Geeta Rao Gupta

Geeta Rao Gupta is President of the International Center for Research on Women. She is a leading global authority on women’s role in development and a passionate advocate for women’s empowerment and the protection and fulfillment of women’s rights.  She has worked at ICRW since 1988, first as a consultant and researcher and, since 1997, as President.  Dr. Rao Gupta is an internationally renowned expert on women and HIV/AIDs; in the early 1990s, she spearheaded a ground-breaking 15-country research program identifying the social and economic roots of women’s vulnerability to HIV infection.  

Dr. Rao Gupta serves on the Boards of InterAction and the Moriah Fund. In addition, she is as an advisor to the UNAIDS Global Coalition on Women and AIDS and was co-chair of the U.N. Millennium Project’s Task Force on Education and Gender Equality.

Dr. Rao Gupta was educated in India. She holds a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Bangalore University, a Master of Philosophy degree from the University of Delhi, and both a Master and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Delhi. She is proud to have been part of the team that developed the first women’s studies curriculum for graduate students in India, at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

Source: University Programs and Events Planning Resources, June 2006