SHIKHA CHANDARANA, PhD, MS

Dr. Shikha Chandarana (she/her) is a public health researcher, educator, and advocate whose work focuses on advancing health equity through interdisciplinary, community-engaged research. Her areas of expertise include maternal and child health, intimate partner violence (IPV), immigrant and refugee health, queer health, sexual and reproductive health education, and the social determinants of health. She uses mixed methods approaches to examine how intersecting systems of inequality shape health outcomes.

Dr. Chandarana is currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland and George Mason University, and continues to teach and conduct research at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University, where she earned her PhD in Social and Behavioral Sciences. Her doctoral research around Immigration Stress, Changing Culture, and Intimate Partner Violence, utilizes structural equation modeling to examine the relationship between acculturative stress and IPV among Latino immigrants in Washington, DC.

She has published in a range of peer-reviewed journals on topics including intimate partner violence among immigrant populations, adolescent empowerment and gender norms, maternal nutrition, iron and folic acid supplementation, health communication, LGBTQ+ health disparities, and global program evaluations. Her work reflects a commitment to health justice, ethical research practices, and knowledge translation that informs policy and community-based interventions.

Dr. Chandarana currently resides in Washington, DC with her husband, Will Beaman. In her free time, she enjoys watching films and exploring the many museums and cultural institutions the city has to offer.