Dr. Lekha D Bhat is working with the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Central University of Tamil Nadu. She has basic training in Public Health with an MPhil and a Ph.D. in Social Medicine and Community Health from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) New Delhi. Her background in public health has created a keen interest in developing a social epidemiological/ social determinants approach in public health. Before joining CUTN, she worked as Assistant Professor at Mizoram University for four years. Her interest areas are Informal Sector and Health, Adolescent Health, Social Epidemiological Approach in Public Health, and Qualitative Methods. She has extensively published articles in reputed journals which are published including Springer, Sage, Taylor and Francis, Wiley, and MDPI. She has authored books and edited books with reputed publishers like Sage and Bloomsbury. She is actively involved in research wherein she has projects funded by NHRC, ICSSR, ICMR, and National Commission for Women. She is being a regular panel expert with Rajya Sabha TV and BBC World News to discuss public health-related issues in the Indian context. She is also the Associate NCC Officer of the University.

Education

Employment History

Fellowships/ Awards/ Honours

Current Leadership/ Administrative Roles

• Associated NCC Officer (March 2020- till date),5^th and 6^th Battalion of (P) INDEP COY which is affiliated to Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur, India
• Care Taker Officer NCC (March 2020- till date),5^th and 6^th Battalion of (P) INDEP COY which is affiliated to Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur, India
• Warden, MRSH and NMRSH Hostels (Girls), (18.7 2017- 12^th Dec 2019)  Central University of Tamil Nadu, India
• Member, Board of Studies, (15^th Oct 2018- till date) Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur, India
• Member, (Sep 2019-till date) Research Advisory Committee, Dept of Social Work, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur, India
• Member, (June 2020- till date) Research Advisory Committee, Dept of Psychology, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur, India
• Member, (April 2021-till date) Research Advisory Committee, Dept of Geography, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur, India
• Warden (Sep 2016- June 2017), Senhri Hostel, Mizoram University, Aizawl, India
• Member (2014-016), Board of Studies, School of Social Sciences, Mizoram University, Aizawl, India.

Peer Reviewer

• Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (Taylor and Francis)
• Brain and Behavior (Wiley)
• Indian Journal of Public Health (Wolters Kluwer)

Research Supervision

Ph.D. (Ongoing) 2, MPhil-2, Masters Dissertation- 12

Research Funding

1. Domestic Workers in South India and North East: A Situational Analysis from Dignity and Rights perspective’ (Major Research Project , Ongoing) Funding Agency, NHRC – Role PI.
2. Depression among Adolescents: Development of a Risk Assessment tool using Multi-Disciplinary Cross-Cultural Approach” (Major Research Project, Ongoing). Funding Agency ICSSR -Role PI.
3. Changes in Pay Disparity, Physical Health, Psychosomatic Distress, and Anxiety among Female Laborers of Unorganized Sector during COVID 19 Pandemic Period in Selected Southern Indian States. Funding Agency National Commission for Women. Role Co-PI.

Publications

Books

• Panneer S, Little Flower L, Soundari H, Bhat Lekha, Sugiirtha T, Kanthameni K Ed (2022). COVID and Climate Change: Development Perspective. Authors Press, New Delhi.
• Bhat D Lekha (2022). Institutional Childbirth and Dignity Deciphered: The Kerala Context. Bloomsbury, Delhi 

Indexed Journal Publications

• Bhat Lekha, Kandaswamy S, Sumalatha BS, Mohan G and Tatsi OV (2022). Fear, discrimination, and healthcare access during the COVID-19 pandemic: Exploring women domestic workers’ lives in India. Agenda. https://doi.org/10.1080/10130950.2021.2046392 (Taylor and Francis)
• Kantamaneni K, Sigamani P, Rani S, Palaniswamy U, Bhat Lekha, Jimenez-Bescos C, Rice L (2022). Impact of Coastal Disasters on Women in Urban Slums: A New Index. Sustainability. 14(6), 3472;https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063472 (IF 3.2, MDPI)
• Sigamani P, Bhat Lekha, Rice L, Kantamaneni K (2022). The Second Wave of COVID 19 and Beyond: Rural Health Care. Economic and Political Weekly. ISSN 0012-9976, Vol LVII. No2, pp 21-24, Jan 8, 2022. (IF 0.31)
• Lekha Bhat, KR Nayar (2021). Handling Child Birth with Dignity: An Ethnographic enquiry into the Forgone World of Traditional Birth Attendants of Kerala, India. Indian Anthropologist. Vol 51 No 1, 63-74. Jan-June 2021
• Sumalatha BS, Lekha D Bhat, K.P Chitra (2021). Impact of COVID 19 on Informal Sector: A Study of Women Domestic Workers in India. The Indian Economic Journal. July. Vol 69, Issue 3,June 25, 2021, eISSN 2631617X DOI: 10.1177/00194662211023845 (Sage)
• Shaffi SF, Nayar KR, Rao AP, Bhat Lekha (2021). Health Achieving Societies: Past Discourses, Present predilections and Possible Future Contradictions. Journal of Public Health and Primary Care. 2(1). DOI: 10.4103/jphpc.jphpc_25_20 (Wolters Kluwer -Medknow Publishers)
• Koya SF, Ebrahim SH, Bhat Lekha, Vijayan B, Khan S, Jose SD, Pilakadavath Z, Rajeev P, Azariah JL (2021). COVID 19 and Co-morbidities: Audit of 2000 COVID deaths in India. Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health. 11(2):230-232, Epub 2021 Mar 9 https://doi.org/10.2991/jegh.k.210303.001 (Atlantis Press, IF 2.2)
• Panneer, Sigamani; Kantamaneni, Komali; Pushparaj, Robert R.B.; Shekhar, Sulochana; Bhat, Lekha; Rice, Louis. (2021). "Multistakeholder Participation in Disaster Management—The Case of the COVID-19 Pandemic" Healthcare9, No. 2: 203. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9020203 (MDPI, IF 1.9)
• Kumar, A, Nayar KR, Bhat Lekha (2020). COVID 19 and Children in India. Child and Adolescent Mental Health. Vol 25,No 3. 165-166. pp. doi:10.1111/camh.12398 (Willey, IF 1.7)

• Davis P, Sarasveni M, Krishnan J, Bhat Lekha , Kodali N (2020). Knowledge and Attitudes about the Use of Contraception among College Students in Tamil Nadu, India. Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association, 95:1, 2020,ISSN 2090-262X

https://jepha.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s42506-019-0030-9  (Springer Open, IF 01.44)

• Bhat Lekha, Nayar KR (2018) Indignities in Institutional Deliveries in Kerala, India: Need for a Monitoring Mechanism, Health Care Academician Journal, Vol 5 Issue I , pp.40-46.
• Bhat Lekha, Nayar KR (2018), Taxonomy of Human Dignity in Childbirth, Journal of Health Systems, Vol III Issue I, pp.23-29.
• Kumar, A. Nayar KR, Shaffi M, Grace C, Bhat Lekha (2017) Happy days are “Not” Here! , Economic and Political Weekly, ISSN 0012-9976, Vol LII No 19, May 13, pp.  24-27. (IF 0.31)
• Grace C, Nayar KR, Bhat Lekha , Kumar A, Babu R, Shaffi M. (2016) The “Spittoon Syndrome”. How effective will be Anti-Spitting Initiatives in India, Economic and Political Weekly, ISSN 0012-9976, Vol51, Issue 26-27, 25 June pp.25-28.

(IF 0.31)

• Kumar A, Nayar KR, Bhat Lekha (2016) Where is “Public” in the Public Health Discourse? Journal of Health Systems, Vol II Issue I , Jan –June 2016, PP. 19-23 .
• Bhat Lekha, Nayar KR, Moosan H, Nair S, Shaffi M (2015) Hand Washing and Public Health, Economic and Political Weekly, ISSN 0012-9976, Vol, 50, Issue No 48, Nov 28, pp45-46. (IF 0.31)
• Bhat Lekha (2014) Ethical Issues in Health Care Practice: Reflections from Private Hospitals, Kerala, India, Social Work Journal, Volume 5, No 1, June 2014.

Book Chapters

• Panneer S, Bhat Lekha, LittleFlower L and Soundari H (2022). COVID 19, Climate Change and Growing Inequality: The Emerging Paradigm Shift in Helping Profession. In Panneer S et al (Ed) COVID 19 and Climate Change : Development Perspective. Authors Press. New Delhi.
• Sigamani P, Lekha Bhat, Udaya Kumar, Komali K  (2021). Beyond the COVID 19 crisis and Global health Diplomacy. In Urban Health: Emerging Public Health Perspectives. Ed Fernandes E and Grewal I. Global South Strategies. Mangalore. ISBN: 9788195336418
• Lekha Bhat , Naveen Kumar (2021). Livelihood, Employment and Health in the Context of COIVD 19 pandemic: A Qualitative study in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In Anish KR, S Sunil, G George, S M Sakaria (Ed). COVID 19 and Migrant Health. Clever Fox Publishers. Chennai. ISBN: 9789391537258
• Lekha Bhat, Kesavan R Nayar, Sigamani Panneer (2021). A Woman’s Right to Dignified Health Care during Child Birth: Rights-Based Approach. In Pasant Kumar Panda, Sigamani Panneer , Chittaranjan Subudhi. Maternal and Child Health Care in India. Bloomsbury, New Delhi. ISBN : 9354353673
• Lekha D Bhat (2021). Re-examining Values and Principles of Social Work for Inclusiveness in Social Work Education. In Ashvini Kumar Singh and Ushvinder Kaur Popli (Editors). Contemporary Areas of Social Work Practice in India. Bloomsbury. New Delhi. ISBN 9389351898
• Nayar KR, Prasad M Gopal, Bhat Lekha (2019). Emerging diseases and evolving popular health orientation in Kerala: Towards “syncretic holism”. In Susan Vishwanathan and Vineetha Meneon (Eds.). Chronology and Events: The Sociological Landscape of Changing Concepts". Winshield Press: New Delhi. ISBN: 9788193427378
• Bhat Lekha (2019). Obstetric Mistreatment, Dignity of Women and Maternal Mental Health: A Preliminary Review" in "Health and Wellbeing in a Multi-Sectoral Perspective; Recent Trends, Challenges and Opportunities" edited by Mamman, J. C., Vithya V., Neethu P. S  & Panner, S . Bloomsbury; New Delhi (ISBN No: 9789388134996).
• Nayar KR, Bhat Lekha (2014) Social Determinants of Maternal and Child Health in India: Macro-Micro Disjunctions’ in Maternal Health in India Contemporary Issues and Challenges, Ed. Mohamad Akram, Rawat Publishers, 2014. ISBN 813160652X
• Bhat Lekha (2015) Community based Water Projects, Withering Justice and Environment Protection: A Case study from Kerala in Climate Change and Socio-Ecological Transformation, Sati VP et al (Ed), Today’s and Tomorrow’s Printers and Publishers, New Delhi, ISBN No. 818019.
• Bhat Lekha (2014) Participatory Water Projects Brining in Unequal Burden: Women’s Experiences from Kerala. In Management of Natural Resources for Sustainable Development : Challenges and Opportunities . Ed Sati VP et al Published by Mizoram University Department of Geography ISBN NO. 9789382880950.

Research Letters

• RE: COVID 19 Second Wave-Rural India. Panneer S, Bhat Lekha & Kantameni K , 13^th May 2021; In: Science, 372, 6542, pp552-553, Research Output Contribution to Journal -Letter
• RE: Delta Variant Triggers New Phase in the Pandemic. Bhat Lekha, Panneer S and Kantameni K, 25^th June 2021; In: Science, 372,6549, pp 1375-1376, Research Output Contribution to Journal- Letter
• Nayar KR, Chowdhury S, Rao A, Kumar A, Bhat Lekha (2020). The New Body Politics. Economic Political Weekly. ISSN 0012-9976, Vol 55, Issue 37, 12 Sep 2020 (IF 0.31) Research Output Contribution to Journal -Letter

Working Papers

• Bhat Lekha (2014) Locating Indigenous Systems of Medicine in Public Health Care in India, Working Paper Series , Shantigiri Social Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, 2014, ISSN 2348-1781.

Collaborations with Other Professional Organisations 

• Committee Member, for selection of Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Fellowships, 3^rd Stage Screening Committee, Dec 2020, DAIC, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Gov of India.

• External Examiner, Viva Voce, Master of Public Health Exam (second year) (December 2019) at Global Institute of Public Health, affiliated to Kerala University of Health Sciences, Thrissur, Kerala 

• Expert Panel Member, COVID 19 Indian Fights Back Show Various Episodes, Rajya Sabha TV, Gov of India.
• External Examiner (Ph.D. Thesis), Bharatiyar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.
• External Exam Evaluator, IGNOU Regional Centre, Bhuvaneshwar.
• Expert Member for Panel Discussions - Rajyasabha TV
• Expert Member for Panel Discussions- Sansad TV
• Expert Member for Panel Discussions- ETV

Contact Address

Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, School of Life Sciences, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur-610005, Tamil Nadu, India.

Phone: +91- 4366- 277 261; Mobile: +91-8731007510

Email: lekhabhatd@gmail.com, lekhabhat@cutn.ac.in

Weblink: http://cutn.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/cv-eph-lekha.pdf

https://www.mzu.edu.in/index.php/social-work-faculty/33-academics/social-sciences/social-work/421-ms-lekha-d-bhat