Dr. Rishma Pai is an honorary consultant Gynaecologist at the Lilavati, Jaslok and Hinduja Health Care Hospital, Mumbai. She is the President of the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI) in 2017. She has received many distinctions for her work in this field: Fellowship ad eundem of the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists, London. She is the first Indian to be appointed as the Board Member of the World Endometriosis Society and the President (Elect) 2018 of the Indian Society for Assisted Reproduction, President (Elect) 2018 of the Indian Association of Gynaecological Endoscopists (IAGE). She has served as the Hon. Secretary of MOGS (The Mumbai Obstetric & Gynaecological society) and an immediate Past Chairperson of the Maharashtra Chapter of ISAR.

Dr. Pai has received numerous awards for her contribution. She is the recipient of the Women Empowerment Award 2017 by the Indian Medical Association, RK HIV Research Centre award for excellence in medicine (July 2017), Bharat Nirmal Award for Women Entrepreneurship (April 2017); 50 Outstanding Women in Health Care Award, 2017; the Middle East Leadership Award- 2016; Women’s Achievers award and Newsmakers Best Doctor award, GR8 Women Achievers award for excellence in the field of medicine; The Navshakti Award and award for Distinguished Alumni, awarded by Jaihind College, Mumbai.

She has delivered 26 orations and has been invited speaker at 340 national and international conferences. She has written chapters in 60 books and published 40 articles in leading journals and other publications. She is a DNB teacher since many years. She is also the Director of the Pai’s Family Welfare Hospital, one of the oldest and busiest family Planning Centre of India. Has done pioneering work in the use of non-surgical MRI guided focused ultrasound for the management of fibroids. She also has the distinction of having delivered a 60-year-old woman, one of the oldest patients in India. She is trained in endoscopy, IVF and ICSI at Antwerp, Belgium. She has also trained in egg and embryo freezing at the world’s biggest IVF centre in Japan and in advanced infertility treatment in Italy, China and Portugal.

Dr. Rishma Pai provides techno-managerial support to Manyata programme for improving quality of care at private sector facilities in India. Through this programme, we aim to create a robust quality improvement and assurance (QI and QA) system to help private maternity care facilities improve their quality of services and recognize those who consistently deliver quality care to the women they serve.

Dr. Hema Divakar is a leading medical professional of India with a vision to improve the healthcare services ecosystem for the welfare of women. An accomplished specialist in the field of Obgyn care, she runs the Divakar’s speciality hospital in Bangalore. She has over the last three decades, been a game changer in healthcare, establishing new benchmarks, standards and touching women’s lives in the process. She was President of FOGSI in 2013 and had the responsibility of heading the Federation with more than 32,000 specialists on roll as members. She is now the FOGSI ambassador for FIGO, an international organization of Obgyns.

She has earned recognition for her expertise, service and skills numerous times. Currently she holds the following positions within India as well as in Asia:

• Vice Chair of GDM working group at FIGO
• FIGO Executive Board member
• Honorary Fellow of Sri Lankan Perinatology Society
• Governing Council Member of South Asian Society for Menopause
• National Coordinator for FIGO FOGSI PPIUCD programme
• National Coordinator for FOGSI’s Manyata programme
• National Coordinator for VISION 2022 projects
• She has received the FIGO Women Achievers Award and

FRCOG Honorary Fellowship by Royal College London. Besides, she has also been awarded the life time achievement award by Diabetes in India Study group, lifetime achievement award by Karnataka State Gynaecologists Association and lifetime achievement award by Bengaluru Society of Obgyns.

She is an opinion leader & a member of Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for Ministry of Health and family Welfare, Government of India, an advocate for delivering quality healthcare and capacity building across India. With flaming enthusiasm, she has built a dynamic team of like-minded members by exploring the individual talent. She has the distinction of mentoring and promoting bright young minds in the profession to the centerstage.

Dr, Hrishikesh D Pai is a seasoned Gynaecologist with almost 3 decades of experience in IVF and infertility management. He is the Medical Director of the Bloom IVF Group which runs nine IVF centres all over India including Lilavati Hospital and Bhatia Hospital, Mumbai and Fortis Hospitals in New Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida, Mohali, and Navi Mumbai. Dr Pai currently holds the position of Secretary General of the Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecological Societies of India, one of the largest organizations of professional doctors in the country consisting of 33,000 gynaecologists.

He provides techno-managerial support to Manyata programme for improving quality of care at private sector facilities in India. As a Chief Administrator of Manyata with support by the Assistant Administrator, he is responsible for the day-to-day management of NPMU. Also, review the progress, strategic decisions related to the functions of NPMU, and support the relevant aspects of NPMU’s functioning.

Dr Pai began his career after graduating with three distinctions and 2 gold medals in his MD in the year 1989 from the G.S. Medical College in Mumbai. He also has a Master of Science in Clinical Embryology and Andrology from the Eastern Virginia Medical School, USA. He went on to do a clinical fellowship from the Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne, where the world's second test-tube baby was born. He mastered this technique only to come back and set up the first IVF centre in Mumbai in 1991. Being one of the pioneers in the field of Micromanipulation in India, his unit was the third in India to start the procedure of Micromanipulation- ICSI in 1996 in Mumbai.

Not only has he performed over 10,000 test-tube baby procedures but has also introduced many path-breaking and pioneering techniques in the field of Assisted Reproductive Technology such as assisted laser hatching, spindle view, ovarian tissue freezing for cancer patients, oocyte freezing, IMSI, and embryoscope. His clinic is one of the 10 IVF clinics in India to be recognized to offer Fellowship in super specialty of ART by the National Board, New Delhi.

As part of his teaching and academic pursuits, Dr. Pai is an Asst. Adjunct Professor at East Virginia Medical School, USA; Assistant Professor at the DY Patil Medical College; and post graduate teacher in Gynaecology at the National DNB Examinations, and has trained more than 1000 gynaecologists. He is also the Founder Editor of The Journal of Gynecological Endoscopy & Surgery. He has held many other responsible positions namely President of the Mumbai Obstetrics and Gynaecological Society; and President of the Indian Association of Gynaecological Endoscopists. Previously, Dr Pai was also the Senior Vice President of FOGSI in 2006. He has had many articles and research papers published in national and international books and journals, and has delivered more than 500 guest lectures all over India and abroad.

Dr Pai has been a key contributor to various policy-making bodies of the central and state government. He is member of the Still Birth Committee of the Ministry of Health, Government of India, New Delhi in 2015. He was invited as an expert to suggest changes to the ART Bill 2013 by the ICMR, New Delhi in 2014. He was also a Member of the Committee formed by the Government of Maharashtra, to suggest changes to the ART Bill 2013 and the PCPNDT Act regarding Infertility in 2013 and 2015.

In order to enable poor patients to have access to advanced services, he has an IVF unit in the DY Patil Medical College. In appreciation of his enormous contributions, the international agency Frost & Sullivan bestowed upon him the best IVF group in India award in 2013. Additionally, he was elected to the highest positioning IVF – the Immediate Past President of the Indian Society for Assisted Reproduction (ISAR). Dr Pai was also elected as the Member – Board of Directors of the World body of Infertility namely International Federation of Fertility Societies (IFFS): a first for an Indian.

Dr Pai has been the Honorary Asst. Consultant for Kurla Municipal Hospital, serving patients for free from 1991 till 2007. Twice, he has been the Community Service Director of Rotary Club. He won the best interns prize for a vaccination programme in the Mumbai slums of Malwani. In another first of its kind in India, Dr Pai as President of the Indian Society for Assisted Reproduction had launched Project Hope. In this, poor patients below poverty line (BPL) can obtain IVF services free of charge in private clinics of ISAR members all over India.

In appreciation of the yeoman scientific, medical, and community service, Dr. Pai has been the recipient of numerous awards such as the Rashtriya Ekta Award, Indian Medical Association (Mumbai West) Best Doctor Award, Navshakti Newspaper Award, Jai Hind College Alumni Award, RK Trust Award, Medscape India National Award, Lions International Gold Award, Ferticon Life Time Achievement Award, and Dr. Kanal Goel National Indian Medical Association Award amongst others.

Dr. Jaideep Malhotra completed her MBBS and MD (Obstetrics and Gynecology) from Jawaharlal Medical College, Aligarh. Her academic journey has been a never-ending one. She went ahead and trained herself in ultrasound procedures from Singapore, endoscopy from Germany and ART training from various renowned centers of the world. Even now she doesn’t leave a chance or opportunity to learn and observe anything related to her subjects of choice. After having trained for endoscopy, choosing the field of infertility was the next natural step for her. In 1995, she entered this field. At that time only few centers in India were offering these services. But distant centers and high cost of the treatment were a big challenge and deterred the patients. So, she took the bold decision of starting ART unit at their existing premises of Malhotra Nursing Home and it was called Malhotra Test Tube Baby Centre. Her motto is to make ART accessible to the masses, and it has picked up quickly, only because of good results and low cost. The unit produced all the first - IVF, ICSI, TESA twins and triplets of the state.

Dr. Bulbul Sood is a public health professional with more than 40 years of experience and was the Professor of Preventive and Social Medicine at Delhi’s Medical College for 23 years. Dr. Sood has been Jhpiego’s India Country Director since 2009. She is a respected figure in the public health field, known for her experience in international health and development, and has effectively demonstrated her ability to take programs forward in a holistic manner. Dr. Sood has strong technical expertise in reproductive health, extensive program management experience, and is well-known in the fields of family planning (FP), maternal health and reproductive health—both in India and internationally. She also has demonstrated skills in advocacy, negotiation and diplomacy.

Dr. Sood has worked collaboratively with the Government of India, bilateral and multilateral donors, UN organizations, and international and national nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Before joining Jhpiego, she served as Country Director for the Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) and as Program Coordinator with AVSC International (now EngenderHealth).

Dr. Sood is a member of the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Family Planning Medical Eligibility Decision-Making Committee; a member of the INFO Editorial Advisory Committee of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs; a peer reviewer for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Reproductive Health in Atlanta; a technical advisory group member of the Maternal Health Task Force of the Harvard School of Public Health; and a member of the Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Coalition and Maternal Health Task Force of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Dipa Nag Chowdhury is Deputy Director of the MacArthur Foundation's India office.
Prior to joining the Foundation in 1998, Nag Chowdhury worked with the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington D.C., an international NGO, researching issues of food security and nutrition. She was also involved in a study of adolescents and young-adults on health, substance abuse, and the onset of HIV/AIDS at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University. Nag Chowdhury has worked with Naz Foundation Trust in India, a leading NGO focused on sexual health and HIV/AIDS prevention.

Nag Chowdhury has Masters Degrees in Political Science from Bombay University, India, and Public Administration from Syracuse University.

Dipa Nag Chowdhury works on the following MacArthur programs and projects:

• Girls' Secondary Education in Developing Countries
• Population & Reproductive Health

Currently, MacArthur foundation is providing incubatory support to FOGSI for setting up a National Program Management Unit in Mumbai to manage the comprehensive quality management initiative- Manyata. This is in alignment with the FOGSI’s vision and will be eventually tasked to provide technical and operational leadership to FOGSI’s activities towards quality improvement in private sector. Strengthened operational capacity of FOGSI will not only benefit the quality management initiative but will also pave the way for FOGSI to more effectively lead other maternal health focused initiative