I am an Assistant Professor (of Health & Medical Psychology) in the Dept. of Liberal Arts and an Adjunct Professor in the Dept. of Biomedical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad.

My main research focus is on:

i) Psycho-oncology: illness awareness, label-making, communication, psychological distress, coping, quality of life, illness representations, end-of-life issues, medical decision-making.

ii) Illness beliefs: how illness perceptions (and interventions altering negative perceptions) are related to distress, coping, quality of life and adherence among patients with chronic/life-threatening illnesses.

iii) Interpretative phenomenological analysis: primarily focusing on chronic diseases.

I am also interested in exploring sexual health practices in urban young adults.