Sumitha TS
Thiruvananthapuram
Summary
Orderly and focused public health professional dedicated to innovative, dynamic and organized work. Experience in health system and decentralized governance research, child rights research and palliative care project management.
Overview
10
10
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Project Consultant (Scientific - Non-medical)
ICMR - National Institute of Epidemiology
Chennai, India
10.2022 - 09.2023
- Maintained energy and enthusiasm in a fast-paced environment.
- Involved in scoping review of systematic reviews on nutritional menu labeling and portion size control for World Health Organization with technical support from Cochrane group.
- Consultant to study on "Evaluation of Direct Benefit Transfer (Nikshay Poshan Yojana) among patients with Tuberculosis notified under National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP) in selected districts of India, 2022."
- Liaised with health system players of all selected nine states (30 districts) for data sharing and to facilitate data collection
- Managed a team of research assistants and project technicians for field data collection
- Efficient planning and utilization of project budget
- Monitored data collection in three states -Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Meghalaya
- Training and monitoring of data collectors.
- Data management and data quality check
- Prepared reports on milestones to funders
- Contributed in drafting reports of secondary and primary quantitative data collected for study.
- Led the qualitative component of study under the guidance of Dr. Malu Mohan (Consultant, ICMR-NIE)
- Developed in-depth interview guidelines, collected and analyzed data for qualitative component of the study
- Process mapping of Direct Benefit Transfer programme
- Drafted manuscript for qualitative part of the study
Public Health Consultant (Honorary)
Soul Palliative Care
Chennai, India
11.2021 - 09.2022
- Strengthened steps to sustain project.
- Completing paperwork, recognizing discrepancies and promptly addressing for resolution.
- Resolved problems, improved operations and provided exceptional service.
- Created spreadsheets using Microsoft Excel for daily, weekly and monthly reporting.
- Used critical thinking to break down problems, evaluate solutions and make decisions.
- Managed team of employees, overseeing hiring, training and professional growth of employees.
- Worked flexible hours across night, weekend and holiday shifts.
- Collaborated with team members to achieve target results.
- Supported passion of woman entrepreneur
Project Associate
Health Action by People (HAP)
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
09.2020 - 10.2021
- Part of research team undertaking qualitative research to understand influence of decentralized governance on health sector in Kerala state, project is funded by Health Systems Transformation Platform.
- Developed conceptual framework and tools for research
- Carried out field data collection among marginalized population (tribal and coastal) in Kollam, Wayanad and Palakkad districts of Kerala state
- Data analysis and report writing in few domains like non-communicable diseases, case studies and development reports including health financing in state.
- Coordination of 6 different sub-teams in project.
- Drafted quarterly reports for project which were subsequently submitted to the funder.
- Developed and followed baseline project plan and milestones for task completion.
Research Associate
Kerala Institute for Local Administration (KILA)
Thrissur, Kerala
01.2019 - 09.2020
- Involved in policy analysis of Kerala state’s policies for children, palliative care and role of local self governance in its implementation for Sixth State Finance Commission.
- Successfully received grant for proposal written and submitted to Azim Premji Research Grant in 2020.
- Team member for a realist evaluation study titled "Decentralization and health-lessons from Kerala experience", study was completed in 10 months time.
- Contributed to literature review, conducting formative research, proposal writing, tool development, field data collection, documentation, analysis, reporting and presentation.
- All fourteen districts of Kerala state were considered for study with special focus on tribal and coastal areas like Palakkad (Attappadi) and Wayanad districts.
- Large data analysis to understand fund utilization pattern of local self governments.
- Content analysis of various documents and annual plans of local self governments.
Project Officer
Pallium India Trust – Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
01.2017 - 12.2018
- Managed statewide palliative care projects in states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
- Responded effectively to changes in project requirements, recalculating deliverables as needed
- Developed and deepened relationships with key stakeholders
- Monitored deadlines and milestones to keep team on track with project schedule
- Adjusted project plans to account for dynamic targets, staffing changes and operational specifications
- Initiated or facilitated collaborative projects for advancing palliative care with local organizations at six Indian states / UTs - Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Mizoram.
- Contributed to drafting of palliative care policies and guidelines for various states in India. Involved in drafting standard treatment guidelines, referral and home care protocol on palliative care for National Health System Resource Center, Government of India as task force member.
- Coordinated and conducted more than fifteen sensitization sessions on palliative care and amended narcotic policy in several Indian States.
- Successfully liaised to integrate palliative care into undergraduate medical, nursing and dental curricula in deemed university (Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth,Puducherry), first time in India.
- Initiated advocacy efforts with government officials for ensuring availability of opioids and conducted workshops for medical professionals on use of opioids in 4 states and 1 union territory.
- Managed implementation of Pain-Free Hospital Project in Uttarakhand which was a pioneering effort to advance idea of palliative care in hospitals.
- Organized collaboration with Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI) that involved designing and conducting training program for CHAI medical staff and assisting them in implementation of palliative care related programs and with National Health Mission, Tamil Nadu which included training healthcare workers from Tamil Nadu at Trivandrum Institute of Palliative Sciences.
- Coordinated about ten online training programs on palliative care in collaboration with Extension for Community Health Outcome India (ECHO India) using Zoom platform.
- Raised funds for organization by writing grant proposal to international and national funding agencies, documented outcomes and submission of reports to donors. Successfully received grants from WHPCA, FOMAA, and several other organizations.
- Initiated, mobilized resources and executed special projects on empowering women caregivers in health crisis (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAXWjltogU8), for house modification of differently abled and to introduce palliative care to LGBT community in Puducherry.
- Faculty member at Trivandrum Institute of Palliative Sciences (WHO Collaborating Center) for certificate courses in palliative care.
- Wrote several blogs on palliative care in Pallium India's website and articles in Malayalam monthly magazine "Sahayathra”.
Staff Nurse (Bond)
Department Of Medical Education
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
07.2013 - 07.2014
- Performed as staff nurse in 75 bedded surgical ward of Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram.
Education
Master of Public Health -
Achutha Menon Centre For Health Science Studies
Kerala, India12.2016
Bachelor of Science - Nursing
Government College of Nursing, Medical College
Thiruvananthapuram, India09.2013
Skills
- Gathering requirements
- Project Management
- Public Health Interventions
- Organization skills
- Quantitative and qualitative research methodologies including critical review of research using these techniques
- Statistical analysis (SPSS)
- ATLASti and Weft QDA
- Policy Analysis
- Scoping Review
- Leadership and team work
- Clinical or patient as well as research or advocacy based communication
- Negotiation and decision making
Additional Information
- Initiated the development of Community Based Palliative Care Model in coastal region of Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala during the first wave of COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.
- Selected as participant in "Convening The Center" for change makers in health (https://diyps.org/2020/03/12/convening-the-center/).
- Volunteering with a non-governmental organization (Soul Palliative Care ) in Tamil Nadu since 2018 as public health consultant.
Certification
- Completed: Online course on COVID-19- Tackling the novel coronavirus conducted by LSHTM and UK Public Health Rapid Support Team.
Publications
Journal Articles
- First author of the manuscript titled "Need for operational simplicity and timely disbursal of benefits- A qualitative exploration of the implementation of a direct benefit transfer scheme for patients with Tuberculosis in India" submitted to BMC Health Services Research (Submission ID a9cb9575-ecea-4327-89c2-809f574ce12d).
- Co-author of the manuscript titled "Direct Benefit Transfer for Nutritional Support of Patients with TB in India – Analysis of National TB Program data of 3.7 million Patients, 2018-2022" submitted to BMC Public Health (Submission ID 1c545526-ba33-4200-8b27-6d3a4ac6f52f).
- Co-author of the manuscript titled "Menu labelling and portion size control to improve the out-of-home food environment - a scoping review" submitted to Cochrane Evidence Synthesis and Methods (Manuscript ID is CESM-23-0030).
- Sumitha TS, Varma RP. On conducting a study among institutionalised adolescents in Kerala, India: legal and ethical challenges. Indian Journal of Medical Ethics. 2022 Nov 23. (Available at: https://ijme.in/articles/on-conducting-a-study-among-institutionalised-adolescents-in-kerala-india-legal-and-ethical-challenges).
- Sumitha TS, Thelly AS, Medona B, Lijimol AS, Rose M, Rajagopal MR. Response to COVID-19 Crisis with Facilitated Community Partnership among a Vulnerable Population in Kerala, India: A Short Report. Indian Journal of Palliative Care. 2022 Jan 1;28(1). (Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9165449/)
- Jith JR, Bedamatta R, Rajamohanan K, Itty Amma LK, Sumitha TS, Divya CS, Sadanandan R, Iype T. The role of local governments in the implementation of evidence-based nutrition interventions in Kerala. Public Health Action. 2023 Mar 1;13(1):26-31.
- Sumitha TS, Rao S, Thelly AS. Pointing to a huge gap in mental health care and palliative care for gender minorities based on inputs provided by 60 participants of a workshop. Global Journal of Medicine & Public Health. Vol.8, Issue 4, 2019.
Books
- Malu Mohan, Sumitha TS & Divya CS (2023). 25 Years of People's Plan Campaign, Decentralization and Health Lessons from the Kerala Experience (Pages: 1 - 137).KERALA INSTITUTE OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATION (KILA).
- Co-author of the Policy Brief and Executive Summary titled "Decentralization and Local Decision Makin in Health - The Kerala Experience" (https://www.hstp.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/HAP-Report-FEB-18-2-2023-1.pdf)
Book Chapters
- Sumitha TS. (2023). Chapter 4: Shared decision space revived healthcare in Noolpuzha (Pages:31-39).KERALA INSTITUTE OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATION (KILA). (Available at : https://kila-cdn.sgp1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/25YearsPPC/NBB3/25th%20year%20of%20PPC-%20Book%20on%20Health.pdf)
- Divya, C. S., & Sumitha TS. (2023). Chapter 2: How Kollam District Panchayat remains a health champion: A case study based on life course approach. 25 Years of People's Plan Campaign, Local Governments and Health (Pages:9-16).KERALA INSTITUTE OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATION (KILA). (Available at : https://kila-cdn.sgp1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/25YearsPPC/NBB3/25th%20year%20of%20PPC-%20Book%20on%20Health.pdf)
- Divya, C. S., & Sumitha TS. (2023). Chapter 1: Introduction to Health System and Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in Kerala. 25 Years of People's Plan Campaign, Local Governments and Health (Pages: 1 - 8).KERALA INSTITUTE OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATION (KILA). (Available at : https://kila-cdn.sgp1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/25YearsPPC/NBB3/25th%20year%20of%20PPC-%20Book%20on%20Health.pdf)
Under the State Government of Kerala
- Elamon DJ, Rajan DJB, C SV, P SRV, Kupleri SS, Sumitha TS, et al. Kerala Grama Panchayaths - Social Welfare & Services, Elected Representatives Training; Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA); 2021 Available from: http://dspace.kila.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/551
Under the Government of India
- Contributed as expert member from Pallium India in drafting Operational Guidelines: Palliative Care at Health and Wellness Centres, NHM, MoHFW,GoI. Available from: https://www.nhsrcindia.org/sites/default/files/2021-06/Operational%20Guidelines%20for%20Palliative%20Care%20at%20HWC.pdf
- Contributed to the Training Manual on Palliative Care for Community Health Officer at Ayushman Bharat – Health and Wellness Centres by National Health Systems Resource Centre, MoHFW, GoI. Available from https://nhsrcindia.org/sites/default/files/202112/Palliative%20Care%20Training%20Manual%20for%20CHO%20at%20AB-HWC.pdf.pdf
Conferences & Workshops
- Co-author of the abstract titled " Direct benefit transfer for nutritional support of patients with TB in India- Analysis of five-year program data (2018 to 2022)", accepted for oral presentation at The Union World Conference on Lung Health 2023, Paris, France.
- Attended fifth workshop on Cutting Edge Research on Health Inequities: Concepts & Methods held at Bengaluru from 25-29, November 2019
- Presented “Exploring palliative care needs of transgenders in South India” for Indian Association of Palliative Care Conference at Aluva in February 2019
- Attended three days "ECHO Immersion Training" at Delhi in 2018.
- Presented “Nobody tells me ‘yes, you can’ though education is every child's right” for the Achutha Menon Center Annual Conference in January, 2018
- E-poster presentation on palliative care titled “Pallium's I's in Psycho-oncology” for the second Indian Cancer Congress at Bengaluru from 8 November to 12 November 2017
- Presented “Consent/ assent and confidentiality issues in studies on institutionalized adolescents living in Integrated Child Protection Scheme homes in Kerala” for the National Bio- ethics Conference at Pune in January, 2017 (https://ijme.in/nbc-20140321/index.php/NBC-6/index/pages/view/abstract-book)
- Presented a review paper on “Gender based differences in depression” in Achutha Menon Centre Public Health Conference, Trivandrum in 2016
Referees
- Dr Malu Mohan, Consultant, ICMR-NIE, Chennai, India - 600 077. E-mail: dr.malumohan@gmail.com
- Dr. MR Rajagopal, Chairman-Pallium India Trust, Aisha Memorial Hospital Building, Manacaud P.O.,Thiruvananthapuram – 695009, Kerala,India. E-mail: rajagopal@palliumindia.org
- Dr Asha S Kumar MSc N, PhD, Director -SIMET, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala-695035, India. E-mail: simetkerala@gmail.com
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Timeline
Project Consultant (Scientific - Non-medical)
ICMR - National Institute of Epidemiology
10.2022 - 09.2023
Public Health Consultant (Honorary)
Soul Palliative Care
11.2021 - 09.2022
Project Associate
Health Action by People (HAP)
09.2020 - 10.2021
Research Associate
Kerala Institute for Local Administration (KILA)
01.2019 - 09.2020
Project Officer
Pallium India Trust – Thiruvananthapuram
01.2017 - 12.2018
Staff Nurse (Bond)
Department Of Medical Education
07.2013 - 07.2014
Master of Public Health -
Achutha Menon Centre For Health Science Studies
Bachelor of Science - Nursing
Government College of Nursing, Medical College