Dr Usha Rani

CURRENT ACADEMIC ROLE & RESPONSIBILITIES

Dr. Usha Rani serves as Head of the Department of Healthcare and Hospital Management and Associate Professor at the Prasanna School of Public Health (PSPH), Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal. She is a trained Respiratory Therapist with a postgraduate degree in Hospital Administration and a Ph.D. focused on Infection Control and Prevention through System Process Mapping and Re-engineering. Her research has contributed to infection prevention among neonates and the development of antimicrobial policies.

She has authored 30+ scholarly publications indexed in Scopus and Web of Science, secured two international research grants, and holds an Intellectual Property Right (IPR). With experience in completing 100+ projects and organizing 20+ national and international conferences and workshops, she actively advances the fields of healthcare management, health literacy, and infection prevention.  She has also been awarded the Individual Research Grant by the International Society for Infectious Diseases and has also received three other research grants.

As Coordinator of the Manipal Health Literacy Unit, one of the oldest research centre's in a private Indian university, Dr. Rani leads interdisciplinary initiatives in health literacy research, advocacy, and education. She represents the unit in global collaborations and policy discussions and has been recognized with the Young International Health Literacy Award (2018) by the Asian Health Literacy Association, Taiwan. Has won many National and International awards such as TIFAC-IIASA Research award; on her PhD project "Anexas Project Excellency Award (2022); AHLA Network Achievement Award (2023); Anexas Global Excellence Award (2024); and Best Jury member award (2025) to name a few amongst many. Under her mentorship many students have won many awards and recognition in National level quality competition hosted by QUIMPRO and many such in National conferences for their innovative solutions and implementation research.

In her capacity as Head of Department, she provides academic and administrative leadership for postgraduate and doctoral programs, spearheads curriculum development in contemporary domains such as AI and Digital Health and Sustainable Hospital Planning, and mentors faculty and students. She also contributes as a Ph.D. supervisor and co-supervisor, guiding researchers on healthcare systems, adolescents sports mental health literacy, Ayushman Bharat, AI & digital health, and health literacy. 

She is an active member of the Board of Studies for the Master of Hospital Administration (MHA) programme for various Universities and also serves as Regional Co-Chair for International Health Literacy Association. She holds multiple professional certifications including Lean Six Sigma (Green and Black Belt), NABH-POI (Quality Council of India), QMS (ISO 9001:2015), EMS (ISO 14001:2015), and advanced training in Biostatistics, Epidemiology, Research Methodology, Systematic Reviews, and Meta-analysis, Qualitative research, Digital health from National and International institutes.

 

SUBJECTS CURRENTLY TEACHING

Subject	Semester / Year
Applied Management and Organisational Behaviour	Sem-1 - Year 1
Research Methodology	Sem-1 - Year 1
Sustainable Hospital Planning & Operations Management	Sem-2 - Year 1
Non-Clinical Services	Sem-3 - Year 2
Healthcare Services Administration	Sem-3 - Year 2
AI & Digital Health	Sem-3 - Year 2
Project Work	Sem-4 - Year 2

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS

Degree	Specialisation	Institute	Year of passing
Ph.D	Development of prevention bundles for Neonatal healthcare associated infections	Manipal Academy of Higher Education	April 2021
Master in Hospital Administration (MHA)	Hospital Administration	Manipal Academy of Higher Education	July 2014
Associate of Respiratory Therapy (ASRT)	Respiratory Therapy	California College of Health Sciences (USA), Independence University (USA)	Dec 2008
Bachelor of Science in Respiratory Therapy (BSc RT)	Respiratory Therapy	Manipal College of Allied Health Sciences, MAHE	July 2008
Diploma in Anaesthesia Technology	Anaesthesia Technology	St. Stephen’s Hospital, Delhi Christian Medical Association of India	July 2003

Experience

Institution / Organisation	Designation	Role	Tenure
Prasanna School of Public Health	Associate Professor		2023- Present
Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Karnataka, India	Assistant Professor- Senior Scale	Teaching, Cultural Coordinator, Research	Jan 2021 – April 2023
Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Karnataka, India	Assistant Professor	Teaching, Cultural Coordinator, Research, QMR/IMR/APHEA coordinator	Jan 2015 – Jan 2021
Max Super Specialty Hospital, Delhi, India	Respiratory Therapist and Research Coordinator	Pulmonary Rehabilitation (IP & OP) & Research	March 2010 – April 2012
Fortis Flt. Lt. Rajan Dhall Hospital, Delhi, India	Respiratory Therapist	Critical Care Support & Pulmonary Rehabilitation	Oct 2008 –Feb 2010
Manipal Group of Hospitals, Karnataka, India	Intern - Respiratory Therapist	Critical Care Support & Pulmonary Rehabilitation	August 2007- July 2008
Delhi Heart & Lung Institute, Delhi, India	Junior Technician	Critical care technical assistance	August 2003 – July 2004