Dr. Nitish Dogra

Welcome to my corner of the web.

I am a public health physician with more than twenty years of work where climate change, air pollution and disaster risk meet human health.

My approach is science to society: take the best available evidence and turn it into policy, tools and training that people can use. I advise governments, researchers and institutions on environmental health, with the aim of safeguarding future generations and advancing the field of planetary health.

Areas of advisory work

Climate and health

Vulnerability and adaptation assessments, climate-resilient health systems and decision tools that move planning from disease prevalence to vulnerability. Contributing author to WHO/PAHO guidance on protecting health from climate change.

Air pollution

Research on traffic exposure in schoolchildren in Delhi, commuter exposure and health impact assessment of the Delhi Metro, and clean air advocacy.

Lead poisoning

Scientific and research leadership for the India-Lead Elimination Action Partnership (i-LEAP): evidence generation, scientific oversight and national and international technical collaboration.

Disaster risk and resilience

Vulnerability needs assessment for climate disasters and infectious disease, emergency preparedness training, and pandemic advice to the European Union Delegation to India and Bhutan.

Work experience

Pahle India Foundation, New Delhi, 2025 to 2026Scientific and Technology Lead, India-Lead Elimination Action Partnership (i-LEAP). Led the scientific and research agenda on lead poisoning and environmental health, providing strategic research leadership, scientific oversight, evidence generation, and national and international technical collaborations.
TERI, New Delhi, 2007 to 2008 and 2022 to 2023Associate Fellow, then Senior Fellow. Research and advocacy related to environmental health.
TARU Leading Edge, New Delhi, 2014 to 2015 and 2015 to 2017Senior Manager (Public Health), then Sector Adviser (Health and Nutrition). Health and nutrition lead.

International experience

WHO Headquarters, Geneva, 2023 to 2024 and 2014Principal Investigator / Grantee, Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (AHPSR), and Invited Speaker. India lead for a 12-country project on health policy and systems research responding to the climate crisis. Invited speaker, 1st Global Conference on Health and Climate.
WHO Country Office for India, 2024 to 2025Consultant. Technical support on the social implications of the Government of India's energy transition policy towards Net Zero.
WHO South-East Asia Regional Office, New Delhi, 2015Temporary Adviser and Co-rapporteur for the Regional Strategy meeting for climate and health ahead of the Paris COP21 (2015).
PAHO/WHO, 2010Represented India at the Costa Rica global consultation for developing the first WHO/PAHO guides on health vulnerability and climate adaptation assessment.
European Union Delegation to India and Bhutan, 2020 to 2021Medical Adviser (pro bono). Advised the Delegation and EU missions in India on COVID-19 pandemic response in the local context.

Academic experience

Morton K. Blaustein Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, 2013 to 2014Visiting Faculty and Fulbright Fellow. Time-series analysis of climate and health towards estimating climate-attributable disease burden in India.
Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2005 and 2021, 2022, 2025Research Assistant; virtual lectures. Malaria-parasite estimation by fluorescent microscopy for a West Africa insecticide-treated bed-net project. Remote lectures on climate and health in India for Master's and Doctoral students.
International Institute of Health Management and Research (IIHMR), New Delhi, 2009, 2009 to 2014 and 2017 to 2022Visiting Faculty, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor. Taught Applied Demography and Population Dynamics; academics, research, training and consultancy in public health. Convenor, Centre for Climate, Environment and Health (Feb 2018 to Aug 2022). Nodal Officer, Centre of Excellence for Vulnerability Needs Assessment under the National Action Plan for Climate Change and Human Health, National Centre for Disease Control, Govt. of India.
TERI University (now TERI School of Advanced Studies), 2007Adjunct Faculty. Developed and taught Public Health and Sustainable Development for the MA (Public Policy and Sustainable Development) programme for mid-career civil servants of the Government of India.
Dept. of Physiology, Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, Delhi, 2000 to 2003Junior Resident. Designed, conducted and evaluated a study on passive smoking and respiratory health of urban poor children.

Consultancies

International Clinical Epidemiology Network (INCLEN), New Delhi, 2006Program Consultant. Protocol development for evaluation of Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illnesses in India (IMNCI); review of a study on governance of public health systems in relation to maternal mortality; initiated the low cost oximetry project in India (LOCOP); developed the INCLEN internship program.

Research grants (as PI)

Climate Vulnerability Tool for Health for State of Rajasthan in India. IIHMR, 2019. Sponsored by WHO.
Impact of Traffic on Health of School Children in Delhi. IIHMR, 2020. Sponsored by Central Pollution Control Board.
Health impact assessment of Delhi Metro. IIHMR, 2019. Sponsored by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.
Assessment of Vulnerability, Impact and Adaptation for Climate-Sensitive Diseases at the Local Level in India. IIHMR, 2011. Sponsored by WHO.
Impact of Climate Change on Diarrhoeal Diseases in India (Phase I). TERI, 2007. Sponsored by WHO.

Selected publications

Articles

Padma S, Shukla A, Dogra N. An evaluation of commuters' perception of exposure to air pollution on a segment of Delhi Metro's Magenta line. Discov Atmosph 2025;3:43.
DeFries R, Agarwala M, Baquie S, Choksi P, Dogra N, et al. Post-lockdown spread of COVID-19 from cities to vulnerable forest-fringe villages in central India. OSF. 2020.
Dogra N, Kakde V, Taneja P. Decision tool for climate disasters and infectious disease at sub-national level in India: ensuring a paradigm shift in health planning from prevalence to vulnerability. Acta Tropica. 2019;191:60-68.
Bhattacharya I, Ramachandran A, Bhattacharya J, Dogra NK. Google Trends for formulating GIS mapping of disease outbreaks in India. Int J Geoinformatics. 2013;9(3):9-19.
Reisinger A, Dogra NK. Protecting health from climate change: some key findings from the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report. Regional Health Forum. 2008;12(1):1-10.

Books and book chapters

Dogra N, Srivastava S, eds. Climate Change and Disease Dynamics in India. 1st ed. New Delhi: TERI Press, 2012.
Bhardwaj H, Dogra N, Swain SK. Climate emergency management in India: an application of the WHO climate resilient health systems framework. In: Climate Change: A Public Health Crisis. New Delhi: POP Academy; 2026. p. 263-282.

Reports, tools and guidelines

White paper: AI and Environment. Dynamic Coalition on Environment, Internet Governance Forum, with Pahle India Foundation, China Institute, Fudan University and Nature and People Foundation. July 2026. (Contributing Expert)
Dogra N. Contributor, Scenarios Towards Viksit Bharat and Net Zero: Social Implications of Translation (Vol. 11). NITI Aayog, Government of India; 2026.
Health policy systems research responding to the climate crisis: Lessons from India. New Delhi: Climate Resilient Health Systems India Study Group; 2024.
Ebi K, Berry P, Campbell-Lendrum D, Corvalan C, et al. Protecting Health from Climate Change: Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment. Geneva: WHO/PAHO, 2013. (Contributing author)

Thesis and capstone

Dogra NK. Association of passive smoking with chronic respiratory symptoms and spirometric abnormalities in school-going children [thesis]. Delhi: University of Delhi, 2002.
Dogra NK. A review of adolescent depression in India [capstone]. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, 2005.

Honors and awards

Member, GeoHealth Position Statement Writing Panel, American Geophysical Union. 2023.
Community Hero Award for clean air advocacy, Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association. 2019.
Presented on behalf of India at an AHPSR-supported session on HPSR for the Climate Crisis at HSR 2024, Nagasaki, Japan, November 2024.
Preceptor to Carolyn Hricko, MPH graduate of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, for a winter practicum on developing an Airway Health Assessment Tool for India. The work received an award for outstanding public health practice. 2016.
Delivered the Randolph Bromery Seminar Series talk "Climate Change and Disease Dynamics in India", Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, 31 October 2013.

Capacity building

Conducted the training programme Climate Resilient Health Systems for state-level health managers, with NIH and WHO India technical assistance, August 2018.
Certified under the ICRC/WHO supported regional training programme Health Emergencies in Large Populations (H.E.L.P.), December 2018.
Present and Future Climate: introductory graduate level course on climate processes and current research, Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Fall 2013.
Attended the ArcGIS workshop organized by the Sheridan Libraries of Johns Hopkins University, Fall 2013.

Leadership

Founding Convenor, Green Fulbrighters Forum.
Inaugural Chapter Representative, Johns Hopkins India Alumni.
Member Secretary, UCHAI (Understanding Climate and Health Associations in India), an NIH-initiated knowledge network that served as one of India's largest communities of practice in this domain. 2015 to 2025.

Review and peer service

Grant Reviewer, Wellcome Trust / IDRC, global grants in climate and health (2019, 2024).
Grant Reviewer, Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative (2012 to 2013).
Reviewer, InterAcademy Council (IAC), Amsterdam: written input to the IAC Review of the IPCC, an independent assessment of IPCC processes and procedure (2010).

Professional engagements

Life Member, Indian Meteorological Society.
Life Member, Indian Public Health Association.
Member Secretary, Institutional Ethics Committee, IIHMR, Delhi (2010 to 2013).
Member Secretary (multiple terms), UCHAI Advisory Group, NIH-initiated community of practice in India (2015 to 2025).