Some 15-20 members were chosen from academia, NGOs and governments on the basis of their knowledge and expertise on equity and health, and Dr Bhalotra was selected from 450 nominees. This honorary appointment runs from October 2009 for two years, after which it may be extended to five years.

Dr Bhalotra has published extensively on health and survival in developing countries. Her recent publications in this area include ‘Fatal Fluctuations? Cyclicality In Infant Mortality In India’ in the Journal of Development Economics (2009), ‘The Puzzle of Muslim Advantage In Child Survival In India’ (with C Valente and A van Soest) in the Journal of Health Economics (2009), and ‘Birth-Spacing, Fertility and Neonatal Mortality In India: Dynamics, Frailty and Fecundity’ (with A van Soest) in the Journal of Econometrics (2008). She has recent working papers on Health and the Political Agency of Women (with I Clots), Gradients of Intergenerational Health Transmission (with S Rawlings), Sex-Selective Abortion (with T Cochrane) and ongoing work on the Long-Run and Intergenerational Effects of Early-Life Health Shocks.