Dr. Sara Varughese

Dr. Sara Varughese graduated from CMC Vellore, India and is a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. She has done her Masters in public eye health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). She started her career as an ophthalmologist with a focus on public and community health. She has experience of health systems in developed countries (UK), middle income (South Africa) and developing countries (India, Nepal, Bangladesh). She has served the World Health Organisation (WHO), South East Asia Regional Office as programme Manager in disability & rehabilitation for the 11 countries of SouthEast Asia. She also served as Medical Advisor for CBM South Asia Regional Office-North dealing with cross disability programs. She was the president of national vision2020 -the right to sight India, a forum of 150 national and international organisations working closely with the government of India on prevention of blindness & visual impairments programmes & policy.

Dr. Sara Varughese was selected by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, as a member of the technical team to co-design a course on CBID with the University of Melbourne in April 2019. Dr. Varughese was conferred with the award for her contributions towards inclusive development and principally on the issues of people with disabilities.