Staff Profile

Educational Qualification

M.Sc., (Biostatistics)

Personal Statement

I am dedicated to advancing public health through applied biostatistics, with a focus on tuberculosis research, longitudinal data, and data quality assurance. By applying robust statistical methods and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, my goal is to generate reliable evidence that informs policy, guides research, and improves health outcomes.

Research Focus

• Statistical design and analysis in TB research

• Longitudinal and survival data modeling

• Diagnostic and prognostic evaluation

• Data quality assurance and management systems

• Evidence synthesis and meta-analysis

Ongoing projects as Principal investigator

1

Significant Publications

1. Bhargava, A., Bhargava, M., Meher, A., Benedetti, A., Velayutham, B., Teja, G. S., Watson, B., Barik, G., Pathak, R. R., & Prasad, R. (2023). Nutritional supplementation to prevent tuberculosis incidence in household contacts of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in India (RATIONS): A field-based, open-label, cluster-randomised, controlled trial. The Lancet, 402(10402), 627–640. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00708-9

2. Bhargava, A., Bhargava, M., Meher, A., Teja, G. S., Velayutham, B., Watson, B., Benedetti, A., Barik, G., Singh, V. P., & Singh, D. (2023). Nutritional support for adult patients with microbiologically confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis: Outcomes in a programmatic cohort nested within the RATIONS trial in Jharkhand, India. The Lancet Global Health, 11(9), e1402–e1411. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(23)00324-8

3. Pelzer, P. T., Stuck, L., Martinez, L., Richards, A. S., Acuña-Villaorduña, C., Aronson, N. E., Bonnet, M., Carvalho, A. C., Chan, P. C., Huang, L. M., … Watson, B. (2025). Effectiveness of the primary Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine against the risk of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and tuberculosis disease: A meta-analysis of individual participant data. The Lancet Microbe, 6(2), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2666-5247(24)00255-3

4. Bhargava, A., Bhargava, M., Velayutham, B., Thiruvengadam, K., Watson, B., Kulkarni, B., Singh, M., Dayal, R., Pathak, R. R., & Mitra, A. (2021). The RATIONS (Reducing Activation of Tuberculosis by Improvement of Nutritional Status) study: A cluster randomized trial of nutritional support (food rations) to reduce TB incidence in household contacts of patients with microbiologically confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis in communities with a high prevalence of undernutrition, Jharkhand, India. BMJ Open, 11(5), e047210. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-047210

5. Krishnan, R., Thiruvengadam, K., Jayabal, L., Selvaraju, S., Watson, B., Muniyandi, M., Nagarajan, K., Tripathy, S. P., Chinnaiyan, P., & Padmapriyadarsini, C. (2022). An influence of dew point temperature on the occurrence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis disease in Chennai, India. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 6147. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-10207-y

6. Velayutham, B., Thiruvengadam, K., Kumaran, P. P., Watson, B., Rajendran, K., & Padmapriyadarsini, C. (2023). Revisiting the Chingleput BCG vaccination trial for the impact of BCG revaccination on the incidence of tuberculosis disease. Indian Journal of Medical Research, 157(2&3), 152–159. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijmr.ijmr_2785_21

7. Selvaraju, S., Thiruvengadam, K., Watson, B., Thirumalai, N., Muniyandi, M., Vedachalam, C., Swaminathan, S., & Padmapriyadarsini, C. (2021). Long-term survival of treated tuberculosis patients in comparison to a general population in South India: A matched cohort study. International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 110, 385–393. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2021.07.023

8. Nair, D., Navneethapandian, P. D., Tripathy, J. P., Harries, A. D., Klinton, J. S., Watson, B., Sivaramakrishnan, G. N., Reddy, D. S., Murali, L., & Natrajan, M. (2016). Impact of rapid molecular diagnostic tests on time to treatment initiation and outcomes in patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, Tamil Nadu, India. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 110(9), 534–541. https://doi.org/10.1093/trstmh/trw061

9. Charles, N., Thomas, B., Watson, B., Sakthivel, M. R., Chandrasekeran, V., & Wares, F. (2010). Care seeking behavior of chest symptomatics: A community-based study done in South India after the implementation of the RNTCP. PLoS One, 5(9), e12379. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0012379

10. Velayutham, B. R. V., Nair, D., Chandrasekaran, V., Raman, B., Sekar, G., Watson, B., Charles, N., Malaisamy, M., Thomas, A., & Swaminathan, S. (2014). Profile and response to anti-tuberculosis treatment among elderly tuberculosis patients treated under the TB control programme in South India. PLoS One, 9(3), e88045. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0088045

Research Profiles