Divya Dhar is a medical doctor from New Zealand. In 2010 she received the Young New Zealander of the Year Award.

Biography

Dhar holds a bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery from the University of Auckland. On entering medical school, Dhar founded HealtheX, a research group bringing together 250 presenters and participants to showcase their research on health and develop student and faculty camaraderie. In 2007, she was instrumental in sending the first New Zealand delegation to the International Federation of Medical Students’ Association, the only student organisation represented in the United Nations. Dhar gave a presentation on climate change at the event and through her efforts New Zealand Medical Students' Association was the first New Zealand organisation to join the Climate and Health Council Coalition, seeking to put pressure on government leaders. Divya became involved with the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

Youth Aotearoa New Zealand (UN Youth) at a young age and went on to become its first National Conference Director and Auckland Vice President. She served as Vice President of the

New Zealand Medical Students' Association The New Zealand Medical Students' Association Incorporated (NZMSA) is the peak representative body for all medical students in New Zealand. The NZMSA executive is composed of representatives that are elected from Auckland, Wellington, Christchur ...

(NZMSA). A policy Divya wrote for NZMSA to combat the problem of doctor drain has been adopted by the government, enabling young doctors to be reimbursed up to $50,000 if they work in an area of need. Divya created a precedent for forming alliances between medical students and wider humanitarian organisations such as the Global Poverty Project where she was a key leader. She organised

OXFAM Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. History Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...

’s Biggest Coffee Break at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn ...

to promote Fair Trade, where she was also behind the STAND UP: UN Millennium Campaignworking to eradicate extreme poverty. During her medical elective, she built houses for Costa Rica’s poorest in a flood-ridden region and raised over $20,000 for the Accor Cure Kids Charity Race. Dhar also completed a Masters in Business Administration at the

Wharton Business School The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in ...

in 2014, part of a dual degree program in which she also earned a Master of Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School. Dhar led a group of her friends to set up the P3 Foundation with a vision to mobilise young people to break the

poverty cycle In economics, a cycle of poverty or poverty trap is caused by self-reinforcing mechanisms that cause poverty, once it exists, to persist unless there is outside intervention. It can persist across generations, and when applied to developing count ...

. P3 stands for Peace, Prosperity and Progress and aims to educate, encourage action and

advocacy Advocacy is an Action (philosophy), activity by an individual or advocacy group, group that aims to influence decision making, decisions within political, economic, and social institutions. Advocacy includes activities and publications to infl ...

. The P3 Foundation works on

absolute poverty Extreme poverty, deep poverty, abject poverty, absolute poverty, destitution, or penury, is the most severe type of poverty, defined by the United Nations (UN) as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, includi ...

in the

Asia Pacific Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific Isl ...

region. Dhar is the co-founder and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

of Seratis, a start-up in the area of healthcare information technology.

Awards

She was awarded the inaugural Young New Zealander of the Year Award in 2010 and inaugural Indian New Zealander of the Year Award 2011. In 2016 she was named The University of Auckland Young Alumna of the Year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dhar, Divya 1985 births Living people New Zealand people of Indian descent 21st-century New Zealand medical doctors Harvard Kennedy School alumni New Zealand women chief executives Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni University of Auckland alumni