Professor VR Muraleedharan, a Development Economist, with primary research interest in the field of Healthcare Economics, has been teaching at the Department of HSS, IIT Madras, since 1988. He obtained his MA (Hons) economics from BITS Pilnai (1981) and doctoral degree from IIT Madras in 1988.
His most recent contribution to the book “Good Health at Low Cost: what makes an effective health system?” (2012) presents an analysis of developments in the healthcare delivery system of Tamil Nadu over the past 30 years. His other recent work, on private public partnerships in health care in India (2012) provides empirical bases in support of the argument “why PPP is inevitable” for improving access to care to the underserved populations of India.
Muraleedharan has also carried out primary and pioneering work in the field of history of health care in South India. Currently he is part of a collaborative research “History of Medical Institutions, Technologies, Diagnosis and Cures in Colonial South India” supported by the Wellcome Trust for the History of Medicine (London UK. This project will be carried out during 2012-2015, and serves on the Editorial Board of “Medical History”, a leading international Journal published by the Cambridge University Press.
He teaches a variety of courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. They include: History of Economics, International Trade and Finance, Principles of Economics, Health Care Economics, Health Policy and Planning in Developing Countries.
He has worked closely with the Government of Tamil Nadu and Govt of India. During 2009-13 , he served as a member of the Mission Steering Group (the highest decision making body) of the National Rural Health Mission, and is a co-vice president of the Health Economics Association of India, founded in 2012.
