Allies

Dr Udayani Prabha Kumari Abeykoon Mudiyanselage has been a Visiting Research Scientist, at Yale School of Public Health since 2023. Before this appointment, she served as an Acting Consultant at Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka. She earned her medical degree from the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka. She completed her internship at District General Hospital, Monaragala, Sri Lanka before she was appointed as a primary care physician. She went on to complete training in community medicine at the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine, the University of Colombo, where she received her MSc and MD in Community Medicine. Dr Prabha completed Diploma in Diplomacy and World Affairs Course of the Bandaranaike International Diplomatic Training Institute (BIDTI) in 2019 and Post - Graduate Diploma in Diplomacy and World Affairs at the Bandaranaike International Diplomatic Training Institute in 2023. She underwent training for Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Prevention and Control in Remote Island Regions by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2019. Since September 2020, she has served on the director board of the Governing Council of the Sri Lanka Institute of Local Governance and as an advisor to the State Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government Affairs for the supervision of Provincial Councils and Rural Hospitals since 2020. Her primary academic interests include infectious disease epidemiology, diplomacy, and preventive medicine.

Ishita Sunita Arora, Ph.D., (she/her/hers) is a post-doctoral researcher at Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Arora has a joint appointment with the Office for Women in Medicine and Science (OWiMS) within the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the Department of Psychiatry’s Division of Prevention and Community Research (DPCR). At OWiMS, she conducts prevention research, implementation, and evaluation of the programs aiming at increasing gender equity and academic career development of all women within Yale School of Medicine. At DPCR, her research focuses on two core areas - prevention and intervention of gender-based violence, and the promotion of diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice. Dr. Arora is a clinical and community psychologist who has worked with underserved and marginalized populations in the resource-limited settings of India and the United States. Dr. Arora has extensive experience in the evaluation of preventive interventions in institutes of higher education, and in research aimed at identifying key risk and protective factors predictive of intimate partner violence, mental health services accessibility and utilization, and other behavioral outcomes. Dr. Arora completed her predoctoral fellowship at Yale University’s Department of Psychiatry - The Consultation Center (TCC) and Connecticut Mental Health Center (CMHC). During this time, she 1) worked with the Department of Psychiatry’s Anti-Racism TaskForce; 2) worked towards building a supplement to New Haven’s police crisis response system for people living with mental health concerns, substance use, and unhoused populations; 3) helped conduct a consumer-based participatory research project in collaboration with consumer researchers of CMHC to assess consumers' mental health needs during COVID-19. Dr. Arora earned her Ph.D. in Clinical and Community Psychology from the University of Maryland and a Master’s in Liberal Studies and Leadership from Ashoka University, India. In India, she has worked as a therapist for street kids and unhoused families for the not-for-profit organization Salaam Baalak Trust. Dr. Arora’s work is guided by anti-racist, anti-casteist, anti-oppressive, and decolonial praxis.

Mustafa has graduated from Koç University School of Medicine in 2016 and is a physician by training. He is a Turkish Fulbright grantee, and currently pursuing Master of Public Health (MPH) in Health Care Management degree at Yale School of Public Health. He has worked for a private not-for-profit hospital group as Patient Experience Office and CRM Manager for over 5 years before continuing his education at Yale. His professional interests include digital health, big data, and value-based healthcare.

Ally is a 2nd year student obtaining her Masters of Public Health in Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) at the School of Public Health and her Masters of Medical Science (MMSc) from the Yale Physician Associate Program. She has experience with biochemical research involving DNA/RNA nanoparticles as well as global qualitative research in the field of maternal and child health. Ally is a current National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Scholar and plans to work as a PA in primary care (pediatrics / OB/GYN).