Ashish Joshi, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Health Services Research and Administration, and the Center for Global Health and Development in the UNMC College of Public Health, was awarded the 2013 Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Samman Award by the government of India and the Non-Resident Indians (NRI) Welfare Society of India.
He received the award last week from the Honorable Baroness Sandip Verma, junior minister of Energy and Climate Change in the United Kingdom, at the House of Lords in London in the presence of dignitaries during a function of the Global Achievers Conclave.
The Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Samman Gold Medal recognizes people of Indian origin for their significant contributions in various fields in the country of their residence and in the service of the wider global community. Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is celebrated in India each year on Jan. 9 to mark the contribution of the overseas Indian community to the development of India. The day commemorates the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to Bombay on Jan. 9, 1915.
Dr. Joshi was chosen as one of 30 awardees from around the world for the outstanding services, achievements and contributions in the field of innovative use of information and communication technology in public health research in diverse global settings.
“I’m extremely honored and humbled to have received this award,” Dr. Joshi said.
Dr. Joshi has designed and developed innovative, accessible and affordable heath technologies to improve access, alleviate health illiteracy, reduce health disparities and enhance population outcomes among individuals living in diverse global settings.
Lifestyle diseases like obesity, diabetes and hypertension are an increasing burden worldwide. He uses such information and communication technologies as Internet, cell phone and electronic health kiosks to prevent and manage the increasing disease burden among individuals living in urban and resource-poor settings.
“I combine interactive media such as audio, video, images and animations with public health evidence to develop informatics tools that can effectively communicate risk to an individual in an easy-to-understand format so that appropriate recommendations can be given,” he said.
Congratulations Dr. Joshi! May you have such many more successes ahead.
Congratulations with this great honor that recognizes the value of dr. Joshi's work!
dr Hans C Ossebaard
RIVM – National Institute for Public Health and the Environment / Center for eHealth Research, University of Twente (The Netherlands).