Advisors

Dr. Ghanshyam Gautam is a Health Economist possessing more than 20 years of experience in health policy and systems reform, social protection, evidence-based planning and capacity development. His key areas of expertise include policy and strategic reform, health systems strengthening, health financing and universal health coverage, social protection, system and policy research. He currently holds the position of Lead- Health Economics, Systems and Social Protection at HERD International and has been contributing to different projects being implemented in collaboration with multiple institutions. In 2023, he has been elected as Secretary of Nepal Health Economics Association.

Throughout his career, he has provided technical assistance to government entities, international organizations, bilateral and multilateral agencies and national organizations in the areas of health policy and strategy, health financing, universal health coverage, social protection and resource tracking. His career highlights providing embedded technical assistance on health systems reform, policy framework and governance to health ministry in Nepal and internationally, leading the Post-Disaster Need Assessment (PDNA) for health sector and working as a Health Economist and Freelance Consultant for a wide range of international and national agencies.

In the capacity of the governance advisor, Dr Gautam played an important role in reframing policy and legal framework as well as systems reform in the health sector in Nepal particularly in the context of governance system transitioning to federalism. Similarly, while working with German International Cooperation in Nepal, he engaged in developing regulatory framework, scheme design and implementation procedure for national health insurance and more broadly on policy and strategic reforms for social health protection and improving health systems performance. While working as a Health Economist for a USAID-funded project in Afghanistan, he extended support to the health ministry on health financing reforms, policy processes, strengthening resource tracking and in health systems research.

He also manages the business and partnership portfolio within the organization.

Ms. Shophika Regmi has been working in health and social research for more than a decade. Throughout this period, she has led research projects of various natures and scales, particularly in the health sector. She possesses extensive experiences in implementation research using participatory action approaches, designing and executing evaluation studies, national level surveillance study, and large-scale survey across diverse areas such as health system strengthening, urban health, health workforce, non-communicable disease, nutrition, maternal health, etc.

With a profound interest in health systems research, her current engagements in health systems strengthening projects involve identifying gaps in health system capacities to cope with shocks and stressors, and co-designing models with stakeholders at systems, health facilities and community to support building resilient health systems at national and sub-national levels. Her work also includes assessing local health systems’ capacities to manage the impact of climate change, and suporting local health system to co-create climate resilient intervention packages.

Ms. Regmi is interested and experienced in undertaking policy reviews and analyses. She is dedicated to promoting the use of evidence in policy actions and health agendas through publications, development of policy briefs, discussion papers, and stakeholder engagement.

Mr. Bishnu Prasad Dulal is an experienced Health Information System expert, Data Analysis and Research Design specialist with 18 years of experience. With a master’s degree in Population Studies from Tribhuvan University, Mr. Dulal brings knowledge and skills to the field of health information systems and research. His expertise lies in the areas of health information system strengthening, public health research, monitoring and evaluation, proposal writing, data management and analysis, capacity development. Proficient in various software such as MS Office, DHIS2, CSPro, ODK, SPSS, STATA, R, and Python, his focus lies in quantitative research analysis. With engagements in over 40 different health projects in the past, he currently serves as the Lead- Information System and Population Service at HERD International. In his prior role as Information System Strengthen Specialist at HERD International/NHSSP, he provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Health and Population, focusing on health information systems, planning, and monitoring. He also played a crucial role in supporting Ministry of Health and Population for monitoring the Nepal Health Sector Strategy Performance Indicators and reporting the NHSP3 program result framework.

Dr. Meera Tandan is an accomplished public health scientist, epidemiologist, and educator with a PhD in Medicine (Public Health), a Master of Public Health, and a Bachelor of Public Health, supported by more than 15 years of international research and academic experience across the United States, Ireland, and Nepal. Her interdisciplinary work spans chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic health, medication safety, antimicrobial resistance, infectious disease epidemiology, implementation science, health services research, and population health surveillance. She has published more than 30 peer-reviewed articles, including 25 as first author, in leading journals such as Eurosurveillance, Clinical Kidney Journal, BMJ Global Health, the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, Computers in Biology and Medicine, and the International Journal of Medical Informatics. A distinctive feature of her work is the application of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and advanced statistical methods to complex clinical, surveillance, and real-world healthcare data. Her methodological expertise includes multilevel modelling, longitudinal analysis, predictive modelling, decision trees, association-rule mining, cluster analysis, and unsupervised machine learning, which she uses to identify high-risk populations, uncover disease and treatment patterns, support clinical decision-making, and strengthen population health surveillance. Her career has been supported by prestigious fellowships and awards, including the Centric Health Newman Fellowship in General Practice, a PhD Scholarship from the University of Galway, the European Renal Association Young Scientist Outstanding Abstract Award, the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland Research Award, and the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Early Career Research Grant. Dr. Tandan is recognized for combining epidemiology, applied AI, machine learning, and population health analytics to transform complex data into actionable evidence that informs policy, improves healthcare quality, and advances public health globally.