Gita Sen is Distinguished Professor and Director of the Ramalingaswami Centre on Equity and Social Determinants of Health at the Public Health Foundation of India, and Adjunct Professor of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health. She also serves on the Gender and Rights Advisory Panel of WHO’s Dept of Reproductive Health and Research, and is a member of the Lancet Commission on “A Synergistic Approach to Universal Health Coverage, Health Security and Health Promotion.” She is a founder and currently General Co-coordinator of the Southern network, DAWN (Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era). In addition to her service as a member of the Governing Board of India’s National Health Systems Resource Centre, the Mission Steering Group for the National Rural Health Mission, and the High-Level Expert Group on Universal Health Care set up by India’s Planning Commission, Dr Sen was a member of the recent Lancet Commission on Women and Health, of WHO’s Advisory Committee on Health Research, of the High-Level Task Force for ICPD Beyond 2014, and Co-Chair of PAHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Gender Equality and Health. She has also served on the Governing Boards of UNRISD and of the UN University. She has a PhD in Economics from Stanford University and has received honorary doctorates from the University of East Anglia, the Karolinska Institute (Stockholm), the Open University (UK), the University of Sussex, and the University of Edinburgh.