MR Parthasarathy, MD, MBBS
Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Current Position
Dr. M.R. Parthasarathy is Deputy Director at the Johns Hopkins Center for Infectious Diseases in India. He is a member of the team in Hyderabad, India, and has worked with the Johns Hopkins-India infectious diseases partnership for two years.
Dr. Parthasarathy is responsible for leadership and strategic direction to the ACCELERATE project and for implementing the prevention-to-care continuum cascade in Telangana, a high HIV burden Indian state, providing technical assistance and support to Telangana State AIDS Control Society (TSACS), under the National AIDS Control Organization, to reach the epidemic control targets. He is providing mentorship, supportive supervision, and capacity building for all ACCELERATE activities, managing resources, providing technical oversight and monitoring of the key result areas of the project including index testing, HIV treatment initiation and retention, and viral load suppression among the key and general population. He is also developing strategic partnerships including community networks, demonstrating innovative models and collaborating with government and development partners are the other key priorities. In addition, he also provides strategic support in establishing data management system and reporting in USAID platforms.
Past Positions
Dr. Parthasarathy is a medical doctor with 18 years of experience in public health, providing senior level techno-managerial support to the national HIV, HIV-TB and STI program. Associated with USAID and US CDC projects under PEPFAR and with other donor supported projects (such as Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) to support national HIV/STI/TB programs in the capacities of domain expert, techno-managerial lead and project-lead.
Dr. Parthasarathy has been working with large multi-cultural teams including community members, in the areas of HIV prevention and care continuum and health system strengthening, providing strategic direction and technical oversight to the projects, informed by best practices, evidence and guidelines, building strategic partnerships and collaboration. He has provided onsite and distal supportive supervision across the nations through site visits (Pakistan) and cross-learning visits (Caribbean and African nations). He is involved in reviews of the large-scale national program, standardization of health care facilities, and operational research. He has also undergone training on quality improvement in public health; and in quality management system of medical laboratories. His publications and presentations are delivered in international forums.
Prior to joining CIDI, Dr. Parthasarathy worked as Associate Project Director of a PEPFAR CDC-supported HIV-TB treatment program, providing Technical Assistance to National AIDS Control Program of Government of India, under the NGO, SHARE INDIA, Hyderabad. Prior that Dr. Parthasarathy served as Deputy director of PEPFAR-USAID supported LINKAGES project of FHI360, New Deli, working on the prevention-to-care continuum cascade of key population at risk of HIV in two high HIV burden states of India.
Relevant Professional Memberships
- International AIDS society (IAS)
- Indian Association for the Study of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and AIDS (IASSTD & AIDS)
- Indian Medical Association (IMA)
Education
Dr. Parthasarathy received an MBBS from the Madurai Medical College in Tamil Nadu and an MD from the Dr.M.G.R Medical University in Chennai, India. He completed a Fellowship in HIV Medicine at Christian Medical College in Vellore, India.
Additional education includes Project Management for Development Professionals (PMD Pro Level 1), AMPG International; Gillings School of Global Public Health- Course on Quality Improvement and Implementation Science at University of North Carolina, USA; and a Fellowship in Diabetology from the India Medical Association’s College of General Practitioners- Diabetes Research Centre & MV Hospital for Diabetes, Chennai, India.