Chhavi Bhandari

Chhavi leads the Impact & Engagement function at The George Institute for Global Health in India with activities including advocacy, policy engagement, thought leadership and community engagement to help increase the impact of the institute’s health and medical research.

The George Institute’s work plays particular emphasis on the use of innovative approaches to prevent and treat the common causes of premature death and disability including mental health issues, and promoting all-round equity in health. A planetary health lens is embedded into our research and advocacy, and we aim to ensure that evidence informs the development and implementation of social, economic, and environmental policies to address climate change and other urgent global health challenges and to improve planetary health outcomes.

Chhavi is also the Community Engagement and Involvement (CEI) lead for the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Global Health Research Centre for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and Environmental Change. This centre is a joint collaboration between the George Institute for Global Health India; Imperial College, London; icddr,b, Dhaka, Bangladesh; Brawijaya University, Malang Indonesia; and Sri Ramchandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, India. The centre conducts world-leading co-production and implementation research in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs) that are highly impacted by the dual challenges of NCDs and environmental change.

Chhavi is an MBA with multi-disciplinary experience in the healthcare sector. She has worked with national and state governments, hospitals, NGOs, universities, pharmaceuticals, medical-technology, multilateral organisations and insurance companies, globally, as part of her consulting and management roles in India, Australia and the UK.