Meelan Thondoo

Dr Meelan Thondoo

BSc MSc Mph PhD

Meelan Thondoo is a medical anthropologist and environmental epidemiologist working in the global health arena. Meelan's research interests are in city-level health impact assessments (HIA) and multi-sectoral interventions and integrated policies for health.

Meelan Thondoo

Meelan Thondoo read Biology (Bsc), Medical Anthropology (Msc) and Health Economics (Mph) at the University of Geneva, University College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In 2017, she was selected as a Transglobal Health Fellow for the European Commission Joint Doctorate Program (EMJD) and completed a PhD in Medicine and Translational Research with excellency. She is currently a Senior Research Associate at the MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge.

Meelan has over 10 years of experience working in the design, implementation and evaluation of public health interventions in 15 countries across three continents (Latin America, Asia and Africa). She brings forth cultural sensitivity and academic curiosity from having visited more than 150 cities worldwide and plays a significant leadership role in showing how anthropology can enrich strategies and promote evidence-based policy-making and multi sectoral action for health in urban areas.

She serves as a technical reviewer for European Research Council Consolidator Grants and reviews on the editorial board for Frontiers in Environmental Health. She served as a board member for the Human Resource Development Council and the National Mauritius Standards Bureau for Sustainable Communities & Cities (Mauritius and African Region). Meelan is a Fellow of the Global Humanitarian Forum, the Cambridge Philosophical Society and the UK Royal Anthropological Institute.
 

Meelan's work is set at the nexus of health, urban environment and climate. She performs transdisciplinary Health Impact Assessments (HIAs) and applies mixed-method tools to tackle health inequalities and reduce preventable disease and injury caused by environmental, social and economic determinants of health. She focuses on multiple health exposure pathways including air pollution, physical activity, heat, blue and green spaces, noise, traffic injuries, and food.

She developed the first policy-oriented HIA model (participatory and quantitative) for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), which was also the first HIA model for urban transport planning applicable to Africa. She is currently engaging stakeholders and communities in research that characterises and measures human exposure to climate-related syndemic hazards with teams from 7 LMIC cities. She investigates the spatial clustering and policy implications of such hazards and their health impacts in association with deprivation, vulnerability and adaptive capacity of local communities.

In addition to her academic work and significant contributions to scientific publications, Meelan also contributes to the field of global health through high-impact consulting projects led by private and public sectors. She works across boundaries joining multilateral organisations and government offices, including with the World Health Organisation, to facilitate translational results in pursuit of integrated health policies, guidance and interventions.

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