Silpaa Gunabalan

Age: 23

Home Town: Pleasantville, New York

Education: B.S. Human Biology, Health, and Society, Cornell University

Specific Field Interests: Global and Public Health, Inequality Studies, Medicine

Placement: Forus Health Pvt Ltd. in Bengaluru, Karnataka

Area of Focus: Public Health

Fellowship Project: Contribute to developing an economic model for widescale implementation of vision screening technology to be accessible to underserved populations in India.

Highlights: Silpaa Gunabalan is serving as an American India Foundation Banyan Impact Fellow with Forus Health in Bengaluru, Karnataka. For her fellowship project, she is helping to develop an economic model to increase access to vision screening services. Silpaa is from Pleasantville, New York. She studied Human Biology, Health, and Society at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. She is passionate about global health and health equity. While at Cornell, she participated in global health research in Mosh, Tanzania where she investigated acute respiratory infection in children under five. Additionally, Silpaa recently worked at a free health clinic in New York City where she spoke with patients to identify the social determinants of health they experience. She hopes that this experience will aid her while doing community outreach during her fellowship project. Silpaa’s family lives in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu which inspired her to pursue this fellowship opportunity. She is excited to immerse herself in Indian culture while learning more about effective global health solutions.