Dr Kanica brings over a decade of experience across premier medical and public health institutions in India, having worked at PGIMER, Chandigarh, AIIMS, Jodhpur, and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi, where she supported the India Epidemic Intelligence Service Programme in collaboration with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta. She has been at ILBS since 2021, first as Assistant Professor and, since 2025, as Associate Professor.

MBBS, Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda, Kangra; MD (Public Health / Community Medicine), Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla

Presidential Award, 34th Annual Meeting of APASL, Beijing (2025); Best Poster Award, Hot Topics, AASLD 2025; Best Women Performer in Health and Wellness, 5th International Inspirational Women Awards (2024); WomenLift Health India Leadership Journey (2024), supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and the Global Health Introductory Fellowship, Effective Altruism South Africa and Effective Altruism Nigeria (2026).

Epidemiology, prevention and control of steatotic liver disease (MASLD/NAFLD) and its links with diabetes, hypertension and metabolic syndrome; viral hepatitis awareness and stigma reduction; school-, college- and community-based screening programmes; and health policy and advocacy for liver health.

Epidemiology and design of large community-based studies; implementation science and health systems strengthening; evidence synthesis and evidence-based guideline development; integrating liver and metabolic health into national and state NCD programmes; population-level risk stratification and laboratory-free screening tools; and research capacity building, grant writing, and scientific writing.

Name of the conferences/course/training/workshop where you have delivered lecture/presented paper:

• Presented oral research paper at32nd Conference of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL)at the Taipei International Convention Center, Taiwan,February 15 – 19, 2023. International Travel Award winner from the Liver Care Foundation
• Course Directorfor second online course on research grant writing and implementing a grant project, 21 - 23 August, 2023, ILBS, New Delhi
• Expert Speaker at Hypertension Care and Control Workshop on the NP-NCD organised by SPH, AIIMS, Jodhpur with support from GHAI and NIHFW on August 3rd, 2023 at NIHFW, New Delhi
• Attended the first European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) Steatotic Liver Disease Summit 2023, Prague, 21-23 September, 2023
• Presented research poster at the American Association for the Study Of Liver Diseases (AASLD) The Liver Meeting® 2023 in Boston, MA, USA.

International travel support award from ICMR and SERB DST Total Number of Projects in which the faculty member is PI/ Co PI in 2023: 4

Current Projects (Principal Investigator)

• Technical Resource Centre, ILBS under Centre for Evidence-Based Guidelines, DHR India
• Y SMilES — school-based liver health education, screening and intervention across India, NTPC (CSR), 2025–2027
• Healthy Liver, Healthy India — Medical Mobile Unit for liver-health screening of vulnerable populations, Oil India Limited (CSR)
• EMPATHY — Empowering People Against Hepatitis, Oil India Limited (CSR), 2026–2029
• Find Time for Your Liver, Siemens Healthineers (CSR), 2026–2027
• SMilES — College-based liver health education, screening and intervention
• IMELD Study, Meghalaya site, NHM PIP, 2026–2027
• Live Healthy — Healthy Liver, Healthy Delhi, Viatris Laboratories (CSR), 2018 onwards
• Co-Principal Investigator: IMELD Study, Rajasthan, ICMR Task Force project

• 77 publications, 55 PubMed-indexed; two book chapters. Member, Global Burden of Disease Collaborator Network.