Formed in 2018, ASTRA is an international group, comprising experts from six UK universities and six institutions from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India.
The Chief Investigator is Professor Kamran Siddiqi at the Department of Health Sciences, University of York, UK.
ASTRA’s Co-Director is Prof. Ravi Mehrotra, from the India Cancer Research Consortium (ICRC), New Delhi.
Our UK partners include Brunel University London, King’s College London (KCL), University of Warwick, University of Birmingham and University of Edinburgh.
Our South Asian partners include the ARK Foundation (Bangladesh), National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research (NICPR) (India), Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) (India), Aga Khan Medical University (AKU) (Pakistan), Khyber Medical University (KMU) (Pakistan) and HRIDAY (Health Related Information Dissemination Amongst Youth) (India).
In addition, we are supported by key stakeholders including: WHO SEARO (India), Cancer Research UK, WHO Geneva (Switzerland), The Union/Vital Strategies (USA) and the National Cancer Institute (USA).
For information on ASTRA members, please click on ‘Meet the People.’
ASTRA is built on a network of partners who are committed to solving the problems caused by smokeless tobacco consumption in South Asia. We are a collaboration between researchers, healthcare workers and policy advocates from 12 organisations from the UK and Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Please click on the tabs below, to find out more.
Prof Kamran Siddiqi
Chief Investigator (Director)
Prof Ravi Mehrotra
ASTRA Co-Director & Visiting Professor at York
Dr Anne Readshaw
Programme Manager
Dr Mona Kanaan
Lead Statistician and Co-Lead for Training and Capacity Building
Dr Masuma Mishu
Research Fellow
Faraz Siddiqui
Research Fellow
Prof Ray Croucher
Co-Lead of ASTRA-Cessation Study
Dr Omara Dogar
Co-Lead of ASTRA-Policy Study
Dr Cath Jackson
Qualitative Research Consultant
Dr Jappe Eckhart
Researcher
Dr Zainab Kidwai
PhD Student
Dr Radha Shukla
PhD Student
Dr Suranji Dahanayake
PhD StudentDr Lu Han
Statistician
Prof Aziz Sheikh
Prof Linda Bauld
Co-Lead of ASTRA-Cessation Study
Prof Subhash Pokhrel
Dr Kathryn Coyle
Prof Ann McNeill
Prof Paramjit Gill
Co-Investigator
Prof Richard Lilford
Prof Rumana Huque
Dr Fariza Fieroze
Dr Abdullah Sonnet
Sushama Kanan
Research Fellow
Dr Suneela Garg
India Lead for ASTRA-Youth and ASTRA-Sellers Studies
Dr MM Singh
Co-Investigator
Dr Ravi Kaushik
Co-Investigator
Dr Amod Laxmikant Borle
Co-Investigator
Dr Nidhi Bhatnagar
Co-Investigator
Dr Chetana Deshmukh
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Dr Parag Bhardwaj
Research Assistant
Dr Amanjot Singh
Research Assistant
Ms Indu Bala
Data and Finance Manager
Ms Urvashi Bisht
Field Investigator
Ms Prashansa Tiwari
Field Investigator
Ms Yomri Dabi
Field Investigator
Mr Amit Raj Singh
Field Investigator
Mr Vinod Kumar
Technical Assistant
Dr Shalini Singh
Co-Investigator
Dr Prashant K Singh
Research Associate
Ms Anshika Chandra
Project Co-ordinator
Dr Shikha Saxena
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Dr Surbhi Tripathi
Research Associate
Ms Varsha Pandey
Research Associate
Mr Santosh Srivastava
Data Entry Officer
Dr Monika Arora
India Lead for ASTRA-Policy Study
Dr Aastha Chugh
Research Fellow
Dr Neha Jain
Research Associate
Dr Narjis Rizvi
Prof Javaid Khan
Dr Romaina Iqbal
ASTRA-Youth Study Lead and Co-Lead for Training and Capacity Building
Dr Madiha Beg
Research Fellow
Dr Laraib Mazhar
Research Associate
Dr Shehroz Shahid
Research Associate
Dr Aroosa Tariq
Research Associate
Prof Arshad Javaid
Dr Zohaib Khan
Dr Safat Ullah
Research Associate
Dr Khalid Rehman
Research Fellow
Dr Fayaz Ahmad
Research Assistant
Prof Ravi Mehrotra
ASTRA Co-Director & Visiting Professor at York