New Delhi, January 29, 2026: Dr. Chandrakant Lahariya is an internationally recognized public health expert and former World Health Organization (WHO) staff member who has recently been awarded the Wiley Research Heroes Prize 2025 for his policy-oriented health research and inclusive research impact. He was honored for ensuring that research extends beyond academic boundaries and directly influences public policy and health care outcomes. With this achievement, he has become the first Indian researcher to receive this prestigious global honor.
The Wiley Research Heroes Prize recognizes researchers whose work goes beyond academia to ensure that research remains inclusive, innovative, and impactful.
Dr. Chandrakant Lahariya (MBBS, MD, DNB, MBA) is a primary care physician, academician, health policy researcher, and global health expert with nearly two decades of experience connecting grassroots health systems to global policy frameworks.
Dr. Lahariya has worked as a staff member and consultant with several UN agencies and international organizations, including the WHO India Country Office, the WHO Regional Office for Africa, WHO Headquarters in Geneva, UNICEF India and South Asia, the World Bank India, and other global health institutions.
Explaining his contributions, Dr. Lahariya stated that his research has played a significant role in shaping national immunization policies and redesigning primary health care services across Indian states. Evidence from his program evaluations supported the introduction of six new and underutilized vaccines into India’s immunization program and contributed to improving full immunization coverage from approximately 55% in 2005 to nearly 94% by 2023.
His fieldwork on community-based primary care models also informed the scaling up of initiatives such as Delhi’s Mohalla Clinics and Hyderabad’s Basthi Dawakhanas, which later influenced the national Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centers program. Today, this program reaches nearly the entire Indian population.
Dr. Lahariya has authored over 150 articles, written more than 50 book chapters, contributed to over 300 monographs and reports, and published more than 500 opinion pieces in leading newspapers.
In 2012, he received the ICMR Dr. B.C. Srivastava Foundation Award for translating community-based health research into public policy. He also received a certificate of appreciation from the WHO in 2014.
Studies conducted by Stanford University and published in PLOS Biology in 2020 listed Dr. Lahariya among the top 2% of global researchers in pediatrics and public health. He was included in the list again in the year 2021.
The Wiley Research Heroes Prize is a global initiative launched by the publishing company of the Journal of Forensic Sciences. The prize celebrates researchers who exceed traditional academic roles and contribute meaningfully to society. For the award, five winners are chosen worldwide, and winner receives an equivalent of USD 2,000 in their local currency.
The 2025 edition received over 2,000 nominations globally, from which only five researchers were selected.
(Rh/VK)