Meet Dr Vikash R Keshri, Senior Research Fellow - Injury Division

Q. Tell us a bit about your professional background?

I am a medical doctor with specialisation in community medicine and public health. I completed MBBS and MD from the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (MGIMS), Sewagram, Wardha which is India’s first rural medical college. Right from the beginning of medical training, we were exposed to community-based medical education and public health. After MBBS, I worked in a missionary hospital for more than a year. Thereafter, I joined post-graduation (MD) in community medicine.   

Three years of MD training provided me with an excellent opportunity to learn and experience the multiple facets of public health. I spent several days and nights at remote village health centres and rural primary health centres. At the same time, I also got the opportunity to work and learn the functioning of the district, state and national health systems through collaborative projects and assignments. My MD dissertation was funded by the World Health Organization in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India and provided me an opportunity to research on task shifting of general physicians for emergency obstetrics care across 9 Indian states. I also completed a post-graduate diploma in maternal and child health during this period.

After MD, I briefly worked as project manager for a large community-based vaccine trial at MGIMS before moving to Madhya Pradesh to work as a technical consultant for RMNCHA in Madhya Pradesh Health Sector Reform Project. Later, I moved to Bihar and worked as Maternal Health Specialist at the State Resource Unit (SRU) which was set up by a collaboration of development partners and led by CARE, India with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).

During this period, I was also selected for two important career development opportunities, first, as a fellow for inaugural Keystone course on health policy and systems research in 2015 and subsequently, a DGD-Belgium fellowship in 2016 to pursue a course on ‘Health Policy’ at the Institute for Tropical Medicine, Antwerp. These two opportunities and context of my embedded work with health systems changed the entire focus of my work towards health policy and systems research.

Before joining TGI, I was working as Subject Expert – Health Policy and Systems at a newly established health policy think tank - the centre for health policy at Asian Development Research Institute, Patna, India. I led primary research mainly around governance and stewardship of health systems and performance of public health facilities. I also led a work on literature mapping on health research from Bihar.

Q. What inspires you in the work you do and why?

Being born and brought up in one of the most resource-constrained areas in India, I have witnessed the suffering of people due to underdeveloped health systems. My career choice is highly influenced by these experiences. Since childhood, I have always wondered and faced discomfort in understanding the fact that why someone should have an advantage because of their birth  and many others are disadvantaged for the same reason. So, the guiding philosophy of my life is to try to make difference in other people’s lives and public health research is one such opportunity where I can make a significant difference to the lives of millions by a single right action. Although not always tangible, yet the cascading effect of our action may affect the lives of a significant number of people, I find this aspect of my work as most exciting.

Q. What are you currently working on at TGI?

I am currently working on a project on health systems response to Burns care to improve the recovery outcome for survivors in India. This is a unique project in terms of its design and multidisciplinary approach. Burns is one of the most common injury-causing significant morbidity, mortality and disability.

Women are affected far more commonly, and the impact of burn injury is most devastating for the people from socio-economic strata and those living in resource-constrained settings. The outcome of burn injury is also highly dependent on health systems responsiveness. This project is a combination of epidemiology and health policy and systems research. India already has a national programme for the prevention and management of burns injury, this project is envisaged to be implemented within the framework of the national programme. With almost a decade of experience with embedded health systems project, I am excited to contribute significantly to this project.  

Q. Do you have any other professional interests apart from your work with the injury team?

Yes, obviously. As mentioned above my core interest is in health policy and systems research. So, I will constantly try to apply the systems approach in all my work at TGI. Apart from this, I am involved with a large network of researchers in health policy and systems research and am also a part of Health Systems Global and its thematic working groups such as SHAPES and Private sector in Health.

Policy analysis, governance of health systems, the role of the private sector in health continue to remain one of my major interests. I am also involved in some collaborative work on Governance and regulation of health care, universal health coverage, private sector and commercialisation of healthcare. As my earlier training and professional career was around maternal and child health services, so, women’s health also continues to remain one of my core professional interests. Over the period, my interest in the social science approach to health has also deepened and I keep learning, evaluating and documenting my thoughts on the social aspects of health. I also occasionally write intriguing blogs, media articles and commentaries on health policy issues in India.

Q. What is a recent highlight?

I have enrolled in PhD at TGI and UNSW in February 2020 under the supervision of three wonderful supervisors, Prof. Robyn Norton, Dr Jagnoor and Dr Seye Abimbola.  The Burns ICMR project is now moving with a scheduled investigator’s meeting soon followed by a formal collaboration with study sites. Six very important papers of mine from my earlier work are under different stages of review. Interestingly, these six papers are on different public health issues, two of them are already accepted for publication. 

Q. What do you like most about working at The George Institute?

TGI operates and works with a global perspective, thus, completely living up to its name. The seamless connect between TGI colleagues located globally is amazing and exciting. The ease with which the organization ensures the transition of a new employee is very reassuring. The set procedures for the academic and professional development of staff inspire us to elevate our performance. Last but not the least, the wonderful colleagues and supervisors make our life and work comfortable, thus allowing us to enjoy our work and perform to our full potential.

Q. How does your work help to improve the health of people?

While choosing public health as a career, the biggest question was how can we measure the impact of our work. The simple answer is that the impact of the work we do in public health may not always be visible or tangible but is often very far-reaching. Even one right recommendation from the project I am currently working on can change the lives of millions of burns patients, survivors and their families. We are also aiming to develop policy and advocacy papers emphasising the need to ensure proper health systems response to burns and injuries in India.