Madhura Balasubramaniam

Madhura Balasubramaniam is a Crohn’s patient based in Chennai, India. Diagnosed in 2019, Madhura had a PEG feeding tube between 2020 and 2021. She is currently a PhD student at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Madras. She has a Master’s degree in Development Studies from IIT Madras.

Madhura is passionate about minimising healthcare disparities and empowering South Asian IBD patients across the world. To this end, she co-founded IBDesis with a team of South Asian patient advocates. Recognizing the myriad financial and psychosocial challenges that act as barriers to treatment, she hopes to improve access to IBD care and life-saving medication for IBD patients in South Asia through the South Asian IBD Alliance (SAIA).