University of California San Francisco Give to UCSF

Gender inequality is deeply entrenched in Indian society and results in poor health outcomes for India's over 110 million adolescent girls. Additionally, critical dialogue and education about the health issues affecting girls are often lacking in schools for a variety of cultural and social reasons. 

To address these issues, Girls Health Champions is an innovative, peer-to-peer education model where adolescent girls in India are trained to directly educate their peers about these important health topics, including nutrition, mental health, gender-based violence, menstruation, and reproductive health.

Our peer educators ("Champions") are trained in focused curriculum which were created in partnership with leading pediatricians, psychiatrists, obstetricians and gynecologists, educational specialists, and school teachers in both the United States and India.

Priya Shankar MD, MPH, Co-Founder, is a resident with the UCSF Pediatric Leadership for the Underserved (PLUS) program. She completed her training at the Boston University School of Medicine and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She is a 2009-2010 Fulbright-Nehru Scholar to India where she studied maternal and child health policy. Priya has worked in the field of maternal, adolescent, and child health in India for the past fourteen years as a researcher and teacher and has published several articles on gender-based violence, reproductive rights, nutrition, and mental health.

Ricky Sharma MPP, Co-Founder, completed a Social Enterprise Fellowship and Master in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. He has extensive experience in private equity and investment banking, and an interest in promoting women and girls’ health in India. He believes that gender equity requires male engagement and leadership. Ricky has worked in the past with several non-profit organizations in India and the United States. He is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Join the 6th Annual Pediatrics in Global Health Lecture Series in welcoming speakers in August and September. Pleaseregister to recieve links

Event Details

See Who Is Interested

0 people are interested in this event


Register to receive links

UCSF promotes the exchange of diverse ideas and perspectives, acknowledging that the views and opinions of our guest speakers on campus are their own and may not reflect the perspective of the University. We embrace free speech in the pursuit of greater understanding, consistent with our obligations as a public university under the First Amendment.