Devi Sridhar

Raised in Miami by Indian parents, Professor Devi Sridhar is a global health scholar who has contributed to both academic and public discourse about public health interventions, exploring issues like world hunger and pandemics. Since joining the University in 2014, her proudest achievements include running large research projects with fantastic colleagues and teams, mentoring wonderful students and doing public engagement. 

 

Devi is a recipient of a Rhodes scholarship (the youngest person in the US to be awarded this), Founding Director of the Global Health Governance Programme and holds a Wellcome Trust Investigator Award. Devi holds an MPhil and a DPhil from Oxford University as well as a B.S. from the University of Miami's Honors Medical Program.

 

Following the West African Ebola virus epidemic, Devi worked with the Harvard Global Health Institute and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine to assess international responses to the outbreak and use it to better inform preparations with future pandemics. In 2020, Devi was part of the Royal Society's Data Evaluation and Learning for Viral Epidemics group which influences the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) committee of the government of the United Kingdom. In addition to advising the UK's SAGE team, this group has published data-driven research on coronavirus disease 2019, including a paper in The Lancet, whose recommendations were summed up in The Guardian by Sridhar as 1) Test, trace, and isolate 2) Give public health guidance on avoiding the virus and 3) Control borders to prevent reimportation. 

 

Her advisory roles extend to the Scottish Government's COVID-19 advisory group and she is an Associate Fellow with the Chatham House Centre on Global Health. She also serves on the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council and explores the dynamics of public–private partnerships in global health, advocating for transparency and effective governance, highlighted by her work with global leaders and organizations.

 

At the University of Edinburgh Devi won the Chancellor's Rising Star award in 2017. She won the Fletcher of Saltoun award of the Saltire Society for contributions to science in 2020. In 2021, The Royal Society of Edinburgh included Sridhar on its list of new fellows, stating that "Professor Sridhar, whose research considers the effectiveness of public health interventions, has become a household name in the last 12 months as a public health expert during the coronavirus pandemic”.