Ruma Bhargava is a global health strategist and social entrepreneur who has shaped international health policies at the World Economic Forum, led humanitarian health with the International Red Cross across 38 countries, and scaled health systems across 5 continents. At Yale, she is advising faculty and mentoring students on AI, digital health, entrepreneurship, and social impact.
At the World Economic Forum, Ruma led the Health Initiative, establishing WEF's digital health vertical in Asia and deploying AI across diagnostics, treatment, and health data integration. She also built the WEF's Global Mental Health agenda, bringing together 75 public and private organizations around workplace wellbeing, child and youth mental health, and climate
At the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, she headed emergency and staff health operations across Asia Pacific, and earlier helped run India's National Immunization Programme, reaching 50 million children and pregnant women.
As Founder and CEO of Samarpan, a Forbes recognised social enterprise, she built an integrated model for women's health and community development, spanning menstrual hygiene, nutrition, water and sanitation, solar electrification, and girls' education across 500 plus schools and communities in rural and tribal India.
Ruma is the recipient of the British Council's Outstanding Achiever Honours, the Mahatma Foundation's Social Impact Award, and was named by the Times Group among India's Most Influential Health Leaders. She has authored more than 50 publications in Forbes, The Economic Times, Skoll and other global platforms on public health, gender equity, and sustainable development.
A dental surgeon by training, she holds a postgraduate degree in Public Health, an MBA from Nanyang Technological University Singapore, and an Oxford Chevening Fellowship.