Vandana Gurnani joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1991 and is currently posted as Secretary, Labour and Employment, Government of India. Prior to this she was working as Secretary Coordination, Cabinet Secretariat where she was leading the Deregulation and Compliance Reduction agenda for Ease of Doing Business and Ease of Living. She has worked in multifarious assignments in Govt. of India as well as the state of Karnataka and has a vast experience of working in the health sector.

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As Additional Secretary and Mission Director, National Health Mission in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, she led the initiative to achieve Universal Health Coverage and crafting of the PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission to develop resilient health systems to manage the current and future pandemics. She anchored and led several aspects of management of Covid in India including augmentation of the health systems and Covid vaccination.

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‍In her 34 years of public service, Vandana has served as an administrator, policy-maker and public health strategist holding a wide range of assignments in the fields of Health, Urban and Rural Development, Environment and Women & Child Development. She has successfully represented India in several global forums like ILO, Gavi, PMNCH, FP 2020. etc. A native of New Delhi, Vandana earned her Master’s degrees in Economics from the prestigious Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University and has also completed her Master’s in Public Health from the renowned Johns Hopkins University.