Dr. Eeshani is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development; prior to this, she was a Senior Economist in the Development Research Group of the World Bank. Her research aims to inform development policy to improve maternal and child outcomes along three main themes. In the first theme, she studies the design and impacts of cash transfers to poor households. In the second theme, she examines the design and impacts of pay-for-performance contracts to improve health worker effort and the provision of maternal and child health care. The third theme of her research examines the household-level determinants of investments in women’s human capital as well as the varied interactions between gender and social capital, such as the role of peer effects in intrahousehold decision-making.

Dr. Eeshani has a strong record of publications in peer-reviewed journals, success in leading large-scale program evaluations and contributing to evidence-based program design, and experience in project management. She is also an associate editor for the American Journal of Agricultural Economics and a lead author of the World Bank Policy Research Report titled Financial Incentives for Effective Coverage in Health. Her work has been covered by NPR and VoxDev as well as several media outlets in India and the Philippines. Dr. Eeshani is also an active member of the economics profession, serving as a mentor for several efforts to improve diversity in the profession, and is currently a member of the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion committee of the International Health Economics Association. She was born and raised in India and has a PhD from the University of Illinois and a BA from Macalester College.