Lucshman Raveendran

At the time of the QE Scholarship, Lucshman was an undergraduate student in the Bachelor of Health Sciences program at McMaster University. As a student specializing in global health, Lucshman developed a keen interest in understanding the social determinants that affect the physical and mental health of individuals. He worked as a research assistant for the McMaster Health Forum, where he coalesced research evidence for policymakers to support evidence-based change in health systems. Moreover, Lucshman’s work as an intern at The Forge, a major startup incubator in Hamilton, Ontario, leveraged local entrepreneurial efforts to improve the quality of healthcare delivered in communities.

As an outbound Queen Elizabeth Scholar, Lucshman interned at the Institute for Health Systems Research (IHSR) in Malaysia, which is a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for health systems research. Lucshman worked to find and synthesize high quality, locally applicable evidence to inform IHSR’s 2017 projects, including a project that aimed to audit the current state of maternal health services available in Malaysia. During his internship, Lucshman hoped to develop research skills to identify gaps in health systems that contribute to the health inequities experienced by vulnerable populations. Moreover, he aimed to understand the tools and methodologies used in health systems research, and the strategies that can help build health systems research capacity in low and middle-income countries.