Professor Debarati Guha-Sapir: 1. What the Professor Really Wanted to Pursue

1. What the Professor Really Wanted to Pursue

Her childhood in India

Debarati Guha-Sapir, born on November 11, 1953, grew up in Rourkela, a town in eastern India that once flourished through its steel industry. She lived with her parents and sister, who was four years her senior. Her home was surrounded by rich nature and had a large garden. The family had a peacock and many other animals. She was a strong swimmer and was very happy when she was doing sports, playing with animals, and being in nature.

She has lasting memories of the fierce heat of her teenage years. Her father, a civil engineer, was always worried about construction workers laboring under the blazing sun. It was her first encounter with the unforgiving power of nature.

Family photo (Debarati Guha-Sapir is second from the left.)

Encounter with public health

After completing her secondary education (11-17 years old), Debby entered the University of Calcutta to pursue a degree in literature. This decision was largely influenced by her paternal uncle, the eldest member of her extended family.

Age 17

At that time, it was widely believed that a girl from a good family should be trained in proper etiquette and acquire a broad liberal arts education, to secure a good husband. Literature was considered to be the best field of study for such ladies.

In Rourkela, with her family and relatives
(Second from right, middle row)

Although her family had made the choice for her, Debby studied hard and enjoyed college life. She enjoyed studying literature, but was not sure whether it was something that she wanted to pursue for the rest of her life. When the time came to choose her career path after graduation, she sought her father’s advice. Knowing that she was a capable and determined young woman, he advised her to apply for some scholarships at leading universities in the UK and the United States. Following his advice, she received a scholarship from the Rotary Club of India. The competition was fierce, but Debby won and entered Johns Hopkins University in the USA. As her cousin was studying there at that time, her family approved her choice.

Debby first majored in comparative literature. However, a conversation about her volunteer work during a devastating flood in India led to an introduction to a professor in the School of Public Health. This encounter marked a turning point in her life’s trajectory. Through conversations with the professor, her career aspirations crystallized. She realized her desire to make a positive impact on her home country, India, and other poor countries. Studying hard, she enrolled in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her main focus of study there was on infectious diseases and how they spread. She dedicated most of her time to studying and getting trained in diseases such as dengue fever, hemorrhagic fever, researching chronic manifestations of epidemics and malnutrition.

At that time, Debby was deeply influenced by Professor Carl E. Taylor, an expert in international health. Through his lectures, she learned about the division of the public health system between people living in urban areas and those in rural areas and other areas. She learned that in poorer countries, for example, the number of doctors is concentrated in urban areas, leaving rural communities with a shortage of medical professionals.

However, the majority of health issues arise in these underserved rural regions. The disparity between urban and rural areas is not limited to poor countries; it is also a problem in affluent nations. This realization prompted Debby to delve deeper into this field of study.

Coming from India, Debby experienced her share of culture shock. Before arriving in the United States, she had never seen people with hair and eye color different from her own. She found it rather strange.

University Days

While everyone was encouraged to show their abilities, it came at the cost of constant competition. Debby learned this firsthand in her college days in the US. She immersed herself in studies from morning to night, developing a strong competitive spirit.

University Days

2. The Significance of Accurate Data