Dr. Shelly Batra

Dr. Shelly Batra

President and Co-Founder of Operation ASHA

Shelly Batra is an Ashoka Changemaker, best-selling Penguin author, and renowned gynaecologist and obstetrician in New Delhi. She has a deep desire to serve the community. For the past two decades, she has worked pro-bono treating under-served members of her community, providing consultations and performing free surgeries for the poor.

Shelly is also actively engaged in the dissemination of medical information with many television stations and newspapers. She has appeared on radio and television both in the U.S. and India. Her interview on Chicado Public Radio's Global Activism Series was judged one of the top programs in 2007 and aired a second time. Shelly is the author of two books published by Penguin India. Her first book, The Intimate Self, reached the best-seller list in the non-fiction category. Her second, 20 Minutes to Total Fitness, has been translated into several Indian languages. She has written hundreds of articles on health topics of leading newspapers such as Times of India, The Hindustan Times, The Deccan, Sahara, Navbharat Times (Hindi), and magazines such as Health and Longevity and Kadambini (Hindi). She also wrote an award winning poem for the Times of India.

Shelly has lectured at many leading institutions including the University of Chicago and Harvard School of Public Health. She is serving as Expert Scientific Advisor for the Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory's Insitute for Globally Transformative Technologies (LIGTT). She is also Fellow Guide and Professor for DNB and medical students in teh gynecology department at Batra Hospital, the largest private hospital in New Delhi, India. She was selected as a Changemaker by Ashoka Changemakers in the Patients/Choices/Empowerment Compeition. Recently, she was adjudged as one of the finalist Social Entrepreneur of the year by the Schwab Foundation.

Shelly obtained her MD and MBBS degrees from King George's Medical College, Lucknow, India. There, she won the Abdullah Haji Omar Trophy, the University Book Prize for Best Academic Performance, and the Dr. SS Khan Gold Medal for best student.