I am a PhD candidate in the Public Policy and Management program at Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California. I work in the field of health policy and economics, and health-related behaviors at the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Economics and Policy. 

My research primarily focuses on examining the effects of macro-level shocks on health, and understanding environmental and individual factors that influence health-related behaviors. Over the last three years, I have successfully completed several projects addressing various aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic - the effect of shelter-in-place policies on excess mortality, the impact of COVID-19 vaccines on mental health outcomes, the ex-ante moral hazard effects of COVID-19 vaccines, and the impact of the global COVID-19 vaccination campaign on all-cause mortality. My ongoing research focuses on studying the impact of post-pandemic inflationary shock on health and health-related behaviors, and understanding heterogenous relationships between outcome expectation and adherence to weight loss behaviors and physical activity.

My research has been published in the Wiley Health Economics and is available on NBER website. I've received research funding from the University of Southern California and the Peter G. Peterson Foundation Pandemic Response Policy Research Fund.

I hold a Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Vellore Institute of Technology, India, and a Master's in the same from the University of Southern California. Prior to joining the PhD program, I worked as Manufacturing Engineering for 3 years at Zimmer Biomet, a leading orthopedic implant manufacturer in Warsaw, Indiana. I am originally from a small town of Muzaffarpur, Bihar, in eastern India. When I am not working, you can find me playing tennis, spending time at beach or exploring cafes and restaurants in Los Angeles.