JDP Alumna Dr. Nabamallika Dehingia Awarded the 2023 Chancellor’s Dissertation Medal

By: Mira Garin

Dr. Nabamallika Dehingia, a recent alumna of the UCSD/SDSU Joint Doctoral Program in Public Health, was awarded the 2023 Chancellor’s Dissertation Medal for outstanding doctoral research in her dissertation “Violence against women in India: three essays on its offline and online forms.” Her work examines the interaction between climate and domestic gender-based violence as well as online violence against women on social media platforms. Approximately one third of women in India have experienced some form of gender-based violence at least once in their lifetime. Although research on this subject is expanding, particular forms of violence have been somewhat understudied. 

While working towards her Post-Graduate Diploma in Management in 2013, Dr. Dehingia spent a few months in a village in the Western region of India. “That was the first time I was truly exposed to the public health crisis in India,” Dr. Dehingia recalled, “particularly with regards to poor health access for women and children.” She worked with healthcare providers and community health workers and was confronted with systemic and structural barriers that prevented women and children “from receiving the healthcare that they deserve.” Now working as a Data Scientist in UNICEF’s Evaluation Office in New York, Dr. Dehingia analyzes data for multiple humanitarian evaluation studies focused on health and child well-being. She also leads projects on applications of Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing methods for UNICEF evaluation tasks, topics that were an important methodological focus of her dissertation. “I am very pleased with this opportunity to continue working on these methods and their adaptability to our field.”

Dr. Dehingia credited strong personal and professional support systems with helping her persevere through challenges in her career. “I have been lucky to have some incredibly inspiring and generous people as my mentors, who have guided me through my journey. . . . I also think it is important to have faith in yourself.”

Recipients of this prestigious award are chosen based on the quality of their academic research, including the recipient’s insight and creativity, the effectiveness of their writing and soundness of the methodology, and the impact of their work in their field or department. Congratulations Dr. Dehingia!