Dr. Puja Chebrolu awarded the Lila A. and Benedict Wallis Prize for Women’s Health Research

CGH Faculty, Dr. Puja Chebrolu, was recently awarded the Lila A. and Benedict Wallis Prize for Women’s Health Research.

The award, founded in 2000 to recognize outstanding research in women’s health, commemorates the work of Dr. Lila A. Wallis. Dr. Lila A. Wallis was a physician-scientist and a pioneer widely regarded as the ‘godmother of women’s health’. She was instrumental in training doctors to conduct breast and gynecological physical exams as part of primary care. She also founded the WCM Women in Medicine & Science initiative to encourage the participation of women in medicine and science and was the founding president of the National Council on Women’s Health, an organization focused on empowering women to make informed decisions about their health.

Dr. Chebrolu is an Assistant Professor of General Internal Medicine and a faculty member of the Center for Global Health. Her research focuses on diabetes and gestational diabetes in South Asians, who do not fit the classic paradigm of type 2 diabetes but have the highest burden of type 2 diabetes in the world. As a finalist for the Wallis Prize, Dr. Chebrolu presented her work titled “Successful Implementation of Home-based Gestational Diabetes Screening Among Low-income Women in India.” This project aimed to improve pregnancy care for low-income women by bringing gold-standard gestational diabetes screening to their homes through community health workers. The community health worker intervention resulted in >90% of women receiving gold-standard gestational diabetes screening, compared to <10% noted previously. Pregnancy is a window into the future health of the mother. Dr. Chebrolu, along with her mentors Dr. Jyoti Mathad and Dr. Radhika Sundararajan, now plans to take this intervention to improve women’s health in the postpartum period and beyond.

Article by Megan Willkens