To an undergraduate student, the idea of publishing research with a faculty member may seem far-fetched—after all, isn’t that something that only PhD students might do? But for Kavya Shah (SFS’24), publishing alongside a faculty mentor became a reality when a piece authored by her and SFS Professor Rebecca Katz was published last fall. “Pharma’s Influence on India’s Global Health Engagement” was published in Think Global Health with Shah as the lead author. In it, Shah draws from research conducted for her honor’s thesis.
Asked about her work with Shah, Katz had these words of praise: “Kavya is inquisitive, thoughtful and committed. Honors theses take a lot of time, and not too many students commit to doing them. Even fewer are then willing and interested in continuing their work after graduation to get the thesis turned into an article for publication.”
For students who wonder how they might conduct this type of research, Katz outlined Shah’s path. She clarified the faculty member’s role as well.
“Kavya came up with the topic herself, but then the role of the faculty is to work with the students to refine the research question and iterate with them over time,” Katz said.
Is it unusual for an undergraduate to publish a piece like this? According to Katz, it’s not unprecedented: “It is unusual for me to publish with undergraduates, but it does happen! I’ve had many student researchers work with me on my own publications, but occasionally, I work with a student to publish the work they lead on.”
For the specifics of the research, we spoke with Kavya, now an associate with Freedman Consulting, LLC, who answered a few questions about the article, her research, and how her SFS degree and Science, Technology, and International Affairs (STIA) major led her to this research.
You describe the Hindu philosophy Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam as being both the historical basis for India’s foreign policy and also somewhat in tension with its interests in protecting its powerful, growing pharmaceutical industry and its status as “the world’s pharmacy.” Briefly, what is Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, and how does it apply to India’s role in global health?
Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (trans. “The World is One Family”) is an ancient Hindu philosophy that, over the course of the nation’s modern history, has become a guiding principle for Indian foreign policy. The idea implies both India’s subtle critique of great power politics along with a more explicit call for equitable representation of the Global South’s interests in international systems. As host of the 2023 G20 Summit, India selected the phrase as the summit theme, demonstrating the extent to which this idea continues to animate India’s approach to global governance.
India gained a lot of its power in global health through this commitment to advocating for the developing world, particularly in its efforts to facilitate the production of generic medicines. These formulations are far cheaper than the “branded” medicines produced by multinational pharma companies, and as a result, Indian generics have become a mainstay in global health efforts around the world. That’s where the idea of India as “the world’s pharmacy” originates.
But the Indian pharmaceutical sector has grown rapidly, and some of its interests are increasingly aligning with multinational pharmaceutical companies and stronger intellectual property protections. The government realizes this and has become more hesitant to antagonize its industry (and the West) by pushing for the conditions that would foster generic medicine production—even if those conditions benefit the developing world. As such, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam has become harder to defend as India struggles to balance its obligations to its industry, to the developing world, and to maintaining a meaningful seat at the international table. It is complicated, though, because in preserving these strategic relationships, India retains power in global health in a way that allows it to continue advocating for the Global South.
Why are generic medicines so important to global health?
Drug development is expensive and risky, so many pharma companies rely on patent laws that guarantee them exclusive rights over their final products to make an upfront investment in research and development. Those patent protections allow pharmaceutical companies to effectively set their prices for the medicines they produce, but the prices are often barriers for patients in the developing world as the companies attempt to recuperate their investments.
Generic medicines are functionally identical to “branded” (i.e. patent protected) formulations, but they are often cheaper to produce. This is usually because their active ingredients have been “reverse engineered” from existing medicines (reducing research costs) and/or because once patent protection has expired, there is greater market competition amongst producers. As such, generic medicines (many produced in India) have enabled the treatment of common, yet curable diseases across the developing world — including many bacterial infections and HIV/AIDS — where branded formulations would have been cost-prohibitive.
Though particularly important to public health efforts in the developing world, generic medicines also help enable access to medicines in more established pharmaceutical markets such as the US and the EU as well.
How did your studies in the STIA program lead you to this line of inquiry?
The STIA program exposed me to a range of issues at the intersection of science and technology policy, and gave me a broad foundation to understand and explore for myself where and how those issues intersect. I started this research asking questions about India and its approach to global health negotiations and realized through my interviews how much of the story had to do with Indian pharma and its growth as a sector. My coursework and research within STIA and the SFS more broadly prepared me to (a) recognize the alternative narrative emerging within my conversations and (b) contextualize it with what I had learned about global governance, public health, history, geopolitics, trade policy and innovation ecosystems.
That I had the opportunity to learn about these topics from professors involved in various aspects of the policymaking process also meant that I was continually challenged to address how my work was relevant to the world.
What is your advice for a student considering Georgetown and SFS for undergraduate studies? How should they approach their GU education?
The SFS provides so many incredible opportunities for learning—through your peers, professors, classroom interactions, research opportunities, travel and more. Along the way, don’t be afraid to ask questions and reach out to the people who inspire you. And as you seek out the opportunities that seem most exciting to you, also be open to learning in all the (unexpected) forms it may take!
