Ahmedabad, December 27, 2019:
An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI), IIM Ahmedabad and the Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH), Hyderabad have won a unique Wellcome Trust/ DBT India Alliance Clinical/Public Health Research Center (CRC) grant of about INR 10 crore, to set up a first of its kind center for excellence in health outcomes research and economics.
The process of selection included a rigorous application submission stage, an international peer review stage and a final interview that spanned over six months from earlier in the year. The team includes Dr Raja Narayanan, Dr Anthony Vipin Das from LVPEI, Dr Chirantan Chatterjee from IIM Ahmedabad and Dr Murthy from IIPH, Hyderabad. Dr. Narayanan is the PI for the project and other members are co-PIs.
The team will be advised by an international advisory board of health economists and medical outcomes researchers from Harvard and Stanford University among others. Over the next 5 years, the center proposes to create a first of its kind unit of excellence, that will use big data in Indian healthcare along with machine learning and economic tool kits to advance the understanding of evidence-based policy making in Indian healthcare. The upcoming center also proposes to recruit world class postdoctoral fellows, research assistants and conduct training of doctors to engage in economic evidence based clinical decision making, such as cost effectiveness studies with data from India through the Clinical Research Training Programme (CRTP) Fellowships embedded within the CRC grant. In its ambition, the center aims to be a role model for more such centers beyond India in the developing world.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Gullapalli N Rao, Founder-Chair, LVPEI said, “The India Alliance grant opens up a lot of possibilities for clinical research training, big data science, health economics and health policy in India. LVPEI has always been focused on clinical research since its inception and has a strong record in publishing research in the world in the field of ophthalmology. Our collaboration with the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and Indian Institute of Public Health would lay the foundation for data driven Health Care in India.”
Dr. Murthy from IIPH, Hyderabad said, “The cornerstone for a positive transformation of people’s health is the existence of a skill base that produces quality evidence that drives policy. The mission of the Indian Institute of Public Health (Public Health Foundation of India) is to find appropriate solutions to public health challenges in India. This unique collaboration has the potential to scale up quality of eye research that will contribute to eliminating avoidable blindness in India and the South Asia region”
Prof. Chirantan Chatterjee, IIMA said, “This is a delightful opportunity to change the face of healthcare in India, and also a matter of great responsibility. I look forward to working with a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, public health specialists and machine learning experts.”
About L V Prasad Eye Institute:
The L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) was established in 1987 at Hyderabad as a not-for-profit, non-government, public-spirited, comprehensive eye care institution. LVPEI is governed by two trusts: the Hyderabad Eye Institute and the Hyderabad Eye Research Foundation. The Institute is a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Prevention of Blindness and a Global Resource Centre for VISION 2020: The Right to Sight initiative. LVPEI has ten active arms to its areas of operations: Clinical Services, Education, Research, Vision Rehabilitation, Rural and Community Eye Health, Eye Banking, Advocacy and Policy Planning, Capacity Building, Innovation and Product Development.
The LVPEI pyramidal model of eye care delivery currently includes a Centre of Excellence in Hyderabad, 3 tertiary centres in Bhubaneswar, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada, 19 secondary and 183 primary care vision centres that cover the remotest rural areas in the four states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Karnataka.
About IIMA:
The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) was set up as an autonomous institution in 1961 by the Government of India in collaboration with the Government of Gujarat and the Indian industry. IIMA is the first management school in India to receive international accreditation for five years. It was the first business school in India to receive EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System) accreditation, by the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) in June 2008 and has maintained EQUIS accreditation since then.
In 2018, IIMA made it to the number 4 position in the Financial Times (FT) Asia Pacific Top 25 Business School Rank, ahead of all Indian B-School. FT conducted the ranking after considering the quality and breath of all the B-schools programmes. In addition, it has been ranked 19th in the Financial Times (FT) Masters in Management Rankings 2018 and 31st in the FT (Financial Times) Global MBA Ranking 2018. Over the years, the Post Graduate Programme in Food and Agri-business Management (PGP-FABM) of IIMA has been ranked number one globally in its category in the Eduniversal Best Masters’ Ranking in Agribusiness/Food Industry Management.
IIMA features at the top position in the India Ranking 2018 (National Institutional Ranking Framework) released by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India.
For any clarifications please contact:
Dr Sreedevi Yadavalli
Consultant, Communications, L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI)
Ph: (Cell) +91-9849171895
Email: ysreedevi@lvpei.org
Website: www.lvpei.org
Deepak Bhatt
Manager, Communication, IIMA
Ph: (Cell) +91-9426229429, (O) +91-79-71524683
Email: mngr-comm@iima.ac.in
Mitaaly Naidu
Executive, Public Relations, IIMA
Ph: (Cell) +91-7069074816, (O) +91-79-71524684
Email: pr@iima.ac.in