Purvi Patel

Associate Fellow, Adaptation and Resilience

purvi@sustainablefutures.org

Dr Purvi Patel is an Associate Fellow in the Adaptation and Resilience vertical at the Sustainable Futures Collaborative, where her work focuses on the intersection of climate change, public health, and policy. She is a public health professional with over a decade of experience in climate and environmental health, disease surveillance, and health systems strengthening. Previously, she served as a Senior Consultant to the National Programme on Climate Change and Human Health (NPCCHH) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, where she worked on health-sector responses to extreme heat and climate-resilient health facilities. Dr Patel completed her Masters in Public Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, after her medical training at Gujarat University. She is an alumna of the India-Epidemic Intelligence Service, an advanced field epidemiology training programme from the National Centre of Disease Control, MoHFW. Her work has contributed to the expansion of national heat-health surveillance, development of State climate–health action plans, national guidelines and technical tools, and strengthening of multisectoral coordination. She has represented India in national and international climate–health forums and contributed to policy-relevant research and publications. Her professional interests include environmental health, climate adaptation and health, resilient health systems, awareness and capacity building, monitoring-evaluation, and the design of evidence-informed public health responses.

Publications

Reports

Adaptation and Resilience

Living with Heat in India: Heat-Health Risks, Vulnerability and Emerging Responses

Dr Purvi Patel, Tamanna Dalal, Abhiyant Tiwari, and Anshima Mishra

GHHIN | 8 October 2026

This report examines India’s evolving heat risk and its implications for population health, with a focus on changing heat exposure, the populations and places most at risk, and the institutional and policy responses emerging across the country.

Opinions

Adaptation and Resilience

Environmental Governance and Policy

India’s heat response is missing public health logic

Purvi Patel

Mongabay India | 27 July 2026

Heat exposure may be shaped by climate, labour, urban planning, and energy systems, but its consequences ultimately manifest in human health. Unless public health outcomes become the organising principle of heat governance, rising temperatures will continue to expose the limits of our response.

Opinions

Adaptation and Resilience

What is the Health Agenda for Climate Adaptation?

Bhargav Krishna, Nitya Mohan Khemka, and Purvi Patel

The India Forum | 10 June 2026

The climate crisis is also a heath crisis, yet India’s strategy has been more to manage the immediate impact rather than shielding its most vulnerable populations from climate destabilisation.

Opinions

Environmental Governance and Policy

The disconnect: Why air pollution isn’t a public health priority

Purvi Patel

The Indian Express | 24 November 2025

India’s health data remains scarce and underutilised. A significant barrier is the uneven adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHR).

Opinions

Adaptation and Resilience

As India’s summer begins, understanding the heat and health conundrum

Purvi Patel

The Hindu | 1 April 2024

Heatwaves are deadly natural hazards: they have multiple direct impacts and their indirect effects include disrupted power and water supply, more food- and water-borne diseases, and overburdened hospitals.

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