Janani Rajbhandari-Thapa

Janani Rajbhandari-Thapa is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy & Management at the University of Georgia's College of Public Health. She serves as Program Coordinator for the Ph.D. in Health Services Research and holds affiliations with the Dean's Office and Epidemiology & Biostatistics department. Her research focuses on economic evaluation of health policies, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), obesity interventions, and healthcare disparities.

Key research areas include analyzing how ACEs impact adult health outcomes (e.g., depression, mortality), the role of physical activity in cognitive aging, and structural barriers to healthcare access. She leads the Economic Evaluation Research Group (EERG), which designs evidence-based interventions targeting chronic disease management and health equity.

Notable contributions include work on vaccination hesitancy among African American communities, the impact of BMI trajectories on cognitive decline, and policy analysis of Medicare/Medicaid systems. Her team collaborates across disciplines, using mixed-methods approaches (e.g., longitudinal cohort studies, geospatial analysis) to address systemic health inequities.

Dr. Thapa advises 7 graduate students (e.g., Kiran Thapa, Jacob Matta), supervises research assistants, and has secured grants supporting projects like Georgia's school-based fitness programs. She is actively involved in community-engaged research, including produce prescription programs and interventions to improve pediatric obesity counseling utilization.

Labs/Teams: Director of EERG, Obesity and Weight Management Certificate Program Lead.