Dr. Sowmya Rao

Dr. Rao is a Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Global Health at the Boston University School of Public Health, a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, and the Core Statistician on several federally funded projects. Additionally, she serves as a Statistical Consultant to several international organizations, including UNICEF and the WHO. She is a UNICEF-approved consultant in the pool of Statisticians for Health. Her primary research interest is in developing and deploying statistical methods that utilize survey data to address questions of epidemiologic and public health importance. She has extensive experience in applying statistical techniques to the fields of epidemiology and health services research, and to topics within each of these, including measurement/surveillance of disease outcomes, health inequities, adoption of Electronic Health Records, impact of clinical tools, survey research, and global health. Dr. Rao has a long track record of mentoring masters and doctoral students, as well as junior faculty at Boston University, University of Massachusetts Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. Her current research projects focus on health inequities and infectious diseases especially in Maternal and Child Health.