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Dr. Apurvakumar Pandya

About: Dr. Apurvakumar Pandya is a Director at the Parul Institute of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Parul University, Vadodara, Gujarat. Dr. Pandya received his MA (Clinical Psychology) from the M S University of Baroda in 2005 and his Ph.D. (Human Development and Family Studies) in 2015. He is recipient of many awards/fellowships and scholarships. Many faces of Counselling Psychology award, UGC Research fellowship, and Fulbright fellowship are few to name. He visited Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health as a Fulbright Scholar in 2010 and visited Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada as Early Career Scholar in 2012. He specializes in exploring the psychological, social, and cultural contexts that shape individual and community-level health outcomes. He conducts his work with the overall goal of improving the lives of marginalized population. Dr. Pandya currently teaches Social and behavioral sciences in public health, health promotion, gender and health, research methodology in the Masters of Public Health, Masters of Health Administration and PhD in Public Health programs. He advises masters and doctoral students both in the Department of Psychology and in Public Health. His research interests lie at the intersection of the psychological and physical health consequences. His work explores negative consequences of psychological stress, distress and stigma; examines the psychological, social and biological mechanisms linking psychological stress and distress with risk for chronic diseases, particularly diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and its secondary outcomes. Research Areas Social Determinants of Health, LGBTQ Health, Health Promotion, Health Behaviour Change Communication, Counselling, Health Systems Strengthening, Health Equity, Non-Communicable Diseases, Public Mental Health, Health Technology Assessment, Evidence Synthesis