Raj Shankar Ghosh

Dr Raj Shankar Ghosh is a Physician with more than 30 years of experience in Public Health focusing on Primary Health Care. His areas of interest are Health Systems, Immunization, and Infectious Diseases. Dr Ghosh began his career in an NGO in a remote district of Rajasthan State where he worked with a team to deliver Primary Health Care to fifty villages in deep deserts. Following the completion of the Project, he joined Government Service as a Medical Officer of a Primary Health Center in West Bengal State of India. Following five years of service, Dr Ghosh joined World Health Organization as the first batch of Surveillance Medical Officers (SMO) in India's National Polio Surveillance Project (NPSP). Following 3 years of service as SMO, Dr Ghosh was promoted as Regional Coordinator of NPSP-South-Eastern Region managing 23 field units. After 8 years at the India Country Office of WHO, Dr Ghosh joined an international NGO, PATH as Director of Immunization program. He worked closely with Governments of India, Nepal and Sri Lanka for introduction of Japanese Encephalitis vaccine in 2006. In 2008, he joined Institute for OneWorld Health, a San Francisco, USA based non-profit drug development organization, as Vice President and Regional Director, South Asia Region. He led a team in developing and delivery of drugs for Neglected Tropical Disease like Kala-Azar and other diseases. Dr Ghosh joined Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2013. He is currently a Senior Advisor at the Foundation. He is leading the Foundation’s Covid vaccination support to Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. He is also a member of the Foundation’s Regional Task Force on Covid vaccination support to countries in South & South-East Asia. Dr Ghosh is an Honorary Fellow of Indian Public Health Association. His primary interests are reading a wide range of books, listening to folk music.