Dr. Shagun Sabarwal to lead WomenLift Health’s efforts in India.

Dr. Sabarwal has over 13 years of experience in social policy and development research, focusing on improving gender equality and health in India. In her new role, Dr. Sabarwal will lead efforts to expand WomenLift Health in India and help build a network of partners and leaders across the region committed to women’s leadership and gender equality in health. As the country director, Dr. Sabarwal will also launch WomenLift Health’s signature initiative, the Leadership Journey, a 12-month bespoke program, aiming to build a network of women leaders, male allies, and partner organizations in the region that will power WomenLift Health’s mission to expand the power and influence of talented women in health.

Women represent 70% of the global health workforce but only one quarter of global health leadership positions, with longstanding impacts on health research, policies, financing, and programming. WomenLift Health’s work aims to address these leadership imbalances through interventions that advance more women into decision-making positions and improve health outcomes for all.

“Tackling the persistent inequalities within global health leadership requires addressing the longstanding barriers women face at the individual, institutional and societal levels,” said Dr. Sabarwal. “We can call for positive change in India’s health outcomes by ensuring women are always represented at the decision-making table.”

Dr. Sabarwal has led a diverse range of projects supporting government efforts to scale evidence-based solutions, designed evaluation research, created capacity building programs under monitoring and evaluation, and provided extensive technical advisory on evidence-informed policy design. Before joining WomenLift Health, Dr. Sabarwal was the Director of Policy, Training and Communication at J-PAL South Asia and the Director of CLEAR South Asia. She completed her Doctorate in Public Health from Harvard University.

“It gives me great pleasure to welcome Shagun to our team.  Shagun brings passion for women’s leadership and gender equality and deep expertise in health and development.   I look forward to working with her as she builds partnerships and our programs to serve women leaders in India” said Amie Batson, Executive Director of WomenLift Health. “In addition to her leadership of the India program, Shagun will lead WomenLift Health’s global monitoring and evaluation of our work.”

About WomenLift Health

WomenLift Health is dedicated to expanding the power and influence of women in global health and catalyzing systemic change to achieve gender equality in leadership, resulting in better health outcomes for all. Incubated at Stanford Global Health and with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, WomenLift Health advances equality in health leadership through a range of actions at the individual, institutional, and societal levels. Over the course of the next decade, it will expand to serve women in 25 countries – employing a country-owned and country-led model where the strategy and interventions are led, designed, and executed by and with local partners.