Dr Divya Sussana Patil

Assistant Professor, Department of Health Technology and Informatics and the Coordinator of the Centre for Evidence-informed Decision-making (CEIDeM)

Department of Health Technology and Informatics

CURRENT ACADEMIC ROLE & RESPONSIBILITIES

    Dr Divya Sussana Patil is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Health Technology and Informatics, and the coordinator of the Centre for Evidence-informed Decision-making (CEIDeM) at Prasanna School of Public Health, MAHE, Manipal. In addition, she is also the Co-Director of the Cochrane Affiliate Centre-MAHE of the Cochrane India Network. She is a Cochrane staff member with a core group role in the Cochrane India Network (MAHE). She is also a recipient of the Erasmus+ mobility grant to Utrecht University, the Netherlands for her PhD research.

     

    Her research interest includes working in ageing research and using different methodologies such as evidence synthesis through systematic reviews, overviews of systematic reviews, scoping reviews, evidence and gaps maps, realist reviews, and qualitative research design.

    She has experience of mentoring postgraduate students and PhD scholars in evidence synthesis methods, especially scoping and systematic reviews. At present she is involved in research and capacity building in evidence synthesis, leading funded projects, and supervising master’s students’ projects. 

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS

Degree Specialisation Institute Year of passing
PhD Public health – Ageing and mobility Prasanna School of Public Health, Manipal Academy of Higher Education [EQUIMOB project, funded by Dutch Research Council (NWO)] 2025
Master of Public Health (MPH) Epidemiology Prasanna School of Public Health, Manipal Academy of Higher Education 2014
Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) NA JSS Dental College and Hospital, Mysore, India 2011

Experience

Institution / Organisation Designation Role Tenure
Prasanna School of Public Health, MAHE Assistant Professor Teaching and Research May 2025 - Present
Centre for Evidence-informed Decision-making, PSPH, MAHE Centre Coordinator Research and project management May 2024 - present
Cochrane Affiliate Centre – MAHE [India Cochrane Network] Co-Director Research September 2024- present
Centre for Evidence-informed Decision-making, PSPH, MAHE Research Fellow Research October 2022-May 2025
Transdisciplinary Centre for Qualitative Methods, PSPH, MAHE, Manipal, India Doctoral researcher Research August 2019 – December 2024
Centre for Evidence-informed Decision-making, PSPH, MAHE Research Officer Research April 2017 – July 2019
India Health Action Trust (IHAT), Bengaluru, India State Program Officer - Karnataka (Employer led model) Program implementation December 2016 – April 2017
St John’s Research Institute, Bangalore, India Intervention Coordinator Leading the intervention team across India September 2014 – November 2016
JSS Dental College and Hospital, Mysore, India Dental Surgery Intern Internship January 2011 – February 2012

AREAS OF INTEREST, EXPERTISE AND RESEARCH

Area of Interest

Public health, evidence synthesis methods, qualitative research, ageing & mobilities.

Area of Research

Access to healthcare, urban mobility infrastructures, and digital literacy for older adults, translating evidence to policy.

Professional Affiliations & Contributions

-       Cochrane member since 2024

-       Co-Director of the Cochrane Affiliate Centre – MAHE [India Cochrane Network]

Evidence Ambassador for the World Evidence-based Healthcare Day 2024

 

PROJECTS UNDERTAKEN:

Name of the Project

Role

Funding Agency

Year

Title of main project: To develop a guidance package and document implementation of SEAHEARTS intervention in countries of the WHO South East Asian Region.

Sub-project: A landscape analysis for enhancing availability of point of care devices for Noncommunicable Diseases

Researcher

World Health Organization

2024

Developing a taxonomy for vaccine and immunization research

Project team member (Evidence synthesis expert)

World Health Organization

2025

Evidence and Gap Map for informed decision making: Visualizing the Impact of SDGs in LMICs

Cooperation partner

NWA - Dutch Research Agenda

2025

Inequalities and barriers in accessing urban mobility infrastructures for older adults in Bengaluru, India

Doctoral researcher

Dutch Research Council (NWO) and Utrecht University

2019-2024

Inequalities and barriers in accessing urban mobility infrastructures for older adults in Bengaluru, India

Doctoral researcher

Erasmus+ mobility grant

2022-2023