Infosys Founder NR Narayana Murthy elected Chairperson of Public Health Foundation of India

Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy was unanimously elected chairperson of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) on 11 July 2011. PHFI seeks to open many public health schools all over the country and impart training in various aspects of public health. 

Murthy will replace former McKinsey chief Rajat Gupta, who is fighting a legal battle in the US to clear his name from insider trading charges.  Former managing director of McKinsey & Co, Rajat Gupta stepped down as chairperson after the US Securities and Exchange Commission named him a co-conspirator in an insider trading scam along with billionaire Raj Rajaratnam of the Galleon Group of USA. After Gupta resigned, Y V Reddy took over as the interim chair.

Murthy will lead a governing council comprising Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Amartya Sen, Shiv Nadar, T K Nair, Y V Reddy, AK Shiva Kumar and Mirai Chatterjee among its members. 

PHFI council also renewed the appointment of K Srinath Reddy as the PFHI president for the next five years.

PHFI is meant to redress the limited institutional capacity in India for the purpose of strengthening, training, research and policy development in the area of public health. PHFI’s charter includes stablishing five-seven new institutes of public health over the next six years, establishing a strong national research network of public health and allied institutions that would undertake policy and programme relevant research that will advance public health goals in prioritized areas.