Radhika Purandare is AcademyHealth's Summer 2023 Health Policy Fellow. She is a Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) candidate studying health policy and management at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Radhika is a 2023 Winston Scholarship recipient. She holds bachelor’s degrees in public health (B.S.) and communication studies (B.A.) from The College of New Jersey.
Before beginning graduate school, Radhika was a Fulbright grantee at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, where she used a mixed-methods approach to examine whether multilingual doulas could improve the health outcomes and birth experiences of new immigrants. She previously worked at PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where she supported policy surveillance and research dissemination efforts on issues affecting children and families, such as safe school reopening policies. She also completed internships at the Office of the First Lady of New Jersey, supporting maternal health initiatives and the New Jersey Department of Health, investigating how pregnancy status impacts COVID-19 outcomes.
Radhika is deeply passionate about bridging gaps between policymakers and researchers. She is interested in maternal and child health, as well as how innovative payment and delivery systems can improve the quality and affordability of health services.