Devasena Gnanashanmugam, MD is a pediatric infectious diseases specialist. Her global health experience results from her work as a researcher, clinician, and educator. At Stanford University she worked with a team designing and implementing a longitudinal study on the immunogenicity of oral polio vaccine in HIV infected children in Zimbabwe. She has presented this work at meetings of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and at meetings of the Pediatric Academic Society. In Guatemala, Devasena traveled with an emergency medicine team to provide medical care to indigent populations. Her medical education in Bangalore, India, also provides her with considerable clinical experience assisting populations in underserved areas. In addition, she taught medical and undergraduate students clinical medicine and laboratory techniques both at Stanford University, as well as at the University of Zimbabwe.

Devasena grew up in Florida and currently lives in North Carolina working as an Associate Medical Director at PPD, a global contract research organization in the Research Triangle Park. At PPD, she provides medical consultation and scientific review of clinical study protocols in several therapeutic areas, including HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, tuberculosis, influenza, and general pediatrics.

In August 2009, Devasena happened upon the website (www.cartha.org) of CARTHA, a 501c3 nonprofit organization, and initiated discussions with CARTHA founder Usha Balakrishnan. Uniquely blending her professional training and personal aspirations with CARTHA’s vision, Devasena was instrumental in the design and development of CARTHA’s initiative themed “Global Health through the Lens of Water.” She serves as Medical Advisor, Curriculum Development aiming to produce a series of thought leadership dialogues and programs that represent innovative models for global health literacy education based on CARTHA’s C2G2 Training Model: Building Collaborative Competence (C2) in Multisector Partnerships for Global Good (G2). In particular, Devasena formulated the vision and is creating new curricula about water-borne illnesses targeted to medical residents, students, and professionals with interests in international health.