My Story
About me
Tackling gender and health inequalities has always mattered to me. I was born in a small Indian village and, although my mother never had the opportunity to go beyond secondary school, she was passionate about education and equality. She believed deeply in the empowerment of women and has remained a constant inspiration throughout my life.
I began my medical studies as a teenager, graduating from medical school at 22, and I came to the UK in my mid-twenties, to work as a junior doctor in the NHS. I remember reading about the world’s first test tube baby in 1978, which was a medical sensation – little realising that I would get to know the IVF pioneer Professor Robert Edwards, who became a great supporter of my work and the patron of my charity, Create Health Foundation. It has been my privilege to work with Professor Stuart Campbell, pioneer of ultrasound in obstetrics and gynaecology, who became my mentor.
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I was drawn to reproductive medicine because nothing can be more rewarding than creating life. It is also about equality of opportunity, and I have always been passionate about making fertility treatments more natural, accessible and safer for women and children.
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That led me to set up Create Fertility in 2000, which now has a chain of clinics across the UK, specialising in mild and natural IVF. Affordability and fairness have always been my north star - through my work with the Walking Egg Foundation, which brings low-cost IVF to developing countries, and in the UK where we created abc ivf to apply the same principles.
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I founded Create Health Foundation in 2000, a women’s health charity devoted to promoting an evidence-based, holistic, and supportive approach to improving women's healthcare. We work with policymakers and advisers to make a difference.
I am co-founder of The International Scientific Society for Mild Approaches in Assisted Reproduction, which conducts workshops and conferences to promote research and training in milder, accessible and safer approaches in IVF.
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I have worked in the NHS for nearly four decades, and alongside my medical career I have always contributed to humanitarian causes and community initiatives. I am Vice Chair and Board member of the British Red Cross and during Covid I led a campaign to encourage vaccination take-up in BAME communities and am currently contributing to a research project on addressing health inequalities; I am also a Board member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, where I lead on DEI.
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I am Chair of The Pipeline, a consultancy that promotes gender parity in organisational leadership. Equality in the workplace is inextricably linked with fairer outcomes for women and disadvantaged communities in every area of life, not least the health service.
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The golden thread is education and giving everyone the opportunity to achieve – which takes me back to my mother in a small Indian village, dreaming big for her daughter.
