Sridhar Venkatapuram, PhD

, Dr, MSc, MPhil

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Personal profile

Biographical details

Sridhar Venkatapuram is an Associate Professor (UK- Senior Lecturer) in Global Health and Philosophy.  Sridhar conducts impact driven interdisciplinary research that aims to improve understanding and realization of health equity and justice. He is known for helping establish the area of ‘health justice’ philosophy, for engaging with and advising public/global health practitioners, and for amplifying ethical reasoning in public/global health education, research, and practice.

Sridhar has been at the forefront of global health and public health ethics for over 30 years starting as a researcher at Human Rights Watch documenting HIV/AIDS related abuses in India in 1994.  He has degrees in international relations (Brown AB ‘94), history (SOAS 91-92), global public health (Harvard ‘00), sociology (Cambridge ‘05), and political philosophy (Cambridge ‘09). 

Before joining King's, he was a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow and Lecturer in Ethics at LSHTM, and an Affiliated Lecturer at Cambridge University. And from 2008 to 2011 he was Co-Investigator with Sir Michael Marmot, Chair of the WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health.  He was on leave from 5/2018 to 9/2019 working as a Wellcome Trust Senior Research fellow at the World Health Organization (HQ), and Fellow of the Global Health Centre, IHEID/ Geneva Graduate Institute.

Sridhar has worked with or advised diverse organizations including Open Societies Institute, Population Council, Doctors of the World, Health Foundation, Participle, Wellcome Trust, Minorities International Group, and others. 

He currently serves as ethics advisor for:

  • WHO COVID Treatment Guidelines Development Group
  • WHO Ebola Infection, Prevention, & Control GDG
  • Chair, International Resource Group for Global Health Justice (IRG-GHJ).
  • British Medical Association (BMA – MEC)
  • British Medical Journal (BMJ)
  • Faculty of Public Health, Vice-Chair – Ethics Committee

Research interests

Sridhar's current reseach interests and projects cover the following topics:

  1. the place of health in theories of social/global justice, with primary focus on the capabilities approach;
  2. the philosophical construction of a moral/human right to health;
  3. global justice and health inequalities;
  4. the ethics of addressing social determinants of health and social gradient in health;
  5. philosophy and ethics of health economics;
  6. philosophy and ethics of epidemiology and evidence based health policies.

He recently co-edited two books

Vulnerable: The Policy, Law and Ethics of COVID-19 (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press).

The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Public Health (Routledge)

He welcomes communication with researchers and prospective PhD students in public and global health with projects that have significant philosophical components, as well as from philosophy students in public health ethics, global health ethics, and global justice.

Research interests (short)

  1. the place of health in theories of social/global justice, with primary focus on the capabilities approach;
  2. the philosophical construction of a moral/human right to health;
  3. global justice and health inequalities;
  4. the ethics of addressing social determinants of health and social gradient in health;
  5. philosophy and ethics of health economics;
  6. philosophy and ethics of epidemiology and evidence based health policies.

You can watch his TEDx talk on the human right to health capability here

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 1 - No Poverty
  • SDG 2 - Zero Hunger
  • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
  • SDG 5 - Gender Equality
  • SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth
  • SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
  • SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
  • SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production
  • SDG 13 - Climate Action
  • SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
  • SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals

Education/Academic qualification

Social & Political Philosophy, Doctor of Philosophy, Health Justice - The Capability to be Healthy, University of Cambridge

Award Date: 1 Jan 2009

Social & Political Sciences, Master of Philosophy, University of Cambridge

Award Date: 1 Oct 2004

Global / Public Health, Master of Science, Harvard University

Award Date: 1 Jun 2000

International Relations, Bachelor of Arts, Brown University

1 Sept 19891 Jun 1994

Award Date: 1 Jun 1994

History, Year Abroad, SOAS University of London

1 Sept 199130 Jun 1992

External positions

Sr. Research Associate, University of Johannesburg

Keywords

  • BJ Ethics
  • JC Political theory
  • RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
  • JZ International relations
  • HM Sociology

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