Professor Malabika Sarker’s path to public health began in a rural village in Bangladesh, where, early in her career as a physician, she provided maternal care to women with limited access to health services.  That experience shaped her lifelong commitment to equity and community-centered health systems.  

Today, Professor Sarker is an internationally recognized expert in implementation science and mixed methods research, working to close the gap between evidence-based practice and what actually happens in real-world health systems.  As a Professor of the Practice of Behavioral and Social Sciences at SPH, her work focuses on understanding and overcoming the social, cultural, and systemic barriers that prevent proven interventions from reaching those who need them most.  

Trained as a physician in Bangladesh, Professor Sarker holds an MPH from Harvard University and a Doctorate in Public Health from the University of Heidelberg, Germany. She has taught and conducted research across four continents, with extensive experience in Sub-Saharan Africa and Bangladesh. Over her 30 year career, she has led more than $10 million in research and capacity building grants and published  158 peer-reviewed articles and seven book chapters

A global leader in public health, Professor Sarker serves on numerous international advisory boards, including The Lancet Global Health, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Consortium of Universities in Global Health (CUGH)and the WHO HRP Alliance Board, which she chaired for five years.  She is also a founding member of the Asian Society for Implementation Science. Her contributions have been recognized with multiple honors, including the Heroines of Health Global Award.

At Brown SPH, she teaches Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Death and Disability in the Global South , Putting Research into Practice with Implementation Science, and two online MPH courses (Interventions at the Local, National and Global Scale and Evaluation of Public Health Programs) inspiring students to engage communities, influence policy, and turn research into action.

We are pleased to welcome Dr. Sarker to the Center for Health Promotion and Health Equity.  Her career strongly reflects CHPHE’s mission to bring together behavioral and epidemiological science with community engagement to advance health equity.  With decades of experience working alongside communities, from rural villages in Bangladesh to global and U.S. health systems, Dr. Sarker exemplifies the Center’s commitment to co-create solutions with those affected.  As a leader in implementation science, she brings expertise in translating evidence into real-world practice, ensuring that research leads to meaningful behavioral change, policy impact and systems level improvement.