As a new member of the Georgetown Laidlaw cohort this year, I am planning on conducting research on the corporate sponsorships of medical associations in India.  Currently on the pre-medical track at Georgetown, I am interested in learning how physicians and other medical professionals across the world group themselves together and ways in which they operate unofficially (through societies of physicians with similar practices, specialties, and backgrounds).  I have previously done research on the corporate sponsorships of medical associations in the United States, so I wanted to pursue a similar research study on medical associations in India.

The overarching goal of my project is to explore how large the impact of corporate donations is on Indian medical societies and how this might differ from medical societies in countries with different healthcare systems, such as the United States (drawing upon data from my previous research).  Additional topics of exploration in this study include determining the relative impact of these corporate donations based on the recent pandemic and whether there is variation in the area of corporate donations based on regional differences, particularly through region and language.

At the end of this research and summer, I hope to gain a better understanding of how the healthcare system in India may be controlled (or not controlled) by corporate interests and how this may compare to the situation in the United States.  I also am excited to learn alongside my fellow Laidlaw scholars and gain valuable experience in ethical leadership.  So excited to be a part of this network and look forward to meeting you all!