Dheepa Rajan

Dheepa Rajan is a public health doctor with the World Health Organization. Her work focuses on assessing country health systems and supporting health ministries in creating participatory dialogue spaces to ensure responsiveness to people's health needs.

Her interest in the creative arts began with her training in the classical Indian dance form of Bharatha Natyam at the age of 4, complemented by a decade of Carnatic (South Indian classical music) vocal training. She continued dancing and performing intensively throughout her childhood in the U.S. and India, and sought out the Indian performing arts scene in France and Germany where she spent her university years. When she then began her career in medicine and public health, Bharatha Natyam remained a mainstay in her life, providing inspiration and energy, and above all, a creative perspective.

Dheepa moved into dance production about 10 years ago with the show Sita Swagatham in Munich and Berlin in 2012, primarily borne out of her own frustration at the lack of high-quality Indian dance and music recitals on the European continent.

Dheepa holds an MD from the University of Göttingen, Germany and a Master of Health Economics from the London School of Economics. She also studied yoga therapy for her doctorate in Indian traditional medicine which she completed in 2014.