Satendra Singh ([email protected])

Dr Satendra Singh, is Director-Professor of Physiology at the University College of Medical Sciences & GTB Hospital, Delhi. He received the WHO South-East Asia Region (SEARO) Public Health Champion Award 2025 for reframing disability from a medical issue to a human rights issue and for influencing policies and medical curricula across India and globally. A leading disability justice advocate, he has spearheaded several policy reforms, including the incorporation of disability competencies into India’s Competency-Based Medical Education curriculum.

The Supreme Court of India recognised him as one of the nation’s “shining sons who reached extraordinary heights while braving all adversities” and appointed him as a domain expert in the landmark cases Om Rathod v. DGHS (2024) and Anmol v. National Medical Commission (2025), which resulted in significant reforms to the National Medical Commission’s medical admission guidelines for persons with disabilities. He is a Commissioner on The Lancet Commission on Disability & Health and a member of the Core Group on Disability at the National Human Rights Commission of India.

He was conferred the National Award by the President of India in 2021 for advancing disability-inclusive elections. He is also the first Indian recipient of the Henry Viscardi Achievement Award (2017), one of the world’s highest honours recognising exemplary leadership in the disability sector, and the recipient of the National Annual Award for Medical Humanities (2023). Beyond disability rights, he is a committed ally of transgender and intersex communities. A trained ethicist , he did fellowship in Clinical Medical Ethics from the prestigious MacLean Centre of University of Chicago,