Purvi Mehta

Deputy Director, Agriculture- Asia
Gates Foundation

Bio

Purvi Mehta leads the program’s agricultural development work in Asia. She joined the foundation in 2014 after working for six years at CGIAR, where she was head of Asia initiatives for the International Livestock Research Institute and head of the South Asia Biosafety Program for the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Purvi serves on the board of several organizations, including the International Alliance for Ecology, Health Canada, the International Center for Rural Agriculture, and India’s National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Ltd. She is also a member of the World Food Prize Foundation’s Council of Advisors.

Purvi is an honorary professor at Amity University in India and is a visiting scientist at Cornell University. She has also been closely involved with several agriculture and nutrition policy platforms in India, Southeast Asia, and Africa. She was the 2014 recipient of the India magazine Agriculture Today award for her contributions to agriculture policies in South Asia. She has authored two books and more than 50 publications.

Purvi holds a Ph.D. from North Carolina State University and degrees from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda and Tokyo University.