Prof. Umakant Dash
Prof. Umakant Dash is a distinguished academician and visionary administrator, currently serving as the Vice Chancellor of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics. Prior to joining GIPE, he was Director and RBI Chair Professor at the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA)—India’s premier institution committed to professionalizing organizations serving rural communities. Prior to joining IRMA, he was Professor and Head of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Madras, and served as an Adjunct Professor at IIM Tiruchirappalli. With over three decades of experience in management education, research, and institution building, Prof. Dash has held academic and leadership roles at reputed institutions such as IIT Madras, BITS Pilani, Utara University of Malaysia, and Tulane University, USA. He holds a Ph.D. in Applied Economics from IIT Kanpur and a Diploma in Health Systems Management from Tulane University, and is internationally recognized for his scholarship in health economics, public policy, and development studies.
His research—supported by global organizations including DFID, the Rockefeller Foundation, WHO, and Access Health International—addresses critical issues of equity, efficiency, and risk protection in health systems. He has led numerous collaborative projects with academic and policy institutions across South Africa, Thailand, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya, and the UK. His academic output includes over 90 publications in peer-reviewed international journals such as The Lancet, BMC Public Health, International Journal for Equity in Health, and Journal of Health Management. He has also supervised 17 doctoral scholars in management and public policy, many of whom now hold prominent academic and research positions in India and abroad.
Prof. Dash has designed and delivered a wide range of executive training programs for senior and mid-level professionals in government, academia, and the development sector. A regular speaker at international and national forums, he has also contributed extensively to public policy as a member of expert committees for the Ministries of Cooperation, Panchayati Raj, and Health and Family Welfare, Government of India; the SPC Working Group, Government of Tamil Nadu; and the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI).
He currently serves on the governing and academic boards of several institutions, including IIT Indore, NIRD&PR Hyderabad, LBSIM New Delhi, NIBM Pune, and NIRT Chennai.
In recognition of his outstanding contributions to academia, rural development, and public service, Prof. Dash has been conferred the AIMA–Kewal Nohria Award for Academic Leadership in Management Education (2024), recognized among India’s Greatest Leaders 2024–25 by AsiaOne Magazine, and awarded the LVS Public Policy 2025 – Lifetime Achievement Award by the Confederation of NGOs for Rural India (CNRI) and the World Cooperation Economic Forum (WCopEF) for his visionary leadership and impactful contributions to rural management and policy-making.