Dr. Pragya Sharma, a distinguished public health expert and renowned transformative leader, has been serving as the Executive Director of NHSRC. With an MBBS and MD in Community Medicine from Pt. B.D. Sharma PGIMS, Rohtak (2004), and an MBA in Health Care Services from Sikkim Manipal University (2008), she brings over two decades of academic, administrative, and field experience in Community Medicine.
Her career spans across being an academician of excellence along with contributions in key leadership public health and administrative roles. She has served as Public Health Specialist with Delhi Government and has worked for National Health Mission (2008–2011) contributing towards Capacity Building of the officials for HMIS, Planning, Community Processes and Quality Assurance. She has been an academician for over a decade contributing to the policy formulation through quality research papers and publications that have guided the policy decision on various problems of public health importance including introduction of new vaccines in National Programmes, Vaccine Safety, Emerging Re-emerging Diseases and infections, to quote a few. She has played a defining role for the State of Delhi during the CoVID -19 pandemic influencing dynamic policy changes through State Rapid Response Teams, Media Management, Capacity Building, Introduction of Vaccination and leading serial population based sero-surveys to generate evidence on population levels of immunity against the spread of pandemic. Dr Sharma has made remarkable contribution to the pandemic management by contributing to the Global Data on Transmission Dynamics of COVID 19 and Prevention of spread of infection among health care providers in hospital settings under WHO Unity Protocols. Her commitment towards quality of care and vaccine safety translated into setting up of AEFI (Adverse Events Following Immunization) Technical Support Unit in collaboration with Directorate of Family Welfare, NCT of Delhi. The unit has actively contributed in AEFI reporting quality, capacity building and academic contribution through quarterly newsletters. Under her abled leadership as Director, Andaman & Nicobar Islands Institute of Medical Sciences has seen a sea change in terms of policy and performance.
Recognized for her contributions, Dr. Sharma received the LG Commendation Award (2024) for leadership in health, a Delhi Government felicitation (2023) for MR Vaccination Coverage & AEFI capacity building, and the Young Faculty Award in Public Health (2013) by IPHA DB. She was also awarded fellowship Indian Public Health Association (IPHA) and is also a member of numerous national and international professional bodies. She is also a member of various Govt. committees on policy formulation and decision making and Research Advisory Board of Inclen International (2025).
As part of her academic inclination, Dr. Sharma has also contributed through textbooks, training modules for geriatric care, maternal health, HIV counselling and variety of scientific publications in journals of high impact. As an Executive Director of NHSRC, Dr. Sharma continues to shape public health education, research, and policy in India.
