Dr. Ajay K. Singh, Senior Associate Dean at Harvard Medical School, presented an October talk at the LMSAI Delhi office on “COVID-19 Clinical Education Series: Clarifying Evidence Based Information.”
As we soon turn the page on 2021 and look ahead to 2022, the Mittal Institute’s Delhi Office shares an update on this past year and reflects on the future ahead.
LMSAI Office Opens Post Pandemic
With the easing of restrictions in India towards the end of 2021, the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute’s Delhi office opened to a flurry of scholarly activity. For visiting Harvard faculty, Harvard fellows, Phd students and more, the Delhi office has been home to webinars, collaborative workspaces, and dissemination sessions to aid and inspire faculty and scholars alike. The Delhi office and the team at LMSAI have helped make the most of a rapidly returning-to-normal city, and the team encourages future faculty and students to visit the office.
COVID-19 & Harvard Medical School
In October, the LMSAI Delhi office hosted Dr. Ajay K. Singh, Senior Associate Dean at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Singh conducted a live chat at the office with professors from Indian medical institutions and government officials to showcase the extensive work the team at Harvard Medical School has done, including creating a series of COVID-19 educational videos for dissemination to the public.
Dr. Singh’s “COVID-19 Clinical Education Series: Clarifying Evidence Based Information” helps clarify misconceptions surrounding correct disease management. The videos have also been translated into regional Indian languages. During his visit to the Delhi office, Dr. Singh along with LMSAI India Country Director Dr. Sanjay Kumar, met with India’s Health Minister, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, to discuss ways in which Harvard faculty and doctors in India can collaborate.
Leveraging the introductions made during Dr. Singh’s visit to the LMSAI’s Delhi office, the video series was showcased on the MyGov platform and focused on topics ranging from the management of patients isolating at home to the line of treatment for varying degrees of the disease.
Left to right: Dr. Singh; India’s Health minister, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya; and LMSAI India Country Director, Dr. Sanjay Kumar, discussed potential collaborations between Harvard faculty and doctors in India.
Dr. Singh presented his “COVID-19 Clinical Education Series: Clarifying Evidence Based Information” talk.
Collaborative Workspace
In November, the LMSAI Delhi office continued its aim of fostering collaborative workspaces as they hosted Professor S.V. Subramanian, a professor of Population, Health and Geography at Harvard University, currently working on the India Insights project funded by the Gates Foundation. Professor Subramanian was able to build collaborations with stakeholders during his time at the Mittal Institute’s Delhi Office, including the government of India (learn more about his work here). Additionally, he was able to record a podcast to discuss current and upcoming projects.
S.V. Subramanian, Principal Investigator of the India Policy Insights program.
Art: Visiting Artist Fellow Presents
In September, Sunanda Khajuria, Harvard Visiting Artist Fellow, dropped by the Delhi office to discuss her work and her experience at the university. Using a mix of ethereal memory and physical landscapes that she has visited, Sunanda creates vibrant pieces. Her abstract landscapes are best defined as dreamscapes, through which she attempts to capture the experience of being “in transit” by skillfully interweaving images of transition and mobility in a non-perspectival liminal space.
Furthermore, in association with the Harvard Club of India, the Mittal Institute hosted an immersive exhibition titled Liminal Worlds, at a leading art gallery in Delhi. Patrons were able to explore the lexicon of symbols and visual metaphors that lend themselves to the transient dream-like worlds created by the artist.
Sunanda Khajuria, Harvard Visiting Artist Fellow, dropped by the Delhi office to discuss her work and her experience at the university.
Scholarly Hub
Recent visits have not been limited to faculty from Harvard. Current student, Ronak Jain, a PhD candidate in Economics at Harvard, visited the Delhi office to conduct research on her thesis relating to the intersection of economic development and behavioral economics.
As we approach the end of 2021, application review is in full swing for the inaugural India Fellowship Program, which begins in March 2022. LMSAI’s Delhi office looks forward to the coming months as an opportunity for faculty and students to participate in the collaborative workspace that has been built.