health Economics, Health Technology Assessment, Reproductive and Maternal Health, Infectious diseases (Tuberculosis) and Health System Strengthening. Over the past decade, she has had the opportunity to work in diverse settings in India including a government medical college, a private charitable medical college, a private research institution, a government apex research body, a global innovator-pharma company, an intersectoral learning network and a non-profit research and advocacy organization. While navigating through the various positions, she realized her passion for gender and health under the broader scope of public health. Kusum is an earnest learner and a firm believer in developing a sense of self to be able to pay back to society. She loves traveling, writing, reading, and listening to audiobooks.
