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| Edited By: Niyati Rana |Source: DNA |Updated: Nov 22, 2010, 01:27 PM IST
Dileep Mavalankar, professor of public health management at IIMA, has gone on a two-year leave from the premier management institute to work at the newly set up Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH) in Gandhinagar. Professor Mavalankar took charge as dean (academic) at IIPH last week.
Mavalankar told DNA that he had sought leave from IIMA for two years to work at IIPH where his work would contribute to the overall development of the new institute. “It already has a diploma programme in health management. The immediate plan is to design a Masters programme in public health,” he said.
Professor Mavalankar, who has studied medicine, specialises in public health management. In addition to an MBBS degree, he holds an MD in preventive and social medicine, a Masters degree in public health, and a doctorate in public health. He is an associate professor at IIMA.
About IIPH Gandhinagar, he says the institute will focus mainly on public health management in its academic programme.
“Being the first-of-its-kind institute in Gujarat, IIPH-Gandhinagar will also help develop capacity building (in public health) for primary health centres and community health centres,” said Mavalankar.
He explained that at IIMA, professors are entitled to a sabbatical every six years and this is his second such leave from the B-school. Earlier, he had gone to the University of Columbia as a member of faculty in 1992-93, he said. So what will he do after his two-year stint at IIPH? “I have just joined IIPH and it is too early to say anything. I have the option of going back to IIMA. It may so happen that I might continue at IIPH or even resign and join a third institute,” said the professor.
Incidentally, the director of IIPH-Gandhinagar, JK Satia, is also a former IIMA professor who had left the premier B-school to work in Malaysia. IIPH has now a staff strength of 14, apart from the director and the dean.
