Our Team

Dr K.Karthikeyan, a medical doctor, trained in HIV medicine and mental health. His 25 years of clinical and public health experience covers grassroots, state, national and international levels.

In the early years of the HIV epidemic in India, led his team to establish home-based care in 15 districts of Tamil Nadu. He served as the nodal person in WHO India office, in 2006-2008, led the ART training roll out in India. He served as the WHO country focal point for HIV, in the Maldives and Timor Leste.

Since 2005, he has been associated with KHPT in various capacities. He is the thematic lead for Tuberculosis in KHPT. He led the technical team in USAID funded THALI project, continues in the same position in USAID funded Breaking the Barriers project. He is passionate about building the team at work.

Dr Prarthana BS, a medical doctor, trained in public health, medical law and ethics as well as in family medicine. She has 15 years of clinical and public health experience covering grassroots and state levels. She has worked as a clinician in HIV/ STIs and family medicine. She also has worked as a technical and training coordinator in various projects across themes of HIV, MNCH and Tuberculosis since 2010.

Currently, she is the strategic lead for tuberculosis in KHPT and doubles up as project director for private sector engagement in metro city JEET project for Bangalore. She is interested in integrating health with development across sectors.

Ms Poornima has been part of the development sector for almost two decades now and holds a Masters in Sociology. During her career, has worked on a varied set of issues, HIV-AIDS, destitute children welfare, prevention of child labour, HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis. Earlier at IHAT & KHPT, she has successfully managed HIV AIDS Programs in the position of Capacity Building Officer, Advocacy & Community Mobilisation, Regional Manager –Programs & Sr. Program Officer for Link Worker Scheme of NACO – GFATM Round VII.

Prior to joining KHPT, she has worked with organizations such as Actionaid Karnataka, Don Bosco, Association for Rural and Urban Needy – Rainbow Homes, Association for People with Disability, Greenpeace India, BESCOM and NRHM (KSHSRC).

Ms Poornima is the recipient of REX- Karmaveer Chakra Award – 2016 for excellence in promoting social justice & action, is also the recipient of Women in Corporate Award – 2019: Trailblazer for Innovation presented by Women’s Web
She is passionate about working with communities, developing leaders and seeks to serve the marginalised communities.

Dr Sukriti Chauhan, an INLAKS scholar, is a trained lawyer with a Masters in International Development Law and Human Rights from the Warwick University, UK. She has close to a decade of advocacy and communications expertise in public health and human rights. She started her career with PATH, India, working closely on HIV/AIDS, sexual reproductive health, cervical cancer prevention and maternal and child health.

As a Director at Global Health Strategies, Sukriti led the Tuberculosis Control and Prevention Project, resulting in national-level policy changes and campaigns, as well as set up the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative in India. Sukriti worked closely with the Indian Council of Medical Research to set up a Communications Unit to build the capacity of scientists to effectively and credibly relay scientific evidence to the public and key decision-makers. She also spearheaded the implementation of a champions-based strategy to create an enabling environment for the uptake of family planning services with a focus on spacing and access to the basket of contraceptive choices, with a rights-based perspective in six states in India.

Most recently she led a consortium of ten Indian partners at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) focused on adolescent health, nutrition and child protection and also drafted a five-year strategy for India Health Fund- set up by Tata Trusts focused on tuberculosis and malaria.

Sukriti has recently been awarded her PhD titled ‘Legal and Social Impact of HIV/AIDS on Abandoned Housewives in Kolkata and Delhi’ from the Jawaharlal Nehru University. She has presented and published her work at the global and national level. She started her first NGO for abandoned HIV positive women in the year 2000, is a trained Indian classical singer and an avid animal rights activist.

Dr Rehana Begum is a health professional, with close to two decades of experience, holds an MBBS degree from Ambedkar Medical college, Diploma in Oto-Rhino-Laryngology (D.L.O) from Bangalore Medical College, MBA (HR) from Madurai Kamaraj University- Distance Education and a Certificate Course in Health Research Methodology and Evidence-based Medicine, from St. John’s Medical College and Research Institute in collaboration with McMaster University, Canada (2014). Her health expertise includes Tuberculosis Control, Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A), Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission of HIV (PPTCT), STI, Quality assurance of public health facilities and Research.

Prior to joining the BTB project at KHPT as Deputy Project Director, she has worked with World Health Organization, UNICEF-India, UNICEF Lao-PDR, UNICEF- Timor-Leste, UNICEF- Kiribati, UNICEF-Fiji, office; John Snow Inc, Centre for Global Health Research (CGHR), University of Toronto and Bangalore Bruhat Mahanagar Palike (BBMP). Dr Rehana’s areas of interest include Tuberculosis, TB-HIV, Research, Maternal and child health, Monitoring & evaluation, Evidence-informed medicine, Biostatistics and Program management, and she has numerous publications to her credit.

Ms Tejaswini holds a Masters in Social Work, and has work experience of more than two decades. Prior to joining KHPT she has led various programs at district and state levels working with leading organizations, UNICEF, British Petroleum India Pvt Ltd, World Bank, Government of Karnataka, IORA Ecological solutions, New Delhi, Outline India, New Delhi and ISEC Bangalore.

At present she is pursuing her PhD on “Impact of devadasi system of adolescent girls from devadasi families in Bagalkot district”.

Tejaswini is passionate about working with marginal communities specifically children and adolescents. Viewing issues with a gender lens is critical for her.

She has recently been awarded the “Jyotirmayi” by Karnataka farmer women’s association and also as “Super woman2020” by Forever Star India Awards.

Ms. Mamatha M.R. is a development professional with more than 25 years of work experience. She has worked intensively with a number of organizations during her career. Prior to joining KHPT as the Project Director, she has worked in various capacities with leading organizations, UNICEF-Karnataka, Karnataka State Human Rights Commission (KSHSRC), Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPR), Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM) Sight Savers international, National Health Mission, Karnataka State Aids Prevention Society KSAPS and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Department of education Government of Karnataka.

Mamatha is passionate about working with marginal rural and urban communities, creating an enabling environment for them and improving their agency.