About

Bio

Dr. Amitha Kalaichandran, M.D., M.H.S., C.P.H., is an epidemiologist, physician, writer, and health-tech consultant (currently working with Twitter). Currently, the Director of Education at Hearty, Amitha is a proud alumna of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (Master of Health Science/M.H.S. in Global Disease Epidemiology and Control; Certificate in Vaccine Science & Policy), the University of Toronto (M.D.), the University of Arizona (Fellowship in Integrative Medicine), and the Munk School of Global Affairs (Journalism Fellowship).  Amitha also holds a Masters Certificate in Healthcare Management (Schulich School of Business). She has additional certifications in public health (C.P.H.) from the National Board of Public Health Examiners, humanitarian assistance (through the Harvard Humanitarian Institute), lifestyle/wellness/health coaching (York University), psychotherapy (MD-Psychotherapy Association of Canada), and entrepreneurship (through The Founder Institute).

As a speaker, Amitha has been invited to present for wide-ranging audiences, from Stanford University's MedX in Palo Alto, California to South by SouthWest in Austin, Texas. She has been invited to lecture for groups such as the National Partnership for Hospice Innovation and the City of New York Newmark Graduate School of Journalism. Her research interests are primarily focused on the use of complementary health approaches in children (and the perceptions of efficacy and risk), pediatric food intolerance and allergy, and the role of hospital organizational culture as a determinant of well-being and productivity among trainee and early-career physicians.  As a contributor to the New York Times since 2017, Amitha covers a diverse range of topics, from health and wellness to medical education.  In addition to the New York Times (Well, Styles, and Opinion), her award-winning writing has been featured in the Washington Post, New York Magazine, Los Angeles Times, Wired, The Boston Globe/STATNews, The Atlantic, The Atavist (which was optioned for film), Fast Company, ABC News, ThriveGlobal, The Walrus (Canada), CBC (Canada), Toronto Star (Canada), Globe and Mail (Canada), BMJ Opinion (U.K.), New Scientist (U.K.) among other places (full portfolio link here).  Amitha is a volunteer mentor-editor for the OpEd Project, an initiative that helps ensure under-represented expert voices have access to media platforms.

Amitha is a 200-hr registered yoga teacher (adults and children), and mindfulness facilitator. Amitha enjoys adventure, mentorship, recipe experimentation, practicing yoga and mindfulness, voraciously reading, and advocating for a better world. Her first book, On Healing, which will be published in 2023.

Born in London (United Kingdom), at the age of 7 her family moved to Prince Edward Island, Canada, then just outside Montreal and Toronto. She now resides in New York City.