Dr. Meghna Ramaswamy

Director of the International Office in the Office of the Vice-President of Research, University of Saskatchewan

Dr. Meghna Ramaswamy is the Director of the International Office in the Office of the Vice-President of Research, at the University of Saskatchewan, where she leads the internationalization strategy and the international research and partnerships portfolio for the institution. She has traveled and worked extensively with institutions, government, funding agencies and businesses around the world, including those in Europe, Africa, China, Russia, Philippines, Brazil and India. She loves interacting with people from different cultures and backgrounds, and uses these deep learning experiences to build vision, and guide sound strategy development for international education, focusing on sustainable development. She leads by example, always doing her best and encouraging others to do the same.

Meghna is an Executive Committee member of the Commission of International Initiatives (CII) at the Association of Public Land Universities (APLU). She serves as a Steering Committee Member of the International Relations (IR) Learning Community (PLC) at the Canadian Bureau of International Education (CBIE), and the International Education Strategy group for the SaskAlliance, a provincial government initiative of the Ministry of Advanced Education, in Saskatchewan, Canada. She is an advocate for sustainable development in International Education and is a member of the Education and Academia Stakeholder Group anchored to the United Nations (2013 Resolution A/RES/67/290) to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on SDG 4: Quality Education. She also recently published a book chapter on Interdisciplinary Research Teams for the SDGs, in the Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals – Volume 17: Partnerships for the Goals by Springer Nature.

Prior to joining the University of Saskatchewan in 2018, she led the Centre for AIDS Reagents in the UK, the only HIV repository in Europe, where she developed international scientific projects and partnerships with key organizations such as the World Health Organization, the European Commission, the National Institute of Health, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She has been an Expert Advisor to the World Health Organization, the European Commission and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on a number of initiatives and has attracted over $19 million in funding as a Principal Investigator. She was Chair of the External Advisory Committee for the European Research Infrastructure for Poverty Related Diseases, funded by the European Commission under Framework VII. Her strong links with the private industry during the course of her career have led to the development of many new partnerships and novel products in the health sector.

She was an adjunct lecturer in Kings College London, and taught undergraduate courses to medical students. Dr. Ramaswamy earned her BSc in Microbiology from Kings College London, MSc in Virology from The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and PhD in Clinical Infection from University College. She lives in Saskatoon, with her husband and her St. Bernard.