Madhukar Pai

Madhukar Pai (also known as Madhu Pai) is a Canadian medical doctor, academic, advocate, writer, and university professor. He is the Associate Director of the McGill International Tuberculosis Centre. Pai's work focuses on global health, specifically advocacy for better treatment for tuberculosis with a focus on South Africa and India. Pai is the inaugural Chair of the Department of Global and Public Health in the School of Population and Global Health and holds a Canada Research Chair in Epidemiology and Global Health at McGill University. He is recognised globally, and is a key leader in the decolonising global health movement - recognised for his advocacy on making global health more diverse, inclusive, and equitable.

Education Pai completed medical training and his community medicine residency at the Christian Medical College Vellore, India.

Advocacy Pai is a frequent media commentator on the COVID-19 pandemic in India, and in 2021 drew comparisons of the collective global action taken in response to the COVID19 pandemic versus the relative inaction towards tuberculosis. His 2021 paper in PLOS Medicine addressed power asymmetries in global health.

In 2020 and in 2021 he published papers and contributions about the decolonisation of global health work. His called to address racism and colonialism in Global Health at the AIDS 2022 conference.

In 2021, Pai was critical of the global failure to widely vaccinate people against COVID-19, accused high-income nations of vaccine hoarding, and called for a waiver of intellectual property laws regarding COVID19 vaccines. In 2022 he described the global response to COVID-19 as an "unmitigated disaster".

Awards Listed in the 50 Scientists that Inspire in 2024 by the Cell Press Dr PRJ Gangadharam Endowment Award in 2023 Chanchlani Global Health Research Award 2012 Union Scientific Prize Haile T. Debas Prize David Johnston Faculty & Staff Award

Selected publications