RESEARCH REVIEW BOARD
The objective of ARMMAN Ethics Review Board (AERB) is to ensure members of the ARMMAN team are well versed with research ethics discourse and the obligations they have towards communities they engage with through programs, interventions and research. Another objective is to ensure that rights and safety of participating communities and individuals is safeguarded in compliance with the national and international research ethics guidelines and relevant regulatory frameworks.AERB Secretariat aims to ensure an appropriate and sustainable system for reviewing the scientific merit and ethical soundness of all research, as per the guidelines laid out by the Indian Council of Medical Research’s National Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical and Health Research Involving Human Participants (ICMR, 2017). ARMMAN’s registration with the Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (Government of India) has been approved. EC/NEW/INST/2021/2064
Chairperson
Dr. Sunita Bandewar obtained her Doctorate in Anthropology from the University of Pune, Post-doctoral fellowship from McLaughlin, and trained in Bioethics as part of her Master of Health Science (MHSc) degree from the University of Toronto, supported by an International Fellowship from the Fogarty International Centre, National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA. She is affiliated with the Health, Ethics, and Law Institute (HEaL Institute) for Training, Research and Advocacy at Forum for Medical Ethics Society (FMES), Mumbai, as Director and General Secretary (FMES) since 2015. She is part of the core editorial team of the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics (IJME). She is also the founding trustee of Vidhayak Trust, Pune (2015). She is associated with the civil society based national and regional level networks in the arena of health and civil rights.
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Social Scientist
Dr. Vijayaprasad Gopichandran obtained his Doctor of Medicine from Christian Medical College, Vellore and holds a Ph.D. in Public Health Ethics from School of Public Health, SRM University, Chennai. He serves as the editor of the esteemed "Indian Journal of Medical Ethics." With extensive experience on various ethics committees, he is a valuable resource in the field. He worked as an Assistant Professor, Community Medicine in ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Chennai. He made significant contributions to public health initiatives, particularly those focused on women in rural communities. He has a robust publication record, including pivotal works on ethical issues mHealth, monitoring and evaluation frameworks in public health, and the ethics of implementation research, reflecting his deep expertise and commitment to advancing public health ethics. He has also developed and wrote the curriculum, course and MOOC on ethics of implementation research for the WHO/TDR.
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Basic Social Scientist
Dr. Manas Pradhan earned his Master of Arts in Sociology from Ravenshaw University in Cuttack. He subsequently obtained a Master's of Philosophy and a Doctor of Philosophy in Population Studies from the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) in Mumbai. He is a member of the IIPS Student Research Ethics Committee and has been dedicated to teaching, monitoring, and evaluation as a researcher at IIPS since 2005. Additionally, he serves as Associate Editor for Reproductive Health (BMC, Springer Nature Journal). Dr. Pradhan has a substantial publication record in public health, contributing to various topics, including reproductive health, child nutrition, and maternal healthcare. His research has been featured in respected journals, reflecting his commitment to advancing knowledge and addressing critical health issues.
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Clinician & Co-Chairperson
Dr. Monty obtained his Bachelor of Medicine & Surgery from Maharashtra University Health Sciences and a Diplomate of National Board (DNB) Surgery through the National Board of Examination (Master of Surgery). Since 2010, he has been affiliated with Seth G.S. Medical College and KEM Hospital as Assistant Professor, General Surgery. He is a member of their Institutional Ethics Board for Clinical trial in Bioavailability and Bioequivalence studies & Biomedical and Health Research.
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Member Secretary
Tejal Barai Jetly currently is General Manager-Monitoring and Research Ethics at ARMMAN. She is responsible for operationalizing and institutionalizing ARMMAN's Ethics Review Board and Scientific Review Board; along with documentation, research, Monitoring & Evaluation processes and outcomes with an aim to enhance ARMMAN's advocacy endeavours. She has done Microbiology and mastered in Political Science from University of Mumbai. She is skilled at public health analysis, strategizing, problem solving, review and monitoring. She had pivotal role in the formulation of “Ethical Guidelines in Social Science Research in Health” (NCESSRH –CEHAT, 2000), the first of its kind in India. Her other areas of interest include gender-based violence, universal health care and maternal health. She is the co-editor of two books; “Seen, but not heard: India’s marginalized, neglected and vulnerable children” (Kanika Satyanand and Tejal Barai Jaitly, VHAI, 2003) and “Ethics in Health Research: A Social Science Perspective” (Amar Jesani and Tejal Barai-Jaitly, CSER, 2005).
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Legal Expert
Ujwala Kadrekar is a Lawyer and has acquired a Masters in Social Work. Since 2007, she has engaged with many prestigious organisations in various capacities. She comes with a unique blend of expertise in law, research, M&E, and training. She has worked extensively on legal matters pertaining to domestic violence, sexual abuse, and legal provisions advocacy. She has served as a Gender Consultant with Maharashtra State Commission for Women, Senior Legal Consultant and Director (training) for the Lawyers Collective Women's Rights Initiative, Consultant to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), UN Women and Oxfam and as visiting faculty at College of Social Work Nirmala-Niketan and worked with Seeds of Awareness, Research Centre for Women Studies and TISS.
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Community Expert
Amita Jadhav has a Master's degree in Social Work from SNDT University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Mumbai. She is a part-time fieldwork supervisor at the Department of Social Work at TISS, Mumbai. She is also associated with Manas Foundation, where she works with the tribal community in Karjat Tehsil of Raigad District, making tribal women aware of their rights and increasing their participation at various levels along with initiating actions for individual and collective change.
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Alternate Member Secretary
Prachi Avlaskar is currently working as a Research Associate with ARMMAN. She has completed her Master of Science (M.Sc) in Health Sciences from Savitribai Phule Pune University. She has experience working with different non-profit organizations such as Center for Enquiry into Health and Allied Themes (CEHAT), Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), MUSKAAN, Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital and Research Center (Pune). She has experience working on issues like Violence against Women, Child Sexual Abuse, Tuberculosis and more. Her expertise lies in liasoning with different stakeholders, training, coordination of activities for program implementation and research.
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Member
Ashish Srivastava has completed his B.Tech. from IIT (BHU) and Masters from IIIT (Bengaluru). He also holds a post-graduate certification in Economics from the University of London. Mr. Srivastava is a leader and strategist with extensive experience in using technology for social impact, particularly in health, child welfare, urban governance, and defence in partnership with government agencies. With over thirty years in the IT industry, he has managed international businesses and led innovative technology projects. Ashish serves on the board of Digital Health Associates. He has recently served as head of an AI company as well as a Senior Advisor to IISc AI and Robotics Park for Telecom and AI projects. He has also led the AI & Digital lab at CSTEP, a think tank focused on technology and policy, creating population scale healthcare solutions using AI and Digital.
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Member
Virupax N. Rannbennur has a Postgraduate degree in Statistics from Karnataka University and Masters in Population Sciences from International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai. He works as a Senior Technical Advisor SI at FHI 360/Epic Global that implements programmes across 30 countries. He has more than 30 years of experience in public health, including programme planning, developing strategic information systems, research studies and evaluation of community-based programmes. He has developed an online system that could collect data for the real time use by the program implementers. He has worked with major international entities in public health such as International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Ford Foundation, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and with other international, national and local donors.
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Member
Dr. Smrati Tiwari is a practicing doctor trained in General Medicine from the University of Mumbai. She is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Seth G S Medical College, Mumbai. She served as the IEC Member for almost seven years at Seth G S Medical College until 2022. She served as member of Severe adverse events subcommittee of ethics committee till 2022, PIMMC and curriculum committee at Seth GSMC currently. She is also nodal officer for Integrated Disease Surveillance Program appointed by the institute. She has conducted several clinical trials and has several publications to her accolades of achievements. She has a keen passion and interest in infectious diseases and pursuit of research in this domain.
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Documents & Forms ˅
Documents & Forms

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