Dr. Manju Rahi's is a medical scientist with a post-graduation in public health. She joined Indian Council of Medical Research as Scientist-C (medical) in 2006 and is currently the Director and Scientist-G, ICMR-Vector Control Research Centre, Puducherry. Her scientific contributions are distinguished by her focus health policy research. Her area of expertise is vector borne diseases and zoonotic diseases in OneHealth context. She spearheaded the development of first national guidelines on diagnostics and management of scrub typhus, use of ivermectin and adoption of triple drug therapy (Ivermectin, DEC, and Albendazole) in mass drug administration for lymphatic filariasis and policy recommendations on inclusion of DEC salt into the national lymphatic filariasis elimination policy, PCR in malaria diagnosis as a programmatic component, availability of insecticide bednets and rapid diagnostic kits in the commercial sector. She conceptualised and steered Malaria Elimination Research Alliance-India, which works closely with national programme for malaria elimination. She has been instrumental in evaluating public health pesticides, newer tools of vector control which is a vital aspect in controlling vector borne diseases. Striving for the integration of biological and environmental management approaches for vector control, Dr. Rahi’r role was critical in initiating the laboratory research on dengue control via Wolbachia transfected Aedes aegypti at VCRC. Additionally, her efforts in establishing NGCMA certified Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) facilities for testing insecticides have significantly bolstered research capabilities at National Institute of Malaria Research and VCRC. She has more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed high impact journals and 4 book chapters and 2 awards to her credit.
Dr Manju Rahi