Mohammed Shahnawaz is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Khushi Baby, an award-winning public health nonprofit that works with governments to strengthen last-mile health delivery through technology, data, and community-based systems.

Born and raised in Bihar, Shahnawaz’s early experiences in a region marked by persistent health inequities shaped his commitment to building stronger and more responsive public health systems. After completing his Master’s degree from Aligarh Muslim University, he began his public health career in Rajasthan, where he met Ruchit Nagar, then a Yale public health student. Together, they co-founded Khushi Baby and began building its operations in India.

Over the past decade, Shahnawaz has played a central role in taking Khushi Baby from an early-stage innovation to a government technical partner operating across Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. He has led complex operational expansion across the three states, helped formalize more than a dozen government partnerships across state, district, and local levels, and today leads an interdisciplinary team of approximately 175 professionals spanning public health, implementation, technology, research, data, and field operations. His work focuses particularly on translating digital and data innovations into systems that can operate within—and ultimately be sustained by—government health systems at scale.Shahnawaz brings over 15 years of experience in public health across academic, government, and implementation roles, including leading Khushi Baby’s first randomized controlled trial as a researcher. He is recognized as a Times Now Amazing Indian of the Year and a Pierre Fabre Global South eHealth Laureate.

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Outside work, Shahnawaz is passionate about travel, world cinema, and history and remains closely connected to his village in Bihar, where he continues to engage with farming and community life.

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