Dr. Mehrotra is currently an Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology at the Rollins Institute of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta and serves as the Chief Medical Officer with Open Health Systems Laboratory. He led the India Cancer Research Consortium (Indian Council of Medical Research-Department of Health Research). He is a member of the Scientific Council of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization at Lyon, France. Earlier he was the Lead at the ICMR-National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research as well as the WHO-FCTC Global Knowledge Hub on Smokeless Tobacco Products.
In addition to his academic career in various medical schools, Dr. Mehrotra has been a leading proponent of affordable cancer care. He led successful programs in a broad range of public health efforts. He has guided India’s Ministry of Health & Family Welfare in conceiving and implementing the Framework for Cancer Control. He was instrumental in three Indian states taking up HPV vaccination immunization against cervical cancer, the most recent one being Sikkim.
Over and above his expertise in cancer prevention, epidemiology, pathology, and public health, Prof Mehrotra has a wealth of experience leading large multi-disciplinary teams, overseeing operations, shaping and implementing national-scale strategic plans, fostering key institutional partnerships and using evidence to influence policy. Has extensive experience collaborating with leaders in government, academia, private and not-for-profit sectors and has facilitated collaborative projects with well-known international institutions such as the US National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute of Health Research, UK, The Union, and the World Health Organization- Framework Convention for Tobacco Control. He is an impactful researcher with more than 350 peer-reviewed publications, including The Lancet, Cancer, BMJ and Nature, numerous books/chapters, and technical reports, he sits on the editorial board of 8 medical journals and was the Principal Investigator of over 10 national and international research grants with major funding.
His research interests are focused on various aspects of public health, especially non-communicable diseases, including the early diagnosis and screening of cancer, diabetes, and hypertension, medical education, tobacco control, especially the smokeless variety and mentoring of younger scientists as well as health worker training. He is the winner of many prestigious awards, including the prestigious Dr. P.N.Wahi and Dr. Lachman award in Cancer prevention as well as the Ernest Fernandes Award of the Indian Academy of Cytologists, in addition to being its past President.
He is a committed educator who has successfully mentored more than two-dozen graduate and post-graduate trainees in pathology, epidemiology, molecular cancer research, and global health. Dr. Mehrotra holds degrees in Medicine from the Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, MD, and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Allahabad as well as the Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathology from the United Kingdom.