Apeksha Mewani

Apeksha Mewani is a doctoral candidate at Columbia University’s graduate school of education, health, and psychology, Teachers College, pursuing an EdD in Health and Behavior Studies and specializing in racial health inequities in dealing with COVID-19, epidemiology for public health practice, and COVID-19’s public health implications. She is an adjunct faculty member at City University of New York’s, York College in the Health and Human Performance Department for over a year now teaching public health courses like planning and administering health intervention programs, social determinants of health, workplace wellness, and personal health. Prior to gaining a Masters of Arts in Health Education at Columbia University’s Teachers College, she worked with under-served populations in India in various capacities, with the goal of creating social integration by helping develop their competency potentials. She founded JumpStart, a social enterprise offering after-school programs for children with fewer opportunities and health education programs for all age groups, which spread to three cities in India. Apeksha earned her bachelors’ degree in International Business Economics at Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, the UK in 2012 and plans to continue her work in the field of public health policy upon completing her doctorate.

Along with health inequities and adolescent’s dependency on social media, her work also lies in the field health-seeking behaviors for vulnerable populations and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in India which has one of the biggest caseloads in the world. As a part of her Master’s thesis, Apeksha traveled to the Amazon rainforest of Ecuador in 2016 to support indigenous tribes in enabling a sustainable work-life balance by helping them practice Mindfulness into Action.

Highest Education: PhD Candidate - Columbia University