Programme Director
Dr. Varna has two decades of work experience in global development. A trained development economist and legal professional, her interests are in the legal dimensions of policy, behavior change communications, small enterprise bottom-lines, health and education policy, rural markets and credit access, advocacy, knowledge-management and evidence driven communications and gender inclusive economic growth.
As the Programme Director of IHCRF, she leads the strategic vision and operational management of the programme, ensuring its alignment with our mission to build resilience in health systems and climate action.
Her role involves overseeing the selection and development of fellows, facilitating collaborations with key stakeholders, and guiding the programme's monitoring and evaluation efforts. She also drives initiatives that foster innovation, knowledge-sharing, and capacity-building, positioning IHCRF as a leading force in addressing the intersecting challenges of health and climate in India.
Lead - Programme Manager & Operations
Thongsuanmung Vualnam is a highly experienced public health professional with over 20 years of leadership in managing national health programs. His work has focused on improving health service delivery, addressing primary health care needs, and implementing system-wide improvements to achieve measurable results.
His expertise lies in executing large-scale health initiatives, streamlining operations, and ensuring that health systems function efficiently and effectively.
At IHCRF, Vualnam is responsible for overseeing program management and ensuring the smooth execution of health initiatives aimed at solving public health challenges. His leadership is central to IHCRF delivering tangible outcomes through strategic planning, operational excellence, and targeted problem-solving. At IHCRF he is also the sounding board for project plans that seek to prioritise strengthening health systems to ensure they are resilient and capable of addressing the evolving needs of communities.
Lead - Human Centered Design
Karthikeyan is a design thinking facilitator with 10+ years of experience in delivering solutions across agriculture, healthcare, consumer tech and social development and design, such as design and systems thinking, service design, process mapping, product development & delivery, design strategy consulting, visual communication, and user experience design.
His interests lie in design-led social innovation with a focus on healthcare and healthy ageing. He enjoys learning and navigating through complex and ambiguous information and creating frameworks and visualisations to bring coherence & to facilitate solutioning with relevant stakeholders.
At IHCRF, he leads the Human Centered Design (HCD) inititatives which entails developing curriculum and facilitating a HCD-led capacity building for a public health focussed pan-India fellowship, to empower fellows to create innovative, user-centered solutions that address critical public health challenges across India. Karthikeyan’s work ensures that the fellowship promotes practical applications of HCD for sustainable health outcomes.
Lead - Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning
Dr. Shaivya is a social researcher and has more than a decade of experience in the social development sector. She has primary and secondary social research experience. Her experience lies in survey design and quantitative and qualitative data analysis. She has worked in the fields of philanthropy, gender, migration, health, education in rural India, and skill development.
Shaivya has handled projects related to smart cities, violence against women, engendering school programs, and gender sensitisation in rural India. Her interests lie in working towards bringing change in society and informing decision-making through data analysis. Her learning experiences are a result of interaction with vulnerable communities and understanding the causes of their underlying problems and probable solutions to these causes. Shaivya holds a PhD and Masters in Political Science from the University of Texas at Dallas.
Lead - Knowledge Management & Learning
Dr. Neha Nimble is a social scientist with a PhD from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. With 15 years in the social sector, she brings rich experience in both grassroots work and ecosystem research. Through her training and experience at institutions like TISS, University of Tampere, Delhi School of Social Work and Ashoka University, she has gained skills and knowledge across varied thematic sectors (gender, social exclusion, sustainable livelihoods, philanthropy and civil society). As an intersectional feminist, Dr. Nimble works to democratise and decolonise knowledge- from production to management and application- to inform effective solutions for diverse societal challenges.
Lead Data Scientist
Utpal is an engineer turned development professional with specialization in technology and policy linkages, data science, and spatial analysis especially in the context of health and nutrition interventions.He holds an M.Tech. in Technology and Development from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. Over the course of his career, Utpal has managed and contributed to a diverse range of projects, including those focused on nutrition, health, advocacy, community-based participatory initiatives, gender-based violence, and climate resilience.
At IHCRF, Utpal works on providing dataanalytics support to the team and develop insights and trends leveraging public health data along with building capacity of fellows.
Utpal has experience working in close collaboration with key government bodies and development organizations, including his tenure with the State Health Systems Resource Centre in Meghalaya. Utpal has also been actively engaged in building consensus and advocating for nutrition policies at the state and national levels. Utpal has worked with several organizations, including the Indian Institute of
Science (Bangalore), Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, UNICEF, Piramal Swasthya, The Coalition for Food and Nutrition Security (CFNS), and the Child in Need Institute.
Human Centered Design - Associate
Vignesh is a Design Thinking Facilitator with extensive experience in fostering creativity, problem-solving, and social impact through education. With a background in facilitating Design Thinking workshops, he has worked across diverse domains, including rural development, public health, and education. His expertise spans design and systems thinking, facilitation, research, stakeholder engagement, and capacity-building initiatives.
His interests lie in using design thinking as a tool for social innovation, with a focus on community-driven solutions and sustainable development. He enjoys conducting socio-cultural analysis, navigating complex challenges, and developing frameworks that drive meaningful change.
At IHCRF, Vignesh contributes to HCD initiatives by supporting fellows. His work ensures that design thinking is applied to healthcare and social development, empowering fellows to create innovative, user-centered solutions that address critical challenges across India.
Communications - Associate
Vaebhav Badola is a multidisciplinary designer with over 8+ years of experience across diverse sectors, including Social Development, E-commerce, Beauty and Personal Care (BPC), Educational Institutions, Philanthropy, and Advertising. He specializes in creating cohesive brand identities and designing engaging spatial experiences across both digital and physical platforms.
Vaebhav’s interests encompass developing insightful research papers, designing intuitive infographics, and creating comprehensive brand manuals that ensure institutional consistency and adherence to best practices.
Vice President - Blockchain for Impact
Nagakarthik MP is the Vice President at Blockchain for Impact, formerly CryptoRelief, and has been involved with the fund since its early stages. An engineer by training, he has spent the last eight years working across the Indian Himalayan region and the North Eastern states, designing and managing large-scale programs in health, education, climate action, and entrepreneurship.
His work focuses on building ground-up public problem-solving ecosystems to address critical challenges in underserved areas.
At IHCRF, Nagakarthik advises on program design and public problem-solving ecosystems, leveraging his expertise to develop scalable and impactful initiatives. His guidance is instrumental in creating effective strategies for tackling complex public health and social issues.
While not working, he can mostly be found on a motorcycle in some corner of the country.
Executive Director - PHIA Foundation
Johnson Topno is a seasoned development professional with over 23 years of experience in program management, public policy, and organizational development.
As Executive Director of Phia Foundation, he leads 300 professionals across 8 states in India, focusing on climate change, local governance, public health, and digital empowerment. He has as held key roles, including Team Leader at FES and Programme Lead at Change Alliance, and has managed DFID’s largest civil society initiative in Jharkhand. He serves on several state-level committees, including the State Employment Guarantee Council.
Johnson holds a Master's in Rural Management and has completed advanced leadership programs. His skills encompass program management, natural resource management, stakeholder engagement, and policy advocacy. He is also a co-author of notable publications on climate change and social protection.
Advisor - Blockchain for Impact
Dr. Ramnath Ballala is a seasoned family physician and public health specialist with over 15 plus years of experience in non-profit organisations and public health management.
His expertise spans family medicine, health systems strengthening, design, implementation, and evaluation of public health programs. Dr. Ballala is passionate about taking primary care closer to the public, grassroot healthcare innovations and bringing human-centred design and public health closer for larger public good. In his advisory role, he contributes to the vision and mission of DFS fostering strategic partnerships and providing comprehensive technical support to the IHCRF in public health and program design.
Dr. Ballala has an MBBS degree and is a Master of Public Health (MPH) with a focus on Health System Management and Policy. He is also a lifetime member of Academy of Family Physicians of India. Beyond his professional life, Dr. Ballala is a nature lover, an amateur bird watcher, photographer, and sketch artist.
