NOVEMBER 15, 2022
THE LATEST

Bushra Sabri in the Spotlight
Assistant Professor, School of Nursing

“There’s a strong need for effective, evidence-based practices and interventions to improve healthcare.”

Direct intervention and refining the data available is going to provide the best results for marginalized communities, Bushra Sabri, assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing says. With her focus in India on preventing gender-based violence among pregnant and postpartum women, she notes this is easier said than done.

In this spotlight, Dr. Sabri discusses her most recent intervention program and the unnoticed violence that some women in India are exposed to.
GKII Webinar Postponed
The Nov. 17 webinar featuring Dr. Sheela Magge has been postponed. Please stay tuned for updates, but in the meantime you can still register! We will reschedule.

Sheela Magge, Chief of Division of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Lawson Wilkins Endowed Chair of Pediatric Endocrinology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, will speak on the topic: Diabetes and CVD Risk Among South Asians.

Dr. Magge will be discussing her NIH funded research related to ancestry-related differences in body composition and the impact on cardiometabolic risk.
NEWS OF NOTE
by Ronak D. Desai, JHU Alumnus

"India is one of America’s most vital strategic partners. Several long-term U.S. objectives — from defense and trade to energy and health care — are advanced through our relationship with the world’s largest democracy. The United States is India’s largest trading partner and one of its top arms suppliers. Delhi is also crucial to Washington’s efforts to contain a rising China. Supported by a bipartisan consensus, strong foreign relations with India remain one of the rare areas of convergence between America’s two political parties.

And yet — nearly two years since President Biden’s election to the White House — the Senate still hasn’t confirmed the administration’s nominee for ambassador to India."

Check out this conversation with the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of India, Nirmala Sitharaman, on the topic of "Technology, Finance and Governance: The Multiplier Effect." This discussion was moderated by JHU Professor Pravin Krishna.
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The USAID Office of Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition has announced the release of Getting to 2030: Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition Technical Roadmap. The roadmap is a technical framework that guides maternal and child survival programs and partnerships alongside the Agency’s investments in family planning, malaria, and health systems strengthening. 
MEDIA COVERAGE
Treatment Action Group, Nov. 14, 2022

TAG’s 2022 Research in Action Awards (RIAA) honored some of the best and brightest activists, scientists, and leaders in the fight to end HIV, tuberculosis, and hepatitis C across the U.S. and around the world. They also honored three decades of accomplishments for TAG since their founding. Check out the link for more information as Amita Gupta, GKII Co-Chair, was also honored.
EVENT
LOVESICK Screening
Join us December 1, 2022
Mark your calendars for December 1. The Gupta-Klinsky India Institute and the Center for Infectious Diseases in India are co-hosting a screening of the film LOVESICK with the JHU Center for AIDS Research. More information will be provided at a later date.

Across the world, over 36 million people live with HIV, many in places where HIV/AIDS is unspeakable. So, how do you find love & marriage when you are HIV+? In 1986, Dr. Suniti Solomon discovered India’s first case of HIV. But without medicines, she could only console patients who “other doctors weren’t even willing to touch.” She quit her prestigious academic post in microbiology and founded YRG CARE, one of India’s first HIV/AIDS clinics.

Back then, HIV was a death sentence. Today, thanks to affordable generic drugs, Dr. Solomon’s patients live longer, healthier lives – and, like all young Indians, face the pressure to marry. At 72, in the twilight of her career, Dr. Solomon finds herself in a new role: marriage matchmaker. 

LOVESICK interweaves Dr. Solomon’s unconventional personal and professional journeys with the lives of two patients: Karthik, a reticent bachelor, and Manu, a bubbly IT professional who, like many women in India, was infected by her first husband. As Karthik and Manu search for love, they learn how to survive under the shadow of HIV.
Eight years in the making, LOVESICK is a surprising portrait of modern love in the age of AIDS.
OPPORTUNITIES
CIDI/CCGHE-ID Sr. Grants & Contracts Analyst Position
The Center for Infectious Diseases in India (CIDI) and Center for Community & Global Health in Infectious Diseases (CCGHE-ID) are accepting applications for a Sr. Grants & Contracts Analyst position. The position supports pre and post award grant activities of CIDI and CCGHE-ID, which have an ever-expanding domestic & international grants and contracts portfolio. 
 
Responsibilities include reconciliation of non-sponsored and sponsored accounts, monitoring expenses, processing financial transactions, preparing grants and contract proposals, providing guidance on grants terms and conditions, and maintaining documentation to support financial transactions. This position reports to and support the Grants & Contracts Manager and works with the PIs, Co-Is, Office of Sponsored Projects in the Department of Medicine (DOM), the Office of Research Administration (ORA) at the School of Medicine (SOM), the Department Finance Office, and external funding agencies to process grant and contract applications.
AIIS 2022 Fellowship Competition
Application Deadline: Nov. 15, 2022
The American Institute of Indian Studies announced its 2022 fellowship competition, and invites applications from scholars who wish to conduct their research in India. Junior fellowships are awarded to Ph.D. candidates to conduct research for their dissertations in India for up to eleven months. Senior fellowships are awarded to scholars who hold the Ph.D. degree for up to nine months of research in India.

AIIS welcomes applicants from a wide variety of disciplines. It especially encourages applicants in fields such as Development Studies, Natural Resources Management, Public Health, and Regional Planning.

Inquiries should be directed to 773-702-8638 or aiis@uchicago.edu.
Simons – Ashoka Fellowship Programme
Application Deadline: Jan. 1, 2023
The Simons Fellowship Programme at Ashoka University is a unique model of collaborative research in the quantitative biomedical sciences and allied fields with the following vision: 
  • To build an innovative and multidisciplinary research environment for analysis of health data
  • To extend the impact of the Simons Foundation to address health-care needs in low and middle-income countries.
  • To incubate pioneering initiatives in the field of personalised medicine, as a model for similar efforts in institutions across the world.

The Simons Fellowship Programme, housed at the Trivedi School of Biosciences at Ashoka University, is a first-of-its-kind initiative by the Simons Foundation, outside the United States in a developing country. The Fellowship will support outstanding interdisciplinary post-doctoral researchers working towards obtaining quantitative insights in biomedical sciences and related areas, including mathematical and computational biology and big data analysis for health.

Simons-Ashoka fellows will benefit from the experience of Ashoka’s talented faculty in the sciences, also linking to research in one of our growing list of partner international institutions. They will also be able to leverage the rich ecosystem of scientific research in and around the National Capital Region of India, which houses several leading universities and laboratories and hospitals including Jawaharlal Nehru University and Delhi University, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT), Institute of Genome and Integrative Biology, Indraprastha Institute for Information Technology (IIIT), All India Institute of Medical Sciences, and Max Healthcare.

A cohort of 6 selected fellows will be mentored by 6 Senior Fellows recruited from amongst accomplished scientists in India. Simons-Ashoka Fellows will receive an annual compensation of 18 lakhs INR for a maximum of 3 years, along with other academic allowances.
Looking for Student Support?
Johns Hopkins faculty who are seeking student support for India-related projects can now submit position descriptions. We will post them online and share in our email updates!