Two Indians selected as Yale World Fellows

Washington: Two Indians figure among 16 World Fellows for 2011 selected by the Ivy League Yale University as part of its "signature global leadership development initiative" and its commitment to internationalization.

They are Monika Halan, editor of India's second largest business newspaper, Mint Money, and Sonali Kochhar, Medical Director, India, Institute for OneWorld Health.

Halan is "a media personality well-known for her financial expertise". She is editor of Mint Money, which has an exclusive partnership with the Wall Street Journal.

A medical doctor and clinical researcher, Kochhar leads efforts to develop safe, affordable, and accessible drugs and vaccines for diseases prevalent in the developing world, including HIV/AIDS.

She previously served as Medical Director for the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

Others include an executive at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and a director at the World Economic Forum; the director of the World Health Organization's tuberculosis control Programme in China; a policy maker in Afghanistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and the executive director of Greenpeace Brazil.

This year's cohort brings the total number of Yale World Fellows to 171, representing 77 countries, the New Haven, Connecticut University announced on Tuesday.

Each year since 2002, Yale has welcomed a group of exemplary mid-career professionals from a wide range of fields and countries for an intensive four-month period of academic enrichment and leadership training, the university said.

From August to December, the 2011 World Fellows will enroll in a specially designed seminar taught by leading Yale faculty; audit any of the 3,000 courses offered at the University; participate in weekly dinners with distinguished guest speakers; receive individualized skill-building training; and meet with US and foreign leaders.

The Yale World Fellows Programme has at its core three main goals: to provide advanced training to emerging leaders from diverse disciplines and countries, to link this network of world leaders to each other and to Yale, and to expand and deepen international understanding at Yale.

"This is an extraordinary group of men and women," said Yale President Richard C. Levin. "We will be so fortunate to have them here, and I am confident they will all gain tremendously from their interactions with the Yale community." IANS