Meenakshi Gautham

Dr. Meenakshi Gautham is a Senior Teaching Associate in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge, where she designs and delivers curriculum for the MPhil in Population Health Sciences with a focus on Global Health, Public Health, and Primary Care themes. Concurrently, she serves as an Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Health Systems Research at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), where she is Deputy Programme Director for the MSc in Global Health Policy (distance learning). She holds a PhD in Public Health and Policy from LSHTM and an MSc in Human Development from Lady Irwin College, Delhi University.

Her research examines antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in community settings, informal health systems, and One Health approaches in low-middle-income countries. She leads the One Health Antibiotic Stewardship (OASIS) initiative in India and coordinates multi-country projects on antibiotic use in agriculture. Key research areas include:

• Dynamics of informal healthcare providers and mixed health systems
• Structural drivers of antibiotic misuse in human and animal health
• Policy analysis for antimicrobial stewardship
• Decolonizing global health frameworks

Her publications (2019-2025) demonstrate strong focus on antimicrobial resistance in community settings (14/15 articles), with secondary emphasis on maternal/newborn health systems. Research employs mixed methods across India, Bangladesh, Uganda and Tanzania, featuring policy analysis (67%), qualitative investigations (73%), and One Health approaches (40%).

Scientific Awards:
Second prize, MIT SOLVE/Trinity Challenge for AMR solutions (2024)

Research Leadership:
Principal Investigator for UKRI-funded projects including:

• Community-Driven AMR Surveillance (Trinity Challenge, £1.2M, 2024-2027)
• Multi-stakeholder Antibiotic Stewardship in Pluralistic Health Systems (MRC, 2019-2022)
• Antibiotic Stewardship in Agricultural Communities (EPSRC, 2020-2022)

Coordinates the Equitable Research Partnerships (EquiPar) initiative at LSHTM.

Leads the OASIS research team developing AI-based solutions for antibiotic stewardship in rural India. Collaborates with partners across 12 countries in the AgriAMU project for sustainable antibiotic use policies. Supervises PhD students at LSHTM and mentors early-career researchers through Cambridge Public Health.