Dr Bharati Kulkarni is a physician-scientist, with specialization in paediatrics (University of Pune, India) and public health (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA). She has earned doctoral degree in 2014 from Queensland University of Technology, Australia.

Dr Bharati Kulkarni has extensive experience of nutrition research as a scientist at ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad for more than 20 years. For the past three years (2021-2024), she has held the position of the Head, Division of Reproductive and Child Health and Nutrition at ICMR, New Delhi.

She has conceptualized and led several large multi-centric research projects on important public health nutrition problems, especially in the domain of maternal and child nutrition, including anemia, childhood undernutrition, developmental origins of health and disease, body composition, community based interventions to promote diet diversity, agriculture – nutrition linkages. The evidence generated by these studies has contributed to strengthening health and nutrition policies and programs. She has also contributed to the conceptualization and initiation of ICMR’s multi-site National Health Research Priority projects for improving complementary feeding for young children, upgrading norms for the growth and development standards for Indian children, reducing anemia and stillbirth.

She has received several research grants from national and international funding agencies. She has authored more than 130 publications in high impact peer-reviewed journals, several book chapters and policy documents. She is a recipient of oration awards in the honour of Dr Rajammal Devadas and Dr PG Tulpule and a fellow of National Academy of Medical Sciences, India.