Student Profile: Surabhi Bhanot

Surabhi Bhanot is an MSPH student in the SBI program in the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her work focuses on integrating behavioral science to understand community needs and innovate person-centric population health solutions. Throughout her career in public health, she has leveraged her expertise to identify deeply embedded socio-cultural and behavioral drivers that shape healthcare preferences and has worked closely with stakeholders to co-create impactful behavior change strategies for better health outcomes.

While here at the Bloomberg School, Surabhi worked with PATH as a graduate intern focused on strengthening routine health information systems under the Routine Immunization Strengthening for Polio (RISP) program, specifically on information systems in fragile and conflict-affected settings. In this role, she led research with global partners, such as the GAVI Vaccine Alliance, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Bank to identify unmet data needs and barriers in data availability for immunization program management and recommend novel data tools to help identify, reach, and monitor under-immunized children.

As a student, Surabhi is highly involved on campus through her participation in the Emerging Women in Global Health Society, the Asia Pacific Public Health Network, and the Johns Hopkins Pro-Bono Consulting Club. During her first term, she volunteered with the Sexual Assault Response and Prevention with Johns Hopkins Student Wellness, providing SARP trainings to students and affiliates of the University across campuses with focus on all gender, sexual, and racial identities. She has also received various awards for her work, including the Gupta-Klinsky India Institute Global Health Field Placement research-travel grant to help fund her research across India, Nepal, and Kenya.

In the local community, Surabhi worked with Moveable Feast, a Baltimore-based non-profit, to identify barriers faced by racial and sexual minorities with HIV in accessing medically tailored meal delivery and nutritional counselling services. She conducted research with patients enrolled in Moveable Feast’s programs, highlighting client needs and providing recommendations for client-centered program delivery.

Prior to her time in Baltimore, Surabhi received her undergraduate degree in Psychology from the Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi. It was there that she found her love for social sciences through her curiosity for understanding human behavior. Surabhi led independent research projects in underserved communities, particularly with women and children, working with them to understand and cultivate innovative but effective interventions. As she looks back on her time working on these projects, one formative experience she had was during an interview with a pregnant woman who was denied pre-natal healthcare due to her caste status. “This brought to my focus intersectionality between health, gender, and social hierarchy, and began sowing the seeds for exploring equitable and patient-responsive healthcare delivery.”

After completing her undergraduate degree, Surabhi assumed a consultancy position at Dalberg, where she used her expertise to develop targeted health communications focused on reducing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among pregnant and nursing mothers in India. She has since worked on various projects funded by organizations such as the UN, USAID, and the Gates Foundation to deliver innovative healthcare solutions. Recently, she partnered with Jhpiego to triage patient-centered telemedicine services with primary health centers across three states of India, building community trust in digital healthcare and expanding service coverage to over 280 million patients annually.

Looking towards her future in public health, Surabhi wants to further her practice at the intersection of research and implementation, creating equitable, cost-efficient, quality solutions for a wide array of issues in public health. Her goal is to “develop strategies by working with communities, instead of for them, building local capacity and agency towards self-sufficiency with health needs.” Her time in the Department of International Health has helped shape the impact she wants to have on global health and fulfill her aspirations of creating lasting change internationally. 

Published November 22, 2024