Dr Chandrakant S Pandav is a public health expert and member of the National Council for India’s Nutritional Challenges under POSHAN Abhiyaan, chaired by the Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog. He is former Professor and Head of the Centre for Community Medicine at AIIMS, New Delhi. He holds an MBBS and MD in Community Medicine from AIIMS and an MSc in Health Economics, Clinical Epidemiology, and Biostatistics from McMaster University, Canada. Dr Pandav is President of the Indian Coalition for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (ICCIDD), Regional Coordinator for the Iodine Global Network (South Asia), and Chairman of the Coalition for Food and Nutrition Security in India. Since 1983, he has worked as a consultant to WHO and UNICEF on iodine deficiency disorders in over 60 countries across South Asia, the Western Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. His work spans areas such as micronutrient deficiencies, health systems research, health policy, health economics, and programme evaluation. He has co-edited 14 books, authored around 500 research papers, and serves on various advisory and technical committees under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Women and Child Development, ICMR, FSSAI, and other national and international bodies. He has received recognitions including the Padma Shri (2021), WHO Public Health Champion Award (2017), Mother Teresa Memorial Award (2016), and the Dr M K Seshadri Prize and Gold Medal from ICMR (2000).
