About Chapal

Chapal Mehra is a public health specialist and social impact expert working across policy, advocacy, and program innovation. His work sits at the crossroads of infectious diseases, mental health, gender, and human rights.

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He has tackled issues related to tuberculosis, HIV, and COVID-19 through community-led approaches to disease control and equitable care. His mental health work zeroes in on those often left behind—urban migrants, women, children, and queer populations. In policy, he has driven access to new diagnostics and drugs, advanced patient literacy and rights, shaped health provider education, and pushed for a deeper understanding of how gender, mental health, and disease intersect.

He was a founding member of The Humrahi Trust, alongside Saleem Kidwai and Aditya Bandyopadhyay, as one of India’s earliest queer community collectives—building organizing, advocacy, and support from the ground up. More recently, he founded The Rahaat Project, a mental health initiative for queer youth in universities, working to reduce self-stigma and strengthen mental health awareness and self-care among LGBTQIA++ young people.

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As a writer, his work has appeared in The Times of India, The Indian Express, The Hindu, Scroll.in, The Quint, The Wire, HuffPost, BBC, and The New York Times—covering public health, queer history, culture, systemic disparities, and the unequal access to healthcare that defines so many marginalised lives.

His academic contributions, including publications in The BMJ and The Lancet, alongside book chapters, focus on infectious diseases, quality of care, and the power of community engagement.