The Mehta Research Group primarily works in India, Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. Our focus is on vulnerable populations including mothers and children, and those suffering from infectious diseases such as HIV infection, Tuberculosis, Dengue virus infection, Zika virus infection, COVID-19 and Malaria.
Given that the majority of the world is either over- or under-nourished, and diet and nutrition represent the largest proportion of risk factors for global mortality and morbidity, our research focuses on nutritional interventions to modify the risk of adverse health outcomes. Further, we examine the mechanistic linkages between nutrition and health through a range of projects including infectious disease surveillance, biofortification, and field-friendly diagnostics. Our current research focus includes:
Active surveillance to identify risk factors that predict poor health in our communities as early as possible
Inventing field-friendly devices such as the Cornell NutriPhone and FeverPhone to enable community-level, point-of-care diagnoses
Creating sustainable agriculture-based interventions to modify risk factors