PhD candidate Neerad Deshmukh has received an award from the Joan R. Kahn Endowed Graduate Research Support Fund, the first such recipient since the fund's creation last year. The award will allow Deshmukh to focus his efforts this summer on completing and polishing the second chapter of his dissertation, titled “Breaking the Cycle? Economic Mobility, Caste, and Functional Health Disparities in Later Life.” 

"I have served as Neerad’s primary dissertation advisor...since April 2024. Throughout this time, Neerad has continued to impress me with his work ethic, resourcefulness, and commitment to producing high quality work....Given the ever increasing prominence of India on the global stage, Neerad’s research is highly significant in the areas of global health, climate impacts and aging." ~ Dissertation Advisor Sangeetha Madhavan

Deshmukh's dissertation addressees the relationship among social stratification, health outcomes, and ageing in India, the most populous country in the world and one that is the midst of rapid demographic, economic, and epidemiological transitions.

Joan Kahn established the award on her retirement from the university in 2023. Read more about Joan and her impact on those she educated here.

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