Dr Shobhana Nagraj

United Kingdom

DPhil Student

Dr Shobhana is a primary care physician with a special interest in global maternal child health. Her DPhil project involves adopting a life-course approach to women's health and the prevention of non-communicable diseases.

She is performing research into the development of a complex intervention using mHealth technology in the context of rural India to screen, refer and manage women with high-risk pregnancies in the postpartum period. Shobhana's supervisors are Professor Stephen Kennedy at the Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health, Professor Robyn Norton at The George Institute for Global Health, Dr Jane Hirst and Dr Lisa Hinton.

Prior to undertaking her DPhil, Shobhana completed a degree in medical anthropology before training as a surgeon, specialising in paediatric surgery. After working for a few months in Malawi, she experienced first-hand the importance of the social determinants of health. She returned to the UK to re-train as an academic primary care physician, conducting health services research at the University of Cambridge, where she completed her MPhil in Primary Care Research Methods. 

During her time as a clinician and medical educator, Shobhana has worked closely with rural communities and community healthcare workers in low resource-settings in India and Malawi. She is passionate about providing high quality, evidence-based care to rural populations. Shobhana's research interests include: global maternal child health, women's health, community health care workers, innovative technology and medical education.