Unni Karunakara

Unni Karunakara M.D. is an Indian-born physician, an academic, and was the international president of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) from 2010–2013.[1][2]

Unni Karunakara

M.D.
Born
Alappuzha
Alma materKasturba Medical College
Johns Hopkins University
Yale University
Known forInternational President of Médecins Sans Frontières (2010 to 2013)

Karunakara has worked in humanitarian emergencies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and held leadership roles at MSF headquarters in the Netherlands and Switzerland. He has held fellowships and has been faculty at universities in Africa, Asia, and Europe.

After his three years leading MSF, he cycled 5,637 km to raise funds to pay back his salary.

He has served on the board of directors of MSF Netherlands, MSF India, and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative.

Early life

Karunakara was born in Alappuzha.[3]

Education

Karunakara has a degree in medicine from Kasturba Medical College.[4] He has a degrees in public health from Johns Hopkins University and Yale University.[4]

Career

Academic career

Karunakara has held research and academic fellowships at universities in Germany, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Zimbabwe, including as a senior Fellow at Jackson Institute for Global Affairs from 2014 to 2017.[5] His research centered around forced migration, and healthcare for people in humanitarian crises.[5]

Karunakara was the Deputy Director of Health at Columbia University's The Earth Institute, Millennium Villages Project, and the Assistant Clinical Professor at the Mailman School of Public Health.[5]

As of 2020, he was a visiting faculty at Tshinghua University, and a Shinhan Distinguished Visiting Professor at Yonsei University.[6]

Humanitarian career
Unni Karunakara (left) 2011

Karunakara joined Médecins Sans Frontières in 1995 where he managed a tuberculosis program in Ethiopia, before working in Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, and the Democratic Republic of Congo as a medical coordinator.[5] In 2002,[7] he moved to MSF's Amsterdam headquarters to work as the medical director before leading the Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines from 2005 to 2007.[5][8]

While at MSF, Karunakara led a process to reform the governing International Statutes as part of a wider reform of the organization's governance.[9]

Other governance roles

Karunakara served on the board of directors of MSF Netherlands, MSF India, and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (2010 to 2013).[8][10]

Personal life

Over 112 days in 2014, Karunakara cycled 5,673 km from Srinagar to Thiruvananthapuram to raise funds to pay his salary back to MSF.[11][12] He raised $120,000.[13]

References
  1. "MSF, International Presidents". www.doctorswithoutborders.ca. 2016-09-22. Retrieved 2022-01-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. Fox, Renée C.. Doctors Without Borders: Humanitarian Quests, Impossible Dreams of Médecins Sans Frontières. United States: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014.
  3. "Pedalling For a Noble Cause". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
  4. "Unni Karunakara". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
  5. "Unni Karunakara – Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs". Retrieved 2022-01-21.
  6. "'The Evaluator' Episode 1: COVID-19 and Developing Countries". Independent Evaluation Unit | Green Climate Fund. 2020-08-10. Retrieved 2022-01-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. "Unni Karunakara". Retrieved 2022-01-21.
  8. "Unni Karunakara | Yale University - Academia.edu". yale.academia.edu. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
  9. Médecins Sans Frontières, Evolution of an International Movement: Associative History 1971-2011. N.p.: Médecins Sans Frontières, 2019.
  10. "Dr Unni Karunakara". Médecins Sans Frontières(MSF)/Doctors Without Borders. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
  11. Katiyar, Arun (2014-03-26). "Zen and the art of bicycling". mint. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
  12. Pope, Conor. "Breaking borders mending lives". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
  13. "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam | Verve Magazine". www.vervemagazine.in. 2014-11-13. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
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