Roopa Dhatt

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| education = *University of California

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| known_for = *President International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (2012-2013)

Co-founder Women in Global Health (2015)
Women Leaders in Global Health Conference

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| work_institutions = Georgetown University Medical Center

| specialism = Internal medicine

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Roopa Dhatt is an Indian American physician, an Assistant Professor and Internal Medicine Hospitalist at Georgetown University Medical Center, and at a community hospital, Washington, DC. In 2015 she co-founded Women in Global Health, which aims to reduce gender disparity among global health leaders, and subsequently became the organisation's Executive Director.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, she highlighted the gender aspects of COVID-19, including that a disproportionate number of frontline workers are women, yet not part of leadership roles. She was part of a team that evaluated the language used by men and women leaders during the pandemic.

Early life and education

File:Flats - 1 (13966708395).jpg, home of the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine]]

Roopa Dhatt was born in the 1980s in India, and emigrated to the United States at the age of five.{{cite web |last1=Andrews |first1=Lara |title=Dr Roopa Dhatt, Women in Global Health - Contain This: The Latest in Global Health Security |url=https://www.buzzsprout.com/620797/5530636-dr-roopa-dhatt-women-in-global-health |access-date=18 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119194203if_/https://www.buzzsprout.com/620797/5530636-dr-roopa-dhatt-women-in-global-health |archive-date=19 January 2021 |date=21 September 2020}}{{cite journal|last1=Prasad|first1=Aarathi|date=7 November 2020|title=Roopa Dhatt: advancing gender equality in global health leadership|url=https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)32285-6/fulltext|journal=The Lancet|language=English|volume=396|issue=10261|pages=1480|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32285-6|issn=0140-6736|pmid=33160558|s2cid=226257536|url-access=subscription}} She later recalled her exposure to health inequities during a visit to India in the early 1990s when she was nine years old, leading her to pursue a career in medicine.

She earned a bachelor's degree in cell biology and African-American and African studies from the University of California, Davis, and a master's degree in public affairs from the Paris Institute of Political Studies.{{cite news |title=A Conversation with Women Leaders in Global Health |url=https://unfoundation.org/blog/post/a-conversation-with-women-leaders-in-global-health/ |work=unfoundation.org |date=17 November 2016}} She received her M.D. from Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia. In 2012, as a medical student, she became president of the International Federation of Medical Students' Associations.

Career

Prior to becoming a physician in Internal medicine at Georgetown University Medical Centerin Washington, DC, Dhatt trained in internal medicine and international health at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland.{{cite web |title=IFMSA President's Opening Speech on IFMSA Reform |url=https://ifmsa.org/2013/08/16/am13-opening/ |website=IFMSA |access-date=18 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210318132951/https://ifmsa.org/2013/08/16/am13-opening/ |archive-date=18 March 2021 |date=16 August 2013}}

=Women in Global Health=

In 2015 she co-founded an organisation which aims to reduce gender disparity among global health leaders, the Women in Global Health,{{cite web|title=Dr. Roopa Dhatt|url=https://www.womeningh.org/board/Dr.-Roopa-Dhatt|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204232807/https://www.womeningh.org/board/Dr.-Roopa-Dhatt|archive-date=4 February 2021|access-date=11 March 2021|website=womeningh|language=en}}{{cite web|title=Roopa Dhatt {{!}} Think Global Health|url=https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/author/roopa-dhatt|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028200904/https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/author/roopa-dhatt|archive-date=28 October 2020|access-date=11 March 2021|website=Council on Foreign Relations|language=en}} of which she is the Executive Director.{{cite web |title=Roopa Dhatt |url=http://www.unanca.org/component/content/article/1237 |website=www.unanca.org |access-date=18 March 2021}} She is one of the Women Leaders in the Global Health Conferences.{{cite web|title=Speaker Roopa Dhatt - Women Leaders in Global Health Conference|url=https://wlghconference.org/speaker-roopa-dhatt|access-date=11 March 2021|website=Women Leaders in Global Health}}

Dhatt was terminated from the organisation in May 2024 following an investigation which revealed a toxic and retaliatory work environment and unearthed accusations of racial discrimination, as well as resistance to change on the part of Dhatt. The toxic environment under Dhatt's leadership was described by terms such as "white supremacy", "power hoarding" and "a sink-or-swim mentality." In one case, a mother of a newborn was denied a request to work part time for a month, even after she was overwhelmed in her duties and had to face the effects of a disaster in her own country.{{Cite web |last1=Jerving |first1=Sara |last2=July 2024 |first2=Rumbi Chakamba // 30 |date=2024-07-30 |title=Exclusive: Probe finds Women in Global Health had 'toxic' environment |url=https://www.devex.com/news/sponsored/exclusive-probe-finds-women-in-global-health-had-toxic-environment-107784 |access-date=2024-08-08 |website=Devex |language=en}}

=COVID-19 pandemic=

In September 2020, representing Women in Global Health at a Women in Global Health Security Summit, Dhatt highlighted that a disproportionate number of frontline workers are women, many providing informal unpaid care.{{cite news |last1=Griffiths |first1=Adam |title=Women in Global Health Security High-Level Digital Summit Synthesis Report |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/sponsored/women-in-global-health-security-high-level-digital-summit-synthesis-report/ |access-date=17 March 2021 |work=Foreign Policy}}

In the same year, she was part of a team that evaluated the language used by men and women leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings were published in BMJ Global Health in a paper titled "Political and gender analysis of speeches made by heads of government during the COVID-19 pandemic."{{cite news |last1=Sandoiu |first1=Ana |title=COVID-19: How discourse differs between male and female politicians |url=https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/covid-19-how-discourse-differs-between-male-and-female-politicians |access-date=12 March 2021 |work=www.medicalnewstoday.com |date=23 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210312033822/https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/covid-19-how-discourse-differs-between-male-and-female-politicians |archive-date=12 March 2021 |language=en}}