Ravi Shankar Santhana Gopala Krishnan

Ravi Shankar Santhana Gopala Krishnan

Ravi Shankar leads the WHO GIS Centre for Health at WHO Headquarters, where he drives the strategic application of geospatial intelligence to advance global health outcomes. With over two decades of experience, he has played a pivotal role in integrating GIS and spatial data systems into public health decision-making, particularly in complex emergency and outbreak settings.

As the former GIS Technical Officer for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), Ravi was instrumental in modernising geospatial tools to support surveillance and microplanning. During the West Africa Ebola outbreak, he led the development of WHO’s global mapping platform to deliver real-time situational awareness for coordinated response.

Earlier in his career at UNOSAT, Ravi supported emergency mapping efforts for the Haiti earthquake, Thailand floods, the Syrian conflict, and the Libyan war. A strong proponent of capacity building, he designed and taught a Master’s-level GIS course for disaster management at the University of Copenhagen. Originally trained as an architect and urban planner, he contributed to national master plans in Libya and the Andaman Islands.

Today, Ravi continues to champion innovation in geospatial data use, supporting digital transformation across health systems and contributing to global efforts to enhance the quality, availability, and interoperability of critical data for sustainable development.

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  • Organization
    World Health Organization (WHO)
  • Profession
    Head, WHO GIS Centre for Health, Department of Delivery for Impact
Related sessions
In person
9 July 2025
14:00 - 17:15
EST - New York
CST - Beijing
PST - Los Angeles
AWST - Perth, Australia
As the global community works to solve global challenges, innovative...