Giridhar Mallya, MD, MSHP, has been the Director of Policy and Planning for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health since October 2008. In this position, Dr. Mallya helps to define public health priorities for the City, coordinates the Department’s research and data analysis activities, and works with key leadership—including the Board of Health—to set policies and develop regulations. He also leads the Department’s Get Healthy Philly tobacco control and obesity prevention initiatives.

Dr. Mallya graduated from Brown University Medical School in Providence, RI, and completed a residency in Family and Community Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. Following residency, Dr. Mallya was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania where he received a Masters Degree in Health Policy Research.