Prakash Tyagi

Prakash Tyagi is the Executive Director of GRAVIS, an Indian non-governmental organisation working on community health, economic development and community empowerment in rural areas of the Thar Desert. As the son of L.C. Tyagi and Shashi Tyagi, GRAVIS' founders, Prakash was exposed to issues of rural development from an early age. He was appointed to his current position in 2005, following the death of his father.

Tyagi began his official involvement with GRAVIS in 1998. After obtaining a medical degree outside of India, he played an influential role in the construction of GRAVIS Hospital, which was completed in 2001. The hospital, located in the small town of Tinwari, made medical care accessible and affordable to many impoverished residents of rural villages. Treatments focused on common ailments such as poor eyesight, tuberculosis, and malaria while combating the spread of less common diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Tyagi's wife, Vasundhera, also worked on the creation of the hospital. Like her husband, she is a medical doctor and remains a core member of the GRAVIS team.

Currently, Tyagi handles day-to-day administration at GRAVIS, oversees a wide variety of projects, plans new initiatives, and fosters partnerships with individuals and organisations around the world. In addition, he serves as a member of GRAVIS' Governing Board.

GRAVIS currently operates in over 1,300 villages of the Thar Desert of India reaching out to approximately 1.5 million people on a day to day to basis. In addition, Tyagi is an established researcher, speaker and writer on global health and developmental issues with particular focuses on ageing and health, non-communicable diseases, HIV and TB and food and water security. His work ranges from a grass-root level to global levels in mentioned programmatic areas.