Director's Profile

Dr. Sanghamitra Pati is a distinguished physician, laboratory scientist, and public health researcher with over 25 years of experience in the field. She began her academic journey by earning an MBBS in 1992 and an MD in 1998 from MKCG Medical College in Berhampur, Odisha, India. In 2000, she was honored with the Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship (JJ/WBGSP), which allowed her to pursue a Master of Public Health (MPH) at the University of Maastricht in The Netherlands. She further advanced her education and achieved a Ph.D. from the same university in 2023. Dr. Pati’s leadership roles have been impactful, particularly in her tenure as the Director of the ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre in Bhubaneswar, from August 2016 to December 2024. In December 2024, she took on the prestigious & responsible role of Additional Director General at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in New Delhi, continuing her significant contributions to public health research and policy.

Needless to mention the crucial role played by Dr.Pati, during the critical time of the COVID-19 pandemic, in leading serosurvelience studies not only in Odisha but also in adjoining states of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. She was also instrumental in co-developing the first Make in Odisha rapid Antigen kit for COVID-19 diagnosis.

A Distinguished Lown Scholar at Harvard School of Public Health, Boston with research experience of 25 years, She has co-authored 350+ scientific publications in the peer-reviewed journals and co-authored two books on health care and a few book chapters. She has an h-index of 45 and i10-index of 174. She serves as a reviewer for esteemed journals such as The Lancet, PLOS ONE, BMJ Open, BMC Family Practice, and is an editorial board member of the European Journal of Cancer Care and Frontiers in Public Health.

In appreciation of her extraordinary contribution to public health and research, she has been conferred with prestigious awards like Samanta Chandrasekhara Award-2018 by Odisha Bigyan Academy, Devi Award-2020 by the honourable Chief Minister, the President’s Appreciation Award by Indian Medical Association (IMA), Times Power Women Award-2021, Madhubabu Odisha Gourav Samman Award -2023, Cuttack, Biswamukti Rashtriya Swasthyasewa Samman-2023, Odisha Women Award-2023 by Ever Green Forum and Chief Minister’s Award for Excellence in Healthcare Services, Govt. of Odisha -2024 and felicited by Odisha CSR Forum-2024 for her extraordinary contribution to Public Health and Reseach, instrumented in co-developing the first Make in Odisha rapidantigen kit for Covid-19 diagnosis.

Dr. Pati is a Fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS), India; the Royal Society of Public Health (FRSPH), UK; and the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC).

Dr. Pati has been recognized as one of India’s most influential researchers. In October 2021, Elsevier ranked her as the 2nd most influential Indian researcher in General and Internal Medicine (1st among ICMR scientists). In 2024, she was listed among the top 2% of global scientists by Ioannidis, John P.A., in the "Updated Science-Wide Author Database of Standardized Citation Indicators" published by Elsevier.