Sociomedical Sciences

Nitya Thummalachetty, DrPH

Graduation Year: 2016
Degree/Concentration: DrPH/Sociomedical Sciences
Current Position: CEO and Co-founder of FortunaHLTH

Nitya Thummalachetty, DrPH, was selected for BBC 100 Women — a list of global women innovators and changemakers — in 2017, and appeared on BBC worldwide radio to discuss technology and gender disparities. She also recently co-authored an op-ed in The Telegraph (India) on India’s #MeToo movement, which can be found here. 

WHERE DO YOU CURRENTLY WORK AND WHAT TYPE OF WORK DO YOU DO THERE?

I am the CEO and co-founder of a healthcare cybersecurity start-up called FortunaHLTH. Healthcare institutions rely on an information technology infrastructure that is increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks and data breaches. At FortunaHLTH, we have developed and piloted an AI-driven product that will safeguard institutions against this growing threat to public health.

I also work with two companies, FortunaPIX and MMTC-PAMP, as Advisor for Diversity and Inclusion. FortunaPIX is an education technology company focusing on K-12 students, with a global reach that spans India, Latin America, the Caribbean Islands, Africa, Europe, and the United States. MMTC-PAMP is a Swiss-Indian joint venture and India’s largest precious metals refinery and digital gold platform.

WHAT MADE YOU INTERESTED IN PURSUING THIS WORK? WHY DO YOU ENJOY IT? 

I have always been interested in exploring the intersection of gender, social institutions, and public health. My dissertation research at SMS focused on gender and power in Indian communities and healthcare institutions, and I worked with Columbia’s Department of Population and Family Health on masculinity and HIV prevention in Uganda during my time as a doctoral student. 

I’ve also always been interested in the workplace as a dynamic social institution. As a public health student, this interest developed into a passion to explore gender and intersectionality in the workplace, and, more importantly, to be in a position to steer and affect positive change. 

Much of my current work remains situated at the intersection of gender, institutions, and public health. The difference for me is that through my advisory work at FortunaPIX and MMTC-PAMP, I am in the position to affect change from within the private sector, an area that is often considered impenetrable or outside of public health’s reach.

HOW HAS THE “SMS LENS” (SEEING PUBLIC HEALTH AS EMBEDDED IN SOCIAL/CULTURAL/ECONOMIC/POLITICAL CONTEXTS) INFLUENCED YOUR PROFESSIONAL ATTITUDES AND APPROACHES IN ADDRESSING ISSUES IN YOUR WORK? 

My SMS training – understanding public health in a social, cultural, political, and economic context –  has been invaluable in building and maintaining equitable workplace cultures that are also safe and productive. As Advisor for Diversity and Inclusion, it is my job to see how health and well-being are affected by not only overarching social inequalities like gender and socioeconomic status, but also workplace issues such as pay and promotion parity, workplace safety, institutional norms, and perceived capabilities. The manufacturing sector in India employs an extraordinarily diverse workforce (across socioeconomic status, gender, geography, age, race/ethnicity/caste, and cultural values and institutional constraints), which makes for incredibly interesting and challenging work.

Working in India presents a unique opportunity because social, cultural, and institutional change is simultaneously rapid and stagnant across social groups, causing a particularly interesting tension to grapple with. For example, on the one hand, we have a quickly increasing young workforce (many of whom are globally-minded) along with the passing of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act in 2013, but on the other hand, we’re operating within the constraints of a deeply patriarchal society — amidst an inter-generational culture clash — and rely upon legal and political systems that simply cannot keep pace with such rapid social change. Having said that, I believe India is at an inflection point in this regard, and this provides an invaluable learning opportunity for all of us. So many questions around gender, workplace equity, and safety are globally salient questions. We’ve yet to perfectly crack the code anywhere, so to speak.

WHAT DO YOU FORESEE IN THE NEXT 50 YEARS OF PUBLIC HEALTH?

As a field, public health produces rich, collaborative, and relevant research that manages to reach across conventional academic divisions. However, unlike the natural sciences or medicine, public health has yet to build effective channels with the private sector. I believe the biggest challenge public health must overcome is how the field remains siloed within academia in too many ways, which limits funding opportunities for research and development and undermines the extent to which research can be feasibly translated into sustainable practice. In the next 50 years (or much sooner, I hope), the most innovative and effective public health solutions will be those that break out of the current silos and pave the way to collaborate with private sector industries such as technology, education, infrastructure, and food and beverage, among others.