Dr. Unni Krishnan Karunakara is the newly appointed Interim Director of the United Nations University Institute for Global Health (UNU-IIGH).
He joins UNU-IIGH with a rich background in public health and humanitarian work. Dr. Karunakara earned his medical degree from Kasturba Medical College and holds degrees in public health from Johns Hopkins University and Yale University.
Dr Karunakara was International President of Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) from 2010-2013. He has been a humanitarian worker and a public health professional for more than two decades, with extensive experience in the delivery of health care to populations affected by conflict, disasters, epidemics, and neglect. He was Medical Director of the MSF’s Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines from 2005 to 2007 and in 2001, co-founded VIVO, an organisation that works toward overcoming and preventing traumatic stress and its consequences.
Dr Karunakara is currently a Senior Fellow of the Global Health Justice Partnership, and was a Senior Fellow of the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs from 2014-2017, both at Yale University. Earlier, Dr Karunakara served as the Deputy Director of Health of the Earth Institute, Millennium Villages Project from 2008-2010 at Columbia University. He has held various fellowships and professorships at universities in China, Germany, South Africa, South Korea, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, and Zimbabwe.