Dr Leela Visaria

Dr Leela Visaria is Honorary Professor and former Director, Gujarat Institute of Development Research, Ahmedabad. A Princeton University-trained demographer, her research interests include historical demography as well as field-based studies on health, family planning, education, and demographic transition. She has authored several peer-reviewed articles and has co-authored and/or edited six books including Twenty-first Century India: Population, Economy, Human Development and the Environment (2004) and Abortion in India: Ground Realities (2007). Between 1994 and 2008, she served as a coordinator of HealthWatch, a network of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and researchers that engaged in dialogue with policymakers, donors, researchers and activists on gender sensitive population and health policy issues. In March 2008, she was awarded a two-year national professorship by the Indian Council for Social Science Research, a parent body of all social science research institutes in India. She was the first President-elect of the Asian Population Association (2009–10).