RANI Team

Rajiv Rimal is an expert in social norms. He serves as the principle investigator on the RANI Project, overseeing all aspects of the work. His papers on social norms can be found here.

Lipika Patro is the IPE Global State Program Manager for the RANI project based out of Odisha. She is a management consulting professional with over 15 years of experience in managing partnerships, capacity development, system strengthening and project management. She will be managing the intervention component for the project in Odisha.

Peter’s three decades of story-crafting expertise includes serving as Story Editor for Steven Spielberg’s network TV series “Amazing Stories” and founding/leading IBM Corporation’s global “Storytelling Practice.”  He contributes to RANI’s mHealth sub-study through his WorkingStories consultancy.

Raghwesh Ranjan is the Director at IPE Global and leads Social and Economic Empowerment practice. He has over 15 years of experience in implementation and management of systems strengthening and social and behaviour change programs in Health, Nutrition and Social Protection sectors. Raghwesh studied Governance and Development from Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex in United Kingdom. 

Satyanarayan Mohanty has more than 23 years of experience in the social sector research, surveys, and implementation of development programs. His thematic areas of experience include Reproductive & Child Health, Nutrition and HIV/AIDS; Public health; Micro-finance; Livelihood Promotion; Local Governance; Resettlement & Rehabilitation; Women Empowerment; Disaster Management. His skills and expertise are mainly in conducting development research and surveys; project planning and management; monitoring and evaluation; capacity building.

Suresh Kumar Pradhan is a Post graduate in Social Work (MSW) from Utkal University of Culture and an additional degree
(Post graduate diploma in community health management –PGDCHM) from Christian Medical College and Hospital
(CMCH), Vellore –Tamilnadu 15 years of experience in development sector in the field of Community Health and Nutrition,
Child Rights and Education, Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) in Disability, Migration and Urban Governance. Mr
Pradhan has previously worked with YCDA – India, VSO Sierraleone – West Africa, SADHANA – Odisha, IPE Global –
TMST Project, Livolink Foundation- Associates of TATA TRUSTS. 

Aika Aluc was a Clara Schiffer Fellow through the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health and currently serves as an ORISE Health Equity Fellow at the HHS Office of Minority Health. She completed her Master's in Public Health from George Washington University with a concentration in Maternal and Child Health. She will be leading the depression arm of the project.

Erica Sedlander’s works strives to improve women’s health both in the U.S. and globally. She uses mixed methods to examine multi-level factors that affect behavior change. She serves as a Research Scientist on the RANI Project. Her work on women’s behavioral health can be found here.

Hagere Yilma serves as a Research Associate on the RANI project. Her previous work has aimed at understanding and changing the psychosocial determinants of health behavior to subsequently change those behaviors. Although her research extends across a number of health topics, she is a strong advocate for women’s health.

Ichhya Pant works at the intersection of health, evaluation, data and information and communication technologies (ICTs) with a focus on vulnerable populations such as immigrants, refugees, women and children. To learn more about her project work to date, please connect with her on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Dr. DiPietro is an expert in exercise science and serves as a co-investigator on the RANI project assessing the impact of anemia reduction on the physical activity of women. Her papers on physical activity can be found here.

Michael Long is an expert in policy and program evaluation. He serves as a co-investigator on the RANI Project and is responsible for measurement development and evaluation of the intervention’s cost-effectiveness. To learn more about his research and academic interests, click here.

Rohini Ganjoo's interests lie in women's health and nutrition in India. She teaches in the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences. In addition to her research work for the RANI Project, Rohini is also the Managing Editor for News on the RANI website.

Sameera Talegawkar is a nutritional epidemiologist and has expertise in nutritional assessments methods. She serves as a co–investigator on the RANI Project, overseeing dietary and nutritional assessments. Her papers can be found here.