LEGEND

TRANSFORMING INDIA ’ S HEALTHCARE

Scientist and entrepreneur

The organisation ' s mission is to upskill and empower 1 million people in leadership positions with the aim of impacting the lives of 1 billion people worldwide . At its heart is facilitating access to new technologies - which they do by forming partnerships with big tech - for budding entrepreneurs to form their own microenterprises , for instance to tackle inequalities in access to healthcare .

Subodh , more accustomed to researching the genomic sequences of infectious pathogens than talking to patients , was working in a lab within the All India Institute of Medical Sciences ( AIIMS ) in New Delhi , when she saw patients and their families arrive at the overprescribed clinic , having travelled long distances and needing to stay in Delhi for weeks at a time just to have a short consultation with a doctor .

She was so moved by the numbers of people lacking access to basic healthcare facilities that she joined her brother in forming the organisation , bringing with her 20 years ' of experience in public health and science .

Subodh grew up in Delhi , showing a strong interest in biology from a young age . Eventually she gained a PhD in biochemistry from AIIMS , completing a doctorate in virology , in particular researching rotavirus , which is a major cause of mortality among children under 5 who become ill with gastroenteritis . Subodh ' s research greatly contributed to the development of a vaccine which is now on the market .

A few years later Subodh joined the CSIR Open Source Drug Discovery Unit , where she built her own team of researchers to seek faster and more accessible healthcare solutions . Other roles over the years have included Senior Scientific Officer at India Health Fund , and Vice Chair and member of the Ethics Committee at the National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases , a position she still holds alongside her work at 1M1B .

Here she is in charge of co-creating technologies , platforms and networks to deliver healthcare to underserved communities , and their next big focus is on delivering healthcare at home , and not just in rural parts of India - they are also currently working in Vietnam and the US .

Subodh ' s research has led her to twice be a TEDx speaker , and she has also been invited to speak on two occasions at the United Nations Headquarters .

18 April 2021