Public Health Manager · Researcher · Physiotherapist
HiteshPurohit
15+ years bridging clinical physiotherapy with community public health — building technology-driven wellness models, conducting multi-institutional research, and designing health systems across India.
UNICEF
WHO · IIPHG
Harvard · Barakat Bundle
Boston University
Founder — AaKAS & HealthPrizm
15+
Years of Practice
18+
Research Projects
500+
Workers Trained
8K+
Beneficiaries Served
Current Role
Founder Director
Publications
1 Published · 3 in Progress
Partners
UNICEF · WHO · Harvard
“AaKAS is where he leads — not where he began.”
UNICEF WHO Harvard University Boston University IIPHG Gandhinagar PHFI CHETNA Ahmedabad Barakat Bundle USA SEWA Rural Jhagadia Mahila Housing Trust IIT Bombay Heart Foundation Neurology Foundation Mumbai GHRC Mount Abu R.D.Gardi Medical College ARCH Dharampur Jivan Yog Abhiyan
UNICEF WHO Harvard University Boston University IIPHG Gandhinagar PHFI CHETNA Ahmedabad Barakat Bundle USA SEWA Rural Jhagadia Mahila Housing Trust IIT Bombay Heart Foundation Neurology Foundation Mumbai GHRC Mount Abu R.D.Gardi Medical College ARCH Dharampur Jivan Yog Abhiyan
The Full Picture
AaKAS is where
he leads —
not where he began.
For institutional partners, funders, and government agencies evaluating Hitesh Purohit’s credentials: his professional track record extends well beyond the organisation he founded. He delivered measurable results as a Physical Therapist, Senior Physiotherapist, Research Associate, and Research Fellow — across India’s most respected institutions — building expertise that now anchors every AaKAS programme.
“His years at SEWA Rural, IIPHG, and across independent public health consultancy are not a footnote — they are the foundation on which every AaKAS programme is designed and delivered.”
Physiotherapy Practice · Indore, M.P.
Physical Therapist
Apr 2010 – Mar 2012
Identified and improved movement and function through therapy care. Hospital visits at Noble, Charak, and City Nursing Home Indore. Home visits for paralysis and post-operative patients.
Rotary Physiotherapy Centre · Ratlam, M.P.
Senior Physiotherapist
Apr 2012 – Jul 2012
Patient rehabilitation post-accident, injury, and stroke. Coordinated departmental activities, supervised physiotherapy assistants, educated patients. Organised camps at Rotary Physiotherapy Centre and Government Hospital Ratlam.
Public Health Consultant · Ahmedabad
Independent Research & Programme Consultant
Jul 2014 – Aug 2015
Public health research, programme development and management. Liaised with IIPHG, Heart Foundation and Research Institute, Mahila Housing Trust (SEWA), Valsad Medical College, and local government departments.
SEWA Rural · Jhagadia
Research Associate
Oct 2013 – Jun 2014
Conducted field and action research, wrote proposals, collected and analysed data, prepared training modules, mentored field staff, carried out surveillance and verbal autopsy. Deployed ImTecho digital health platform.
Indian Institute of Public Health · Gandhinagar
Research Fellow
Aug 2015 – Sep 2016
Literature review, data synthesis from local and state registries, government liaison, stakeholder strategy documents, documentation, report writing, networking, and academic support at India’s premier public health institute.
Core Capabilities
Six dimensions
of integrated expertise
Hitesh’s profile is genuinely rare — each capability domain reinforces the others. He can diagnose, research, design, implement, train, evaluate, and build the technology platform to scale it — simultaneously. This integrated breadth makes him a force multiplier for any programme or partnership.
Interact with the cube to explore his capability domains. Drag to rotate, hover to pause.
Clinical Care
Physiotherapy · MSDs · Rehabilitation · NCD & lifestyle prevention
Research
RCTs · Surveys · Literature synthesis · Peer-reviewed publications
Technology
ISHA Wellness · HealthPrizm · ImTecho · Digital health models
Data & MIS
SPSS · STATA · Epi-info · Registry coordination · Surveillance
Community Health
MCH · Nutrition · Anaemia · Climate-health · NCD field programmes
Programme Mgmt
Design · Training teams · Funder reporting · Strategic planning
↻ Drag to rotate · Hover to pause
Career Journey
From clinic to community — a 15-year arc
2005 – 2010
Shivang College of Physiotherapy · Ratlam, M.P.
Bachelor of Physical Therapy
Five years of rigorous clinical training in movement science, rehabilitation, and human physiology — the scientific foundation behind every community health model he would later design.
BPTClinical SciencePhysiotherapy
Apr 2010 – Mar 2012
Independent Practice · Indore, M.P.
Physical Therapist
Movement therapy and rehabilitation at Noble, Charak, and City Nursing Home. Home visits for paralysis and post-operative patients — building deep clinical empathy and adaptability at the community level.
RehabilitationHome Care
Apr 2012 – Jul 2012
Rotary Physiotherapy Centre · Ratlam, M.P.
Senior Physiotherapist
Led the physiotherapy department, supervised assistants, managed patient rehabilitation post-accident and stroke, educated patients. Organised camps at Rotary and Government Hospital Ratlam.
Dept. LeadershipCamp Organisation
2012 – 2013
IIPHG · Gandhinagar
PG Diploma in Public Health Management
The pivot year. Earned PGDPHM from India’s premier public health institute — gaining the epidemiological, policy, and management framework that redirected his career toward systems-level health design. Cultural representative for the PGDPHM programme.
PGDPHMPublic HealthIIPHG
Nov 2013 – Present
Aarogyam Knowledge to Action Society
Founder & Director, AaKAS & ISHA Wellness Centre
Founded AaKAS to translate community health evidence into scaled action. Built the ISHA Wellness technology model, community-based therapy programme, and multi-state health initiatives with partners including UNICEF, WHO, Harvard, and Boston University. Co-founded HealthPrizm Pvt. Ltd. in Nov 2022.
FounderISHA WellnessHealthPrizm
Oct 2013 – Jun 2014
SEWA Rural · Jhagadia
Research Associate
Field and action research, proposal writing, data collection and analysis, training module development, supervision, quality assurance, syndromic surveillance, and verbal autopsy. Deployed the ImTecho digital community health platform — formative experience in health technology at scale.
Field ResearchImTechoSEWA Rural
Jul 2014 – Aug 2015
Independent Consultant · Ahmedabad
Public Health Research & Programme Consultant
Public health research, programme development and management across IIPHG, Heart Foundation and Research Institute, Mahila Housing Trust (SEWA), Valsad Medical College, and local government — building the cross-institutional network that anchors AaKAS’s partnerships.
ConsultingMulti-SectorSEWA · IIPHG
Aug 2015 – Sep 2016
IIPHG (parallel engagement)
Research Fellow
Literature synthesis, coordination of data from state registries, government and stakeholder liaison, strategy documents for international funders, report writing, and academic support — running concurrently with early-stage AaKAS work. Published first peer-reviewed paper in 2018 from this body of work.
Research FellowIIPHGClimate-Health
Selected Work
18+ projects.
Multiple mandates.
A cross-section of field implementation, research, and evaluation projects delivered across UNICEF, WHO, Harvard, PHFI, and civil society partners.These span institutions well beyond AaKAS.
AaKAS · HealthPrizm
Technology-Based ISHA Wellness Model
Designed and scaled a technology-driven community wellness model serving 8,000+ beneficiaries across Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Research paper under process.
2018 – Present
Barakat Bundle USA · Harvard University
Maternal & Child Health — Life-Saving Bundles
Village-level implementation of evidence-based maternal and child health bundles across MP and Gujarat. Part of a Harvard-linked impact evaluation programme improving MCH practices and educating mothers.
Dec 2020 – Jan 2022
GHRC · Mount Abu — Sep–Nov 2023
Community Health Programme Assessment & Upgradation
Assessed and upgraded community health programmes at the Global Health and Research Centre, Mount Abu — delivering evidence-based operational recommendations for programme strengthening.
Sep – Nov 2023
UNICEF · PHFI — Bihar, Gujarat & Assam
Process Assessment of PMMVY — 3 States
Multi-state process evaluation of India’s flagship Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana maternity benefit scheme, delivering operational findings and policy-level recommendations to UNICEF and PHFI.
May – Oct 2022
AaKAS · Community Model
Community Therapy for MSDs, NCDs & Lifestyle Disorders
Designed and deployed a community-based therapy model using locally trained facilitators to address musculoskeletal disorders, NCDs, and lifestyle conditions at village level. Research paper under process.
2016 – Present
CHETNA · IIPHG — Ratlam & Ujjain
Improving Anaemia Status in Women
Field implementation of an anaemia reduction programme for women of reproductive age across two high-burden districts in Madhya Pradesh — Ratlam and Ujjain. Research paper under process.
Apr 2021 – Feb 2022
Multi-Institutional RCT
RCT — Improving Antenatal Care Uptake in Rural India
Ongoing randomised controlled trial testing an evidence-based bundle intervention to improve ANC regimen uptake in rural India. Results under preparation for publication.
Oct 2023 – Present
WHO · IIPHG — Gujarat & M.P.
Evaluation of PM-JAY Health Insurance Scheme
Evaluated the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana implementation across Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, providing evidence-based operational and policy recommendations to WHO and IIPHG.
May – Aug 2019
UNICEF Gujarat
School Nutrition IEC Development
Developed Information, Education, and Communication materials for school nutrition programmes in Gujarat in partnership with UNICEF — an ongoing project building nutrition literacy among school-age children.
Dec 2023 – Present
Institutional Network
Trusted by institutions
that set the standards.
UNICEF India
PMMVY · School Nutrition IEC
Harvard University
Barakat Bundle USA · MCH
WHO · IIPHG
PM-JAY Evaluation
Boston University
ARCH Dharampur · Community Health
IIPHG Gandhinagar
Research Fellow · CHETNA · PHFI
SEWA Rural Jhagadia
Research Associate · ImTecho
GHRC Mount Abu
Community Health Upgradation
Neurology Foundation
Mumbai · Clinical Partnerships
Peer-Reviewed Output
Research
publications
Published in peer-reviewed journals with three further papers currently in progress — focusing on anaemia, MSDs, and NCDs from years of field data.
01
Eastern Journal of Medical Sciences · Vol. 3(2), pp. 14–20
A Retrospective Audit of Widal Testing For Enteric Fever in the City Of Ahmedabad
2018
3 Research Papers Currently In Progress
Papers in preparation focusing on: (1) anaemia prevalence and interventions in women, (2) effects of community-based therapy on musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), and (3) lifestyle disorders including non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Detailed information available upon request.
🎓
PGDPHM — IIPHG Gandhinagar
🏥
B.P.T. — Shivang College, Ratlam
✍️
Scientific Writing — IIPHG
🔥
Research for Resurgence — IIT Bombay
🤛
Advance Shoulder Rehab in Sports
🦖
Clinical Manual — Spinal Disorders
🩹
Taping Techniques — Sports & MSK
📝
Grant Writing — IIPHG Workshop
💡
Human Processing Lab — ISABS
🤝
Social Sunday — Social Innovation
Competency Profile
Depth built
through every
phase of practice
From clinical therapy to statistical analysis, from field research to technology integration — each skill was earned through doing. 15 years across institutions, communities, and research settings. Statistical tools: SPSS, STATA, Epi-Info.
Field Portfolio
Where the work
actually happens
Collaborate · Research · Build
Ready to build
India’s next
health system?
With 15+ years spanning physiotherapy, public health research, technology-driven wellness models, and multi-institutional programme management — Hitesh Purohit brings a uniquely integrated capacity to any health partnership or programme.
