Biography

Meenakshi Sharma holds her doctoral degree in biochemistry from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, and underwent a six month International Fellowship programme on ‘Bioethics and Ethics Committee Administration’ through the Western Institutional Review Board (WIRB)with joint sponsorship from the WHO, Middleton Foundation for Ethical studies, the NIH, and the University of Washington . Dr. Sharma has served as a lecturer at the Biochemistry Department of Panjab University, and Deputy Assistant Director at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, New Delhi.

Recently promoted to “Scientist E”, for the past 10 years, Dr. Sharma has worked as “Scientist D” Program Officer for Cardiovascular Diseases, Neurosciences and Biomedical Engineering with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) where she is engaged in the formulation, coordination and monitoring of several key projects of public health significance in the country. These projects include the establishment of multisite rheumatic fever (RF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) registries, management of acute coronary event (MACE) registries and models for urban and population based stroke registries, and a study for the development of tools for neuropsychological assessment in five different languages and for illiterate populations to monitor the cognitive, emotional, motor and sensory function for early detection of vascular cognitive impairment.

The ICMR is funded by the Government of India through the Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare; its research priorities coincide with priorities for national health including research on major non-communicable diseases and have contributed significantly to public health policy. Dr. Sharma is involved in identifying priority areas for cardiovascular diseases for India’s five year plans and review of Indo Foreign collaborative projects for Health Ministry Screening Committee’s approvals.

Project Title: A Pilot Study to Evaluate of Indian Council of Medical Research’s ‘Open Ended Research’ Scheme 

Project Objective: Determine effectiveness of allocation of funding and reduction in disease mortality.